By: Brian Sullivan
As discussed in the book, The Gap and the Gain, it’s important to look back every once in a while, to evaluate our progress before refocusing our attention on the future. As I’ve been learning through the Strategic Coach Program, individuals who continually focus solely on the future and personal and professional growth can become dissatisfied, and will not properly adjust to lessons learned. With this life lesson in mind, this is the perfect time to reflect on our company’s accomplishments and learning moments over the past year.
The Construction Industry
Construction spending in the US continued to increase this past year and is predicted to stay healthy ; similarly, locally construction spending continued to be very strong in NYC and appears to be predicted to stay that way for at least the next two years. This is very obvious for anyone walking around, or even more so anyone trying to drive around the city.
Building Envelope Restoration
The predominant opinion throughout the exterior restoration industry was that, for various reasons, there was a slow start to the year. However, very busy 3rd and 4th quarters made for a good year over all. The pending end of sub cycle 8B of FISP (formerly Local Law 11\98) contributed to the continued growth of the NYC Building Envelope industry. Fortunately, it was another relatively dry season; so few days lost due to weather issues lead to near-constant construction progress. Many contractors expressed their struggle to find sufficient manpower. And while this is a good sign for the economy/industry, it certainly presented manychallenges for even the most prepared contractors.
Sullivan Engineering
I apologize in advance for the following Sullivan Engineering focused commentary. It’s the one time a year that we depart from not using this platform as a direct marketing effort. I hope you’ll forgive us.
2017 was another banner year for Sullivan Engineering, one that reinforced the importance of the time and money we have committed to implement the Entrepreneurial Operating System over the past two years, with the help of Mark O’Donnell and the team at Optimize For Growth . The continued dedication, hard work and forward thinking of our entire team has resulted in outstanding results.
- We added eight new team members: Mike Lopez, Joe Contreras, Sean McPartland, Ivy Yuan, Nick Colefield, Erin Garolis, Tom Khoudary and Remy Philoposian, all of which have helped to enhance our already solid culture (link to Donna’s article).
- From 2016 to 2017, our year-over-year revenue increased by 38%. We also spent a great deal of time preparing ourselves for continued, controlled growth in 2018 and beyond.
- For the first time we were included in the Inc. 5000, Zweig Hot Firm list for our continued growth over the three years leading into 2017. For the second straight year we received the Future50 award from SmartCEO magazine.
- We had the pleasure of working with some great new clients and contractors while maintaining relationships with many existing ones as well. While continuing to focus on serving residential co-ops and condos, we also began working with several great commercial and institutional clients.
- Our fourth annual planning retreat was the best one yet. The logistical challenge of the massive snowstorm predicted for the night before, lead to a new tradition of making the session a true overnight retreat.
- The Manhattan office has expanded significantly and continues to allow us to recruit great talent, and better serve our NYC clients.
- On a personal level, we had several great accomplishments as well. Two of our team members were married (not to each other), one got engaged, one completed a Master’s Degree in Engineering, and several others earned promotions.
We thank all of our loyal family, friends and clients for your continued support throughout 2017 and look forward to another great year ahead….
