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MD: We can predict workload and cash flow approximately three months out. The cash flow is easier to predict as we know billings at the end of any month, and we have enough payment history to reliably predict future income. Workload can change based on owner decisions. In some cases, owners delay projects due to funding or tenant issues and delay projects that had resources committed. In a good economy, this happens less but in an uncertain economy we see this happen fairly often. TZL: What role does your family play in your career? Are work and family separate, or is there overlap? MD: I am blessed to have a wonderful family life that has meshed well with my professional career during the past 30 years. This timeframe has seen all my children grow to adulthood. We experienced all the typical events of ball games, dance recitals, vacations, birthday parties, and graduations, all while work progressed and deadlines were met. My family, especially my wife of 35 years, has been very supportive and encouraging. They have comforted me and energized me during the mostly positive, but sometimes negative, business events, always giving me a respite from work life. TZL: What, if anything, are you doing to protect your firm from a potential economic slowdown in the future? MD: When we discussed financial data during the Great Recession, we realized that we had survived several negative economic downturns since 1990 and didn’t even know it. As a small company with a home office in a mid-sized tourist city, we’re somewhat insulated from national trends. The 2008 event affected us, but not nearly as severe as other firms or national trends for firms our size. From the company’s beginning, we’ve been fiscally responsible which has allowed us to build and maintain a strong financial foundation. Having a diverse portfolio of sectors has also benefitted us when the economy slowed. In the end, our best protection from future negative events comes from ensuring a quality work product along with a high level of client commitment and tracking the trends previously discussed. TZL: How are you balancing investment in the next generation – which is at an all-time high – with rewards for tenured staff? MD: This has always been a challenge,
but seems heightened as investments in development have increased. We have a tremendous desire to see the next generations succeed within our firm. When the founding partners were considering options for ownership transition it was an easy decision to transition internally. This allowed us to promote our senior project management staff into ownership and to bring new energy into the partnership. Collectively, the partnership is already discussing the next generation of owners. While this is the primary investment in the next generations, we’re also investing in internal mentoring and continuing education which we do with local speakers and national webinars. Just this year, our PTO policy was changed to benefit employees who have been with the company more than five years. Previously, employees had to be with the company for eight years before receiving an additional 40 hours of PTO, but we felt that was too long to wait to reward our employees’ loyalty and dedication to the firm. TZL: When you identify a part of your business that is not pulling its weight in terms of profitability or alignment with the firm’s mission, what steps do you take, and what’s the timeline, to address the issue while minimizing impacts to the rest of the company? MD: We track the financial performance of each of the various disciplines as well as each of the firm’s branch offices. There’s no panic if one discipline or one location shows a temporary downward trend. We know there are always cycles and we have absolute confidence in our staff to know that any negative result will be reversed. One benefit of having multiple disciplines and locations is the balance that it affords. TZL: How often do you valuate your firm and what key metrics do you use in the process? Do you valuate using in- house staff or is it outsourced? MD: We value the firm annually to set the stock price each year. We have a process for stock sale or purchase that can happen annually. The valuation is performed by our independent accountant using standard repeatable evaluation techniques which give us confidence from year to year of fair valuations. TZL: Ownership transition can be See FAMILY MAN, page 8
YEAR FOUNDED: 1990 HEADQUARTERS: Hanahan, SC NO. OF EMPLOYEES: 62 NO. OF OFFICES: 3 MARK DILLON: President and co- founder of ADC Engineering, Inc., Dillon also serves as a structural project manager and design engineer. As principal structural engineer, he performs structural design and analysis for all aspects of structural systems, including new designs and forensic investigations. He is also responsible for the development and coordination of proposals, bid documents, and construction administration services. SERVICES: ❚ ❚ Building envelope ❚ ❚ Structural ❚ ❚ Site services ❚ ❚ Civil engineering ❚ ❚ Landscape architecture ❚ ❚ Surveying
MARKETS: ❚ ❚ Aviation ❚ ❚ Commercial
❚ ❚ Higher education ❚ ❚ K-12 education ❚ ❚ Federal ❚ ❚ Healthcare ❚ ❚ Parks and recreation ❚ ❚ Residential ❚ ❚ Historic ❚ ❚ Hospitality/hotel ❚ ❚ Institutional ❚ ❚ Maintenance and restoration ❚ ❚ Industrial ❚ ❚ Infrastructure ❚ ❚ State/municipal ❚ ❚ Sustainable design
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gust 5, 2019, ISSUE 1307
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