Many years ago at a summer meeting the topic of one of the speakers was “How To Grow Your Business?” His opening statement was, “Why do you want to grow? Do you think that growth is going to substantially increase your bottom line?”

“If you are willing to do more than you are paid to do, eventually you will be paid to do more than you do.” (anonymous)

At the time, we chose the growth option and it took many years for us to realize growth did not increase our profit margins enough to justify the additional costs we incurred.

Three downturns in the economy taught us that diversity and being efficient at what we did was much more profitable than volume of business. That change in philosophy was truly the reason we survived the last downturn.

We have visited a number of CFA members over the years who have taught us many ways to operate more efficiently and what equipment it was wise to purchase to bring about some of that efficiency. On one of those visits a fellow CFA member commented, “Forms and equipment are cheap; it’s the labor that is expensive.” With the increasing shortage of qualified labor, we have found it even more important to research high-quality, versatile machinery. Equipment may be cheap, but cheap equipment may not always be the best answer. I consulted with a contractor recently on the purchase of a new piece of equipment. The conversation lead to the final decision of what to purchase, in this case, high quality with many options, not price. His last statement to me was that this purchase opened up a less competitive market and that in six months we would be purchasing a second one. A piece of equipment purchased for use in the less competitive markets pays for itself very quickly.

We have enough equipment available to allow us to be diverse, efficient, responsive on short notice, as well as be profitable, without a high volume of labor. We have worked hard at learning how to plan utilizing the resources available to us in a cost effective, efficient way. Part of that planning includes having a second option when things do not go as planned due to factors beyond our control.

We will have many equipment representatives available at this year’s CFA summer meeting in Nashville in July. I hope you will research equipment options that may be able to help you operate more efficiently. In addition, feel free to reach out and share experiences and expertise with fellow members—you never know what you may learn.

Remember: bigger may not always be better.

Summer Meeting (+) Networking = Additional Profit

Dennis Purinton, Purinton Builders Inc., CFA President 2016-18, purintonbuilders@yahoo.com