Working for Diversity

Minority, Women Firms Form Partnerships for Success

by Debra Wood

Minority- and women-owned businesses are learning from larger firms how to grow and succeed in the construction industry through construction schools, mentoring programs and affiliations with local or regional associations or governments.

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Graduates of the Turner School of Construction Management and the JE Dunn Construction Group of Kansas City, Mo., and Austin Industries of Dallas mentorship programs have watched their businesses blossom and the larger firms have developed a stable of reliable partners and subcontractors.

“We have created some competitors [with the Turner School of Construction Management], and that’s good,” says Hilton Smith, senior vice president of community affairs for Turner Construction Co. in Cleveland. “We also have created business opportunities for the minority contractors to joint venture with us on large projects around the country. We’ve had firms grow to that end.”

Smith developed the Turner School of Construction Management in 1969 to teach minority and women businesses how to grow and succeed. Participants learn about planning, safety, accounting, estimating, financing, marketing, contract law and bonding during the 10-week course.

“Thirty-nine years ago, minority businesses could only do certain kinds of jobs, and they were not included in major construction projects,” Smith says. “We wanted to do something about that.”

At the time, Smith worked for the city of Cleveland. Then-Mayor Carl Stokes approached Turner about creating minority opportunities, and the school was born. Smith joined Turner, in 1971, to run the program, and has headed up the program as it grew to sites throughout the country. More than 15,000 minority and women business owners have graduated from the school.

“We become familiar with each other in class and do business with each other,” Smith says. “A lot of them will never grow to do business with Turner, but they can learn to do what they do well and become profitable. A lot don’t want to grow too large.”

Luis Spinola, president of Azteca Omega Group in Dallas, called the Turner School one of the best programs he has ever seen. The knowledge he gained and the relationships that developed led to providing structural and ornamental steel for Turner on several projects.

As with Spinola, graduates frequently seize the opportunity to work with Turner as subcontractors or joint-venture partners. Turner officials mentor them and help them grow.

“[The Turner school] turned my life around,” says Christopher Black, president and CEO of New England Construction Co. of Garden City Park, N.Y., who took the program about 17 years ago. “They gave me a full understanding about what it takes to take a trade and turn it into a business.”

New England has worked on many Turner projects, including installation of drywall, ceilings and door frames on the Time Warner-CNN Conference Center in New York and ceilings at the Islip Court House in Islip, N.Y. Black estimates 60% of his firm’s annual $40 million revenue comes from Turner projects.

Turner sets a 20% minority or women participation goal on all jobs and let $1 billion in 2005 and again in 2006 to such firms.

 “That is our way of showing we have conviction of making this program work, and it can work,” Smith says.

Mentor-protege Programs

Other large companies have taken a slightly different approach to meet similar goals. JE Dunn Construction Group of Kansas City, Mo., and Austin Industries of Dallas have developed mentor-protege programs.

“We have minority requirements we have to meet on certain public projects, and to meet those requirements we need a number of qualified subcontractors and vendors to bid the work and keep the competition at an optimum level,” says Greg Nook, JE Dunn’s executive vice president of marketing. “There were few subcontractors or vendors that fit the categories we needed.”

Therefore, JE Dunn began its mentor-protege program three years ago after the company found it difficult to find qualified minority- and women-owned businesses to work with.

Twelve minority or women business owners graduated in the first class and 13 are currently participating in the two-year program. Classes meet every other month and cover a wide range of topics, starting off with professionalism, communication skills, problem solving, leadership and motivation.

“Topics deal with the owner because if you don’t have a good owner, it’s difficult for a small business to continue,” says Marvin Carolina, director of diversity for JE Dunn.

JE Dunn then adds courses about the business structure, such as policies and procedures, accounting and estimating. The second year, the focus turns to presentation skills and helping participants overcome individual obstacles. JE Dunn pairs the minority firm with a large, successful mentor company in a different trade, typically also minority or women owned, but not necessarily.

“In just half a year of classes, my understanding has come light years,” says Dwayne Lewis, owner of Lewis Block & Supply of Kansas City.

Chester Hishaw, owner of Hishaw Construction of Kansas City, says the JE Dunn program has helped his company enormously. He says his business has picked up because he has put into practice the techniques he learned at the course, such as developing a policy-and-procedure manual and how to contact prospective clients.

“This program gives us an opportunity to find out and implement what it takes to build a business,” Hishaw adds.

Austin has offered a mentor-protege program for 12 years in its offices throughout the South. It includes a series of 12 classes and one-on-one attention. More than 150 minority and women business owners have participated in the program.

“It helps keep women and minority business out of trouble and to grow capacity,” says Eugene Walker, director of diversity affairs for Austin Industries. “As a result, it teaches them how to do business with our company.”

Walker says he welcomes the potential competition, if firms take what they learn and parlay it to become large enough to vie for business with Austin, but that’s not the usual scenario. Instead, Austin wants to partner with the firms that implement what they have learned, Walker adds.

“Typically, big contractors eat these firms alive unless [the minority firms] know how to do business at this level,” he says.

Taking a Local Approach

Several large firms tackle diversity at the local level by participating in state- or association-sponsored activities.

In North Carolina, Balfour Beatty Construction in Raleigh and Charlotte participates in the state’s Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses mentor-protege program. Calvin Stevens, minority business development manager for Balfour Beatty, says that Bullock Building Co. of Durham, N.C., increased its business with the larger firm from $70,000 four years ago to $3 million in 2007.

“We brought them in and showed them the processes and procedures, and [Mark Bullock] implemented them on a smaller level,” Stevens says.

Bill Pinto, president of Hardin Construction in Atlanta, helped develop Georgia Gov. Roy Barne’s Mentor-Protege Initiative in 1999 to serve minority- and women-owned firms. During an 18-month mentorship, the minority companies take classes sponsored by the state. The mentor firm focuses on helping the protege develop sound business practices. 

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