It took a second career to discover it, but Jim Ward is a true American
entrepreneur. In 1987 he retired with the rank of Commander from the Sea Bees,
the US Navy's construction branch. He was a seasoned builder, but he was
discouraged by the cumbersome and all-too-often adversarial nature of contract
administration for the federal government. He couldn't help but believe that if
you were honest, capable and customer focused, contracting would be a lot more
fun.
When Jim returned to civilian life, Sausal (www.sausalcorp.com) was a small construction firm owned by family friends. Construction was in a slump and Sausal was struggling. It needed the expertise and leadership he had gained as a naval officer. Jim thought he'd give his ideas a try and was able to purchase control of Sausal. "We were eighty thousand dollars in debt when I started, " Jim recalls, "but after one year we had fourteen thousand dollars in the bank!" Well, that was enough to prove he could do it. He would soon discover that, a second rewarding career had just begun! Sausal grew steadily, one good business decision after another. It is now ranked top twenty general contractors in the East Bay.
When asked the secret of his success, Jim doesn't hesitate. "I work for the customer. My sub-contractors work for my customer. Everything is focused around meeting the customer's needs."
Here's how Marina Mechanical Project Manager, Chris Saunders, describes working with Sausal. "Tough-minded, but fair. You have to perform on every job. As we prove that we can perform, our relationship with Sausal has grown, but we prove ourselves on each and every project."
"Marina performs for our customers," Jim adds, "They make our life easier. That's why we continue to maintain a close working relationship with them." Marina Mechanical knows that in a rapidly expanding market ability to manage projects makes the difference between success and failure for our general contractors. Jim explains this need from his point of view; "Our project managers are responsible for a significant workload. We must rely on our subs to manage their details and keep problems from coming up. They have to work things out with other trades. Our job is to meet our customer’s requirements, and our subs must contribute to that as part of a team."
Recently a national technology firm asked Sausal to revive a failing project for a new production facility. Jim knew it was time to perform. He immediately assembled a design-build team with Marina. Twenty-four hours later, they presented a price and had a deal. And what a deal it was! The result was savings in excess of $350,000 and an immediate start up. The facility is now up and operational thanks to the combined efforts of Sausal, Marina and other Sausal team members.
Finding
the Right Solution In a Design-Build Relationship
How Marina Helped Fine Line Group Build
Tech Space
Using Energy Savings to Pay for Capital
Improvements
Marina
Meets A Creative Design Challenge for DBD Structures
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