Building Restaurants and Relationships
Experience and execution each step of the way at Derek, Inc.
The world of construction is often a game of hurry up and wait. Time is money, and delays or changes also take up time and cost money. The “hurry up” part—completing contracts and plans and distributing them to all relevant parties—is a straightforward element of construction. The “wait” part—when a subcontractor cancels a job at the last minute—can leave a construction company and building owner in a bind to find a replacement.
Derek, Inc. is one of those companies that comes to the rescue, taking control and overcoming obstacles to ultimately save the customer time and money.
20 Years and Counting
Derek, Inc. has been in operation since 1997 and celebrated its 20th anniversary in July. The general contracting firm, which caters to clients throughout the Midwest, was established in 1997 by company President Gerald Gattas, who hails from Chicago. He has extensive experience in the restaurant construction business, leading the Derek, Inc. team to partner with some very well-known clients in this market, including: Darden, Bojangles’, Freddy’s, Firehouse Subs, Taco Bell, Olive Garden, IHOP, KFC, Starbucks and Five Guys.
The company specializes in pre-construction, construction management, general contracting and design-build services. In addition to restaurants and fast food establishments, its project portfolio consists of retail centers, health care facilities, veterinary clinics, auto parts centers, real estate developments and more.
Most of the company’s business comes from repeat clients. One prime example is the Five Guys burger chain, which perfectly demonstrates how Derek, Inc. executes quality projects time and again for its clients.
This relationship began when Derek, Inc. bid on a job to build a new Five Guys location in Cincinnati. Requests for proposals were submitted and ultimately Derek, Inc. won the bid. Five Guys, which has locations across America, is a very particular chain of restaurants. Some are privately owned and others are corporately owned. The quality and consistency of the product produced by Five Guys is directly related to the physical quality of each location. Something unusual about the business model is that there aren’t any freezers in the Five Guys facilities, making their retail outlets different from others. The use of fresh beef to make their hamburgers, paired with fresh produce, requires that the kitchens and physical buildings meet very high, specific standards.
Derek, Inc.’s first-rate completion of its first Five Guys establishment enabled the contractor to win subsequent bids to construct 12 additional locations—a remarkable streak of customer satisfaction by any stretch of the imagination. Every location has unique circumstances, such as topographical features, zoning, utility easements, etc. Derek, Inc. has repeatedly met the needs of each location to complete these projects for the quality-conscious building owners.
When it comes to maintaining a high level of satisfaction with Five Guys and other clients, the leadership at Derek, Inc. emphasizes that excellence in communications—as well as in the execution of construction—is essential.
Technology Streamlines the Construction Process
It comes as no surprise that technological advancements have furthered the company’s efforts to produce high-quality construction efforts.
Dennis Schmidt, the firm’s Construction Manager and Business Developer, says that technology as well as relationships have led to the most dramatic positive changes in the way business has been conducted over the last 20 years. “In the past, dozens of copies of prints, plans, documents and pictures had to be physically delivered to clients, architects, contractors and everyone involved in the project. But with the aid of tools like Dropbox, email and the cloud, these materials can be shared and modified quickly, at less cost and with more precision. Our superintendents in the field can access this information instantly,” he says.
Team members also utilize tablets with cameras and video in the field, allowing instant access to daily progress. These pictures and videos are also shared with architects, engineers and project owners.
It All Began with Three People
Building and maintaining employee and subcontractor relationships has also been a way Derek, Inc. has grown over time. The company began with just three people—Gattas, a superintendent and a bookkeeper. Now there are 19 employees.
“The addition of the right people to the business has been the biggest positive change to the company,” says Schmidt. The right fit is hard to find when choosing not just staff members, but also subcontractors, he adds. “At any given time, we have two to three each of electricians, plumbers, roofers and framers as our preferred vendors. We work hard to supervise the quality of the construction being done, which hasn’t been easy to do in the last year or so because there has been a shortage of labor and more than enough work. It’s a nice dilemma to have, though.”
With clients in seven states, Derek has become adept at navigating the requirements of multiple municipal, county and state governments to accomplish projects according to local specifications and codes.
Schmidt explains that the firm is beginning to focus more on work in the commercial, office and health care markets. When looking to the future, the company’s leadership intends to keep using its exceptional technology and resources to continue building with precision and quality. “Through relationships, communication, speed and precision, we can expand and grow into new areas of development and construction,” he says.