Living The American Dream
DRV Modular Contractors, Inc. Exemplifies Determination, Work Ethic & Grit
Edward Biliunas lives the American dream. He immigrated to the United States from Poland in 1966 at the age of six without his family knowing a word of English. It was sink or swim, he says. So, at age 18, he left his family, moved to California and started working.
Today, he and his wife, Amy, lead La Mesa, California-based DRV Modular Contractors, Inc. (DRV). He is the Corporate Secretary and Responsible Managing Officer (RMO) and she is the President.
Founded by Ed in 1992, the family-owned and -operated business is one of the leaders in the modular building industry. It provides turnkey general contracting for public, private sector and commercial projects.
Following the Plan
“Our business plan is simple: guaranteed work and service—on time and on budget,” Ed says. We make a conscious effort to provide better service than our competition.” “We specialize in modular buildings, which are similar to manufactured mobile homes, but we are strictly on the commercial side of the modular world,” Amy says. “We do installation, demo, transporting, remodels, roofing, foundations, decking and much more.”
All their products are produced in a factory, shipped to the site and installed by DRV. “People call on Ed because of his knowledge,” Amy says. “There are idiosyncrasies you learn as you go. He’s been in the business for so long that people call on him for his expertise to solve challenges. It is a craft industry and his depth and breadth of knowledge is great. There are not many people in our region who do what we do and have done it for any length of time.”
The firm’s business model is all about ethics.
“We don’t bend and we don’t compromise,” Amy explains. “And, our customers always come back. We get the same kind of call many times: ‘Can you please come fix this because a guy went out of business or gave a low bid and did a bad job.’ It has been a cycle we have experienced over the years. We’ve seen people come and go. We’re still here. We are fortunate because we have a good reputation based on reliability and that strong work ethic.”
Starting With RVs, Moving Into Modulars
Ed demonstrated this strong work ethic early when he brought his car and tools to California from Cleveland, Ohio, to find a job. He started out in the recreational vehicle (RV) industry. Through a City of San Diego outreach program designed to help people start small businesses, he was sent to RV technical training and graduated first in a class of 60 students.
That’s when he started Discount RV Mobile Service, traveling to repair and clean customers’ RVs and trailers. He earned his contractor’s license and then started providing these services for the portable office trailers often seen at construction sites and continued working on RVs as well.
When a customer at a leasing company asked him if he could repair 10 trailers, clean 20 and install a bathroom in one, he started hiring employees to help him get the job done. That’s when he shifted toward the commercial end of the industry and focused on modular contracting, changing the name to DRV Modular Contractors.
In 1997, Amy began working evenings for the company after finishing work at her full-time day job. She applied what she learned while earning her Master of Business Administration degree and converted the accounting system that consisted of receipts stored in a shoebox into an accounts receivable system. She then joined the firm full time and the company doubled in size by adding additional staff.
Today, DRV works with all types and sizes of relocatable buildings, including office trailers, mobile offices, portable classrooms, construction trailers, restroom trailers and other prefabricated buildings. Located in the San Diego area, the firm serves all of Southern California, including Los Angeles, Orange, Imperial, San Bernardino and Riverside counties, as well as completing projects in other areas upon request.
Surviving the Great Recession
DRV felt the impact of the recession soon after it began in 2008.
“Modular buildings provided the office space for the contractors building schools and hospitals and other commercial projects,” Amy says. “But when the banks froze the money for building projects, our phone stopped ringing. Those were tough times. We had to live off our savings and keep our employees paid.”
The Biliunases learned a major lesson about diversifying their business operations.
“We had all our eggs in one basket with one modular dealer,” Amy continues. “When that company restructured, they wanted to have a bigger contractor pool instead of using us as their sole contractor. That was devastating. We moved our office into our home and pondered our future.”
Ed started soliciting work from other companies and wound up tripling DRV’s business. “What started out as a doomsday turned into a blessing because our business world opened up and blossomed,” he says.
Today, DRV’s projects include medical facilities, jails, banks and stores—basically any kind of commercial building. DRV’s six employees have been with the firm from 10 to 20 years.
“The key is treating the employees with respect and fairness,” Ed says. DRV provides medical insurance, a 401(k) plan and other benefits that exceed what is offered by many of their competitors.
Right-Sizing the Company
The couple says they’re not interested in being the biggest company of their kind. They are more interested in maintaining the quality of their work and following through on promises.
“We want balance,” Amy says. “We are a family-owned company with twin daughters turning 16 this year. For us, it’s more about running our company the best we can without sacrificing our family. That is a hard and fast rule.”
Last year, 2017, was their best year. The key, Ed says, is to carefully choose the jobs they want to do.
As a certified small business/microbusiness for the State of California, DRV is sought after for projects—particularly for military and other government installations. These jobs initially involved a learning curve because of all their special requirements.
“There are many legal issues that you have to comply with,” Amy says. “Not all companies have that knowledge base. Often, we hear ‘thank you, that was seamless’ because they don’t have to worry that we will have compliance challenges. They know our procedures and paperwork will always be in order.”
Bread-and-Butter Jobs
Amy says the firm’s “bread-and-butter jobs” involve working for modular dealers to set up trailers in a speedy manner.
DRV completed the installation of almost 29,000 square feet of modular building space for Qualcomm in 21 days—which is an incredibly short amount of time for a project that big, according to Ed.
Every summer, the firm helps move modular classrooms across California as the school population fluctuates. They have also put modular buildings on prison sites for administration and classrooms. Additionally, they’ve installed modular buildings at solar plants for administration functions. They’re preparing to do some more work at some solar plants, too. They’ve installed specialized buildings that house MRI operations for hospitals as well as constructed border control holding facilities.
DRV built a childcare center in Owens Valley, California, and constructed a historic, Spanish-style model home center with arches to show what the homes would look like in The Crosby at Rancho Santa Fe, a high-end housing development.
“There’s a wide range of industries that can benefit from modular buildings,” Ed says. “We just did a really cool flight simulator building for the federal government at Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton. We had to build to particular specifications for weight and floor load.”
There are other challenges, too, like achieving the right sizes for projects. DRV did a project for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that involved creating large format modular buildings. The typical size is 12 feet by 16 feet. Accomplishing this project required DRV to put together 19 buildings that measured 12 by 60 feet.
In It Together
DRV contributes to charitable organizations, too. Amy has served on many parent-teacher boards; currently, she is serving with the Steele Canyon High School Parent Teacher Organization. The couple has donated buildings to the Baja Animal Sanctuary in San Diego to house dogs and people. They have also donated buildings to orphanages in Mexico as well as several buildings to the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department.
“When the times were rough, we stuck it out because we enjoy what we do,” Amy says. “It’s hard work, but it drives us and it works really well for our family. When I had my twins, they had to stay in the hospital for 30 days. I started working the day after I gave birth.”
“We are a good team,” Ed says. “Amy takes care of all the administrative issues and I take care of all the field work. I couldn’t do what she does; it works for us and it’s convenient. When people think things can’t be done, they need to move out of the way because we can do it.”