Rickabaugh Pentecost Development, LLC

A tale of two companies

Company A
60 years old, family owned and operated, transitioning to the 3rd generation soon.
Solid culture, low turnover, low drama.
100 employees and have been relatively the same size for 10 years with slight fluctuations.
The youngest foreman is 45 and the average tenure of field leadership is 20 years with the company.

Company B
10 years old. 50 year old founder still engaged and running the business with a transition in place for new leadership in 7 years.
Solid culture, low turnover but there is some drama that comes with learning curves.
Has grown from 0 employees to 70 in ten years with a desire to double in the next 5 years.
The youngest foreman is 22 years old and average tenure of field leadership is 5 years with the company.

Is one company better than the other?

Absolutely not.

Will one company provide more opportunity for young, hungry men who want to grow?

Absolutely yes.

Growth is not a requirement of business. But without growth it is virtually impossible to provide opportunity for advancement in a career.

Waiting for your foreman to retire with the hopes of taking his job is not a strategy, its laziness.

If you want to grow as an individual, find a company that wants to grow as a team and you will find more opportunity you could ever dream of.

.....

IGNORANCE vs. CONFIDENCE

Thursday Throwback.

It was late 2004, the company had been in business 2 years.

We had 3,000 of sewer to lay down an existing road between 22' and 24' deep.

Most of the men/boys onsite were 23 years old or younger.

Was it ignorance that led us down these paths or confidence.

At the time we could do anything. Risk was a board game not something that had real life impacts. Anything was achievable with hard work and there was no down side. We were confident.

18 years later would we say the same? Is risk still in our bones or has it scarred so deeply all we do is try to stay away from it.

Somewhere in the middle is the sweet spot. Being strategic about capabilities and capitalizing on strengths. Staying just outside the edge of comfort keeps us growing. Comfort is the enemy.

In hindsight, we were ignorant about a lot back then. But without that blind ignorance we would not have learned the lessons that have been so valuable.

We'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

.....

We're living in the good ol' days.

#631

Dirt and diesel fuel our lives but sometimes we can be more refined when a client asks us to.

Constructing Meadow Park was a privilege that we know will be enjoyed by its users for years to come.