Every year for the past four years, Charles W. Ross, Builder, has done something most companies in the Fortune 500 do: It has prepared an annual report. Tim Cleary (right), general manager of this privately held design/build firm, measures the progress the company has made during the past year against its business plan and puts his findings in a written report.
Presented as a letter from Cleary to the company stakeholders, the report goes to the builder’s banker, accountant, and two owners: production director Charles Ross (left) and customer service director Charlotte Ross (center). (“We’re not big on titles,” says Cleary. “It’s nice to know how everyone fits in.”) While keeping these very interested parties informed of how the company is performing, the report also serves as an important planning tool for the coming year. “It helps us see what we did and didn’t do well,” Cleary says. “We can see what we have to fix.”
The first section of the report lays out the company’s accomplishments, both financial and strategic, especially those actions that bolster its goals. Charts show how performance has progressed over the last five years, and photos of completed projects illustrate how the company has moved into its targeted markets.That’s followed up with financial reports that detail how the company performed in the current year in terms of dollars and how that performance compares with the previous two years. The last section of the report focuses on three key objectives for the coming 12 to 24 months. Cleary produces a narrative that lays out exactly how the company will achieve these objectives.
An engineer by training, Cleary joined his in-laws’ building firm in 1999, bringing with him the analytic and strategic planning skills he’d honed over an 18-year career in big corporations. The discipline of preparing an annual plan has enabled him to help the company dramatically improve its financial performance. Revenues have grown nearly 70 percent from 1998 to 2002 and gross margin has nearly doubled.
Charles W. Ross, Builder Williamsburg, Va. Type of business: design/build; Years in business: 20; Employees: 10; 2002 volume: $5.84 million; 2002 starts: 10
