Scott Hobbs
A company founded in 1954 might seem an unlikely candidate for a growth spurt. But shortly after Scott Hobbs joined Hobbs Inc., the family business founded by his grandfather, the company took off on a tear, building its annual volume from $12 million in 1992 to $63 million only 10 years later. The company’s average project size has grown from $2 million to $6 million in the past five years alone. To maintain control over production, Hobbs—who took over as president from his father, Michael Hobbs Sr., in 1999—has implemented systems as advanced as high-speed data links between jobsite and office computers and as straightforward as printed checklists to guide each phase of every project. The result is what one might hope to see in a 50-year-old company: a thorough, professional, and fully mature approach.
In Hobbs’ view, the key challenge growth presents is keeping a large company fully integrated, so that each project represents not just high quality, but “the same high quality.” The company’s emphasis on training, communication, and continuing education is aimed at creating a vast pool of accumulated expertise, to which each employee contributes and in which each shares. “We’re trying to make it into an aggregate, which gives everyone in the company several hundred years of experience, cumulatively.”
That cumulative experience has led to an extraordinary commitment to worker safety.A company safety director runs an orientation program that is mandatory for all subcontractors and new hires, provides continuing safety education, and conducts random, daily site inspections to verify compliance with company standards. Subcontractor violations are reported and tracked, and a pattern of violations brings consequences. “Sometimes it means taking a break from some guys,” says Hobbs, who has taken subcontractors off the bid list for several projects in order to drive the message home.Hobbs states plainly his belief in every worker’s right to go home as healthy as he was when he arrived—“That’s just the kind of contract management should have with the employees”—but insists that altruism is not his only motive. “When someone gets injured on the job, the loss of efficiency is staggering.” The company’s exemplary safety record also yields measurable dollar savings. “Our workman’s comp modifier is .6. Our payroll is down $100,000 to $150,000 in worker’s comp cost [from where it would be] if it were a modifier of just 1,” Hobbs says.“It’s an investment; it’s not a cost.”
Hobbs Inc. New Canaan, Conn. Type of business: custom builder; Years in business: 50; Employees: 70; 2002 volume: $63 million; 2002 starts: 13
2003 Pacesetter Awards
Introduction
Excellence in Customer Service
Excellence in Innovation
Excellence in Management
Excellence in Marketing
