| Why get into steel building construction when
the company's success has always been based on post-frame? Ron explains.
"Through the years we were fortunate enough to build up a substantial
customer base in post-frame buildings. These past customers kept coming
back to us, which was nice, but in many cases they had changed avocations
and post-frame was no longer the best answer for their current need. We
simply got tired of sending them down the street to someone else." "Because we had already a good working relationship with these past clients, and had them as established customers, it just didn't make any sense to pass up their future business. Today we have one full time steel building salesman, but his focus is on a completely different market than we address with post-frame. Our sales force is specialized in either post-frame or steel; they don't intermix," notes Ron. "Our steel structures are most often the larger buildings, and are almost completely commercial in nature." In addition to the main complex in Lexington, the company has one satellite operation in Greer, South Carolina. According to Ron, "The branch is about 125 miles from Lexington, to the north. All materials are shipped out of our main facility here, but this branch maintains its own manager, building crew and sales force." |
It's not surprising that Ted and Ron have split
up the responsibilities of running what today is a substantial business
enterprise. "Post-frame is the largest segment of the operation, and
I have responsibility for that side of the business," says Ron. "Ted
heads up the steel building division, and his son, Danny Hoover, is involved
in that division as well.
Hoover utilizes an in-house draftsman for most design and elevation work, but employs outside experts on projects requiring an engineer's stamp. Ron is quick to point out, "The greatest percentage of the buildings we erect do require an engineer's stamp, although the bulk of our smaller back yard-type buildings incorporate a standard design so that we don't have to have each individual job engineered." As with every other company, nothing starts until somebody sells something. "We employ six full-time commissioned sales people," noted Ron, "but we support their efforts with a considerable amount of advertising in local newspapers and magazines, in addition to the normal yellow page listings. We've also done a limited amount of direct mail. We've been fortunate enough to build up a pretty substantial client base, and a considerable amount of work comes our way from referrals." |