Emerging business | Aspen Contracting Inc. chases a big dream
Posted on Monday, April 27, 2009
Emerging business | Aspen Contracting Inc. chases a big dream
By ALAN GOFORTH
Special to The Star
When Chris “L.C.” Nussbeck founded Aspen Contracting Inc. late in 2006, he dreamed that revenues one day would go through the roof.
“I wanted us to be a company that grows quickly and reaches $1 billion in revenues in 10 years,” he said.
Nussbeck is chasing that dream, one rooftop at a time. Aspen, based in Lee’s Summit, specializes in repairing damage from natural disasters. Revenue grew from $26 million in 2007 to $49 million last year, and the company is on pace to reach between $80 million and $100 million in revenue this year, he said. Nussbeck recently opened an office in Fort Worth, Texas, its 16th location, and he expects that number to grow.
“Our business plan is to continue opening new locations as Mother Nature dictates,” he said. “We have never closed an office that we have opened, and we plan to have 25 locations by the end of this year.”
Those numbers are especially impressive in an industry not always known for integrity or longevity, Nussbeck said.
“It used to be like the Wild West in the roofing business,” he said. “Anyone who wanted to could open a roofing company without a lot of oversight or regulation. Ninety percent of roofing companies never see their second year in business.”
Although Nussbeck is just 32, he has been working in the roofing business for 16 years. He considered his experience, even the grunt work early in his career, to be invaluable training for the company he always wanted to start.
“The No. 1 area for quality roofing is Europe, followed by Canada,” he said. “The United States is ranked in the high 30s. I couldn’t afford to go to Europe, but I got sponsored to go to Vancouver, British Columbia, as the first American to go through the Canadian training program.
“One thing I learned is that many American companies may have been doing roofing for 20 or 30 years - but they have been doing it wrong for 20 or 30 years. I saw a great opportunity to improve the quality of roofing across the country.”
Nussbeck has worked for leading companies across the nation and sold thousands of roof repairs in Florida after the hurricanes of 2004 and 2005. His broad experience taught him several valuable lessons, such as specialization.
“We don’t do fire or earthquake repairs,” he said. “We focus on damage from tornadoes, hail and hurricanes. Every time someone builds a house, our market grows.”
That strategy has dictated the location of branch offices, which are concentrated in Midwestern, Eastern and Gulf Coast states. The company operates as ASI Contracting in Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nebraska, where the Aspen name was not available. The current 16 offices can serve customers in 36 states.
Nussbeck also realized that the company’s workload - and therefore staffing - was unpredictable from season to season.
“Our business is hypothetical and depends on Mother Nature,” he said.
Aspen has 25 full-time employees. When a natural disaster hits one of its markets, the sales force mobilizes to that area, and local contractors are hired to perform repairs. When a storm hit the Kansas City area last December, an Aspen representative showed up at the home of Bret and Barbara Miller of Olathe.
“A lot of roofs were ripped off in our neighborhood,” Brett said. “A number of shingles were falling in our yard, which isn’t good.”
Miller, who recently had lost his job, at first declined the offer from Aspen. But after several neighbors commented on the quality of the company’s work, he changed his mind when the representative came back a second time.
“He was very professional,” Miller said. “I was extremely impressed - they did everything they said they were going to do. We didn’t have any leaks during the recent rains. I did notice that a gutter was loose, and they came out and fixed it the same day that I called.”
Although most repairs are covered by insurance, Aspen doesn’t bill customers for the deductible until (insurers) have approved the repairs.
“This gives the customer a sense of security,” Nussbeck said. “Some people say it’s a risky way to do business and that people will take advantage of us. But my percentage of nonrecoverable receivables is very small, even in this economy.”
A partnership with Owens Corning allows Aspen to offer attractive warranties, he said. The company is among only 2 percent of contractors to earn Owens Corning’s Platinum Preferred status.
“What that means is that they are a reputable company, with all of the necessary certifications,” said Ken Adler, area sales manager for Owens Corning in Kansas and Western MIssouri. “They educate their customers to make a good decision, regardless of where they do business.”
Nussbeck plans to build the necessary infrastructure to become more heavily involved in commercial repairs, which now account for only 3 percent of revenues. And despite his early success, he realizes he still can find ways to do things better as the company grows.
“We make plenty of mistakes and even invent new ones,” he said. “But we always try to learn form our mistakes and not make the same ones twice.”
Aspen Contracting Inc.
704 N.W. O’Brien Lee’s Summit 816-246-4545 www.aspencontractinginc.com
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