SBTRC Success Story – Villalobos Concrete
SBTRC would like to say congratulations to Villalobos Concrete. They recently were awarded an $8.5
million contract to work on US6.
West Central SBTRC Coach Keller Hayes recently sat down with Carmen Villalobos, President of
Villalobos Concrete, to find out the secret to their success. As usual, there is no secret. There was a just a
lot of hard work and integrity that Carmen and her husband Hector poured into their business. In 8 years,
Villalobos Concrete has gone from 0 to approximately $31 million in revenues for 2012 and 2013
combined. They didn’t start their company with a wad of cash. Instead, they started with capital of
$7,500. They took out a mortgage on their house to fund a purchase of a $6,300 piece of equipment.
And, since that purchase they have never looked back. In the last 2 years alone, they have grown by 60%.
Hector knew what it was like to work his way up through all levels of concrete work. He started as a
laborer. Carmen started as a manager of a factory. But they had several beliefs that kept them on track to
grow their company. Here are a few of those beliefs:
1.
Never buy more than you can afford. Their first purchase for $6,300 was probably their
furthest stretch. They planned to open a concrete plant in 2012. But as they re-examined the
market and their capital, they decided to postpone that purchase. They now have their own
concrete plant – bought with their own money, not someone else’s.
2. Always do your best – give everything you do 100%. They are both hard workers that lead by
example. And, they have passed that work ethic on to their work force. Other primes say, “You
have the hardest working crew that we know.” Carmen believes that their commitment to good
quality, responsible work and following the rules has helped to build their reputation and
encourage future work. She completely understands that each prime has the right to create the
rules that they want to operate by. Villalobos makes it easy for the prime to work with them.
And, Villalobos also primes nearly 30% of their work. The biggest advantage (other than a larger
percentage of profit) is the control over the schedule.
3. Training. Carmen constantly schedules staff for training. They have taken advantage of training
provided by CDOT, RTD, SBTRC and everywhere else they can. When Carmen and Hector
started out, they weren’t embarrassed to ask questions. Many companies saw their earnestness
and were happy to give them advice on best practices. And, just as importantly, when advice
was offered, they really listened.
4. Have a legal and financial TEAM. Villalobos has a CPA, banker and bonding company that
works together. Each year, the entire team meets with Carmen and Hector. Carmen also
executed audited financials before she was required to. She is passionate about understanding
your financials and learning from them to create your projections. It wasn’t always easy for her.
She needed help to create that first invoice. But, refer back to Item #3, she understands the need
to learn what is critical to your business’ success.
5. Understand the importance of your employees. Villalobos pays for training, including:
concrete finisher certification; CPR; estimating; program management; OSHA; to name a few.
They also provide health insurance and life insurance, with plans to offer a 401K at the end of
this year. They also promote from within. As they continue to grow, they are looking to those
employees who have worked their way up from laborer to be project managers and supervisors.
Carmen says that you should always remember the people that are working in the cold, the rain
and the snow to make your company successful. You can’t do it without them.
6. Focus on your strength. Villalobos reviews their business plan frequently and use it to plot their
growth from today to 10 years from now. Rather than trying to branch out and pull down every
project on the planet, they have chosen to really become experts in the concrete field. They have
made a conscious choice to be the best in concrete and to grow their business in that silo.
7. Share the cake and understand that you affect everyone else’s cake. Carmen has always
believed that Villalobos had to work hard. She also understands that her failures and successes
will impact other DBEs. She takes that responsibility very seriously. When Villalobos primes a
project, they focus on making sure there is substantial DBE participation. On a recent CDOT
project, Villalobos had a 60% DBE participation. And, in Boulder – on a project where no DBE
participation was required – Villalobos had 90% DBEs.
Carmen participated in West Central SBTRC’s Bonding Education Program (BEP). She said it was a
great class. The legal expert really explained all the easy to miss details that could be disastrous to a
small company. And, the bonding company thoroughly went through all the components of a bond.
Villalobos already qualifies for $15 million in bonding, but they still found the information helpful.
Carmen also appreciated the participation by the primes. She was able to meet primes that she wants to
emulate. It is important to find other companies that you can learn best practices from – that’s one of the
factors that has fed Villalobos’ growth.
If you would like to know more about West Central SBTRC’s Bonding Education Program, contact
Joseph Serna at 303.800.3711 or [email protected]