MJ'S Backhoe & Excavation Case Study

MJ’S Backhoe & Excavation, Inc., (MJ’S) a family-owned commercial excavation operation established in 1988, has experienced 20% growth over the past several years. Founded on owners Tina and Mike Apostolou's conviction that integrity and respect are the basis of success, MJ'S developed a reputation as one of the top commercial excavation operations in the region. They were awarded Top Subcontractor of the Intermountain Region for 2006.

However, the growth came with two significant challenges. First, working at full velocity, MJ'S was growing as a business but profitability was not keeping pace. Second, having begun as an owner-operator business, the Apostolous were shouldering all the leadership responsibilities without experiencing the financial and time freedom they had hoped their business would create for them.

When the Apostolous decided to have a third-party evaluate their business and help them manage their growth in a way that would fulfill their long-term vision, they engaged the Price Associates team.

An Unconventional Approach
The initial analysis revealed that a strong strategic plan was essential to ensure that the structures and systems MJ'S put in place would have on-going value and relevance while increasing the company's profit margin.

Since MJ’S owners were the key decision makers, Price Associates adopted an informal approach, conducting interviews versus a formal strategic planning process to develop an understanding of the heart and values Mike and Tina Apostolou held and the company culture they were hoping to create. In partnership with Price Associates, Mike and Tina were able to paint a clear picture of three key factors to answer the question:

"Where are we in terms of structure and systems development, ability to produce products and services in effective timeframes on a profitable basis, and development of our people and company culture?"

While the approach was informal, the process was based on principles that proved just as effective as they would in a structured management team atmosphere. Bottlenecks were identified and released. This unleashed the profitability the Apostolous were seeking. Ron Price, president and CEO of Price Associates explains, "MJ’S already had more excellent structure and systems in place than they realized. They were poised for a breakthrough and just needed a little help with the bottlenecks. They did 90% of the work and we only did 10%. But the 10% we did opened the way to allow the surge of productivity and profitability which followed."

Unprecedented Results
Over the year MJ'S partnered with Price Associates, the team produced a clear three-to-five-year plan. They established structures and systems that broke impasses, dramatically increased profitability, and set the stage for the company culture of integrity and employee satisfaction. Plans were implemented to build leaders and share the leadership responsibilities. Mike says "We were able to take more time for ourselves while our company set records for growth and profitability."

MJ’S enjoyed their best year ever in terms of bottom-line results and employee and owner satisfaction. Next year looks to be even better as they focus on implementing their new strategic plan.