Foushée and Associates
Specialty: Commercial building construction
Management: Jeff Foushée, president
Year founded: 1977
Headquarters: Bellevue
2004 revenues: $70 million
Projected 2005 revenues: About $70 million
Current significant projects: McMurray Medical Building on campus of Northwest Hospital, First Savings Bank of Renton, Symetra Financial, Barrier Motors PDC/Audi
Bigger is not better at Foushée, which principal Britt Slone said is not volume-driven but focused on providing the highest level of preconstruction and construction services it can. Sticking to its core business and avoiding growth swings has also helped insulate the firm’s 25 office staff and 100 field workers from the industry’s ups and downs.
Then again, Slone said he is pleased the firm has recovered from the economic hit it took after Sept. 11, 2001.
“$70 million is a good year for us,” Slone said. “We feel we’re back on track to where we want to be.”
Slone said the firm’s work, all of it in central Puget Sound, has remained diversified but that medical office buildings and tenant improvements have been hot sectors.
He mentioned three challenges that the firm, like many others, will continue to confront in 2005.
• Inflation in the cost of raw materials. Prices for steel and other raw materials — including rigid insulation, roofing materials and cement — have been driven up by China’s surging demands. Foushée has had to buy materials well in advance of its normal buying cycles to lock in the best possible prices.
• New stormwater regulations. Municipalities are all on different schedules for adopting the state’s new standards for stormwater detention and water quality systems, presenting a major challenge to the firm, its clients and its design partners, according to Slone.
“It’s a matter of creativity, hard work and experience from past projects to mitigate some of those costs,” Slone said. “We’re not just passing them on — that’s not the way we take care of our customers.”
• A dearth of new blood in the building trades. “As the older craftspersons retire, they’re not being replaced by young people entering the trades,” Slone said. He said he’s curious to see an explanation of why more people aren’t being drawn to them since, in his view, the trades still pay very good wages.