Fry Construction

Source: Construction Digital

Date :21/11/2007 16:33:06

Specialization leads to success

Thanks to the vision of its founder, Fry Construction is a company with ?particular expertise; it specializes in the construction of medical imaging facilities

Written by Alison Withers and Produced by Sean Bakke

The company, owned by husband and wife team Ben and Cindy Fry, is based in Dallas, Texas and operates throughout Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico. President Ben Fry started the company in 1984, after being involved with the construction of the first operational MRI system in Dallas, Texas, in 1983, at the University of Texas Health Science Center. Cindy is co-founder and CEO, taking care of the financial side of the business.

Ben Fry explains: “Within a couple of years of MRIs being introduced to medical practice, people sought construction companies with experience.” As the only construction company with that experience, he says he saw potential in the market and in 1988 decided to focus specifically upon medical imaging: “To this day, we feel we have the most experience in constructing MRI and imaging systems in Texas.”

Today the company is on the preferred contractor list for Siemens Medical Solutions, GE Medical Systems, Toshiba American Medical Systems, Philips Medical Systems and Hitachi Medical Systems, the five biggest-name manufacturers in medical imaging equipment.

Precision building

“People come to us to construct the facilities which will house MRIs, although we also construct centers for CT systems, X-Ray equipment, heart catheterization labs, or anything associated with medical imaging,” says Ben Fry.

“The majority of our work is based on construction inside existing hospitals and clinics, although we do some from the ground up. What makes the business interesting is that we not only have designs built around the equipment specifications, but we also have to plan how to physically deliver the equipment to the building, as it often needs to be situated on upper floors.”

The installation of equipment is the job of the manufacturer itself, although the two companies inevitably have to work together to ensure the suitability of the facility. It’s a closely-knit sector in that while Fry Construction has its own in-house electricians, it uses a set of sub contractors for the remainder of the building work. However, Fry Construction differentiates itself from other companies by continuing to work with the same subcontractors as they, too, have extensive expertise in this field.

Mr Fry explains: “Fry has never taken the low-bid route when it comes to sub contractors. That way we work as a team and all are familiar with the medical manufacturers’ requirements. When it’s a difficult project, we’re the ones they call.” He says he takes a very hands-on approach too, particularly in making estimates for projects because the company is “not a typical contractor; we approach projects as a cohesive team.”

The key is to get it right first time, he says: “Time is money in medical imaging equipment. A one week delay in completion can cost the client $40,000 in lost revenue. In addition, the majority of the medical vendors do not receive payment for their equipment until it is turned over to the end user.”

That can mean extra costs for a piece of equipment already costing several millions of dollars; it’s this attention to being on time that has helped to make Fry Construction’s reputation what it is today: “Our reputation is that we get it done when we say we will and are willing to pay overtime out of our own pockets to meet any agreed upon completion date. That’s paramount before everything, even profit. Our word is our bond.”

The company pays careful attention to being lean and fit after the “crunch” of the 1980s economic slump. Ben Fry states: “It’s good business practice to keep overheads as low as possible.” It’s a policy that avoids a great deal of pain through the highs and lows of the business cycle and it seems that the workforce appreciates that. Staff turnover is very low too, the President states: “I would say in the management positions, superintendents and above, we have lost only three people in the past 20 years.”

The company also has a policy of taking care of its people. They get the usual benefits such as medical insurance, a 401k retirement plan and holidays, but they are also eligible for annual bonuses and possibly mid-year bonuses, depending on the company’s performance.

Salaries are kept within what he calls reasonable limits, but the advantage is that if there is a downturn in the market, the company does not lay people off or reduce salaries. Strategic planning is also applied to the amount of new business the company takes on; they do not agree to more jobs than they can effectively fulfill. Not only that, most contracts tend to be completed within six to twelve weeks, although there are projects that have a six month duration.

The company currently has a contract with an apprentice school for training its electricians too, paying part of the tuition fees and providing on-the-job training to complement the school-based training. It also assists in paying a portion of the fees for apprentices to become journeymen (licensed electricians). The company is currently in discussion with local universities to provide personnel with training in construction management for the future.

Workflow has accelerated dramatically over the years with the development of email and the internet, as Ben Fry explains: “We have our own in-house communication network, which has greatly increased productivity over the past 20 years.” It has also made transmitting plans, designs and changes between Fry Construction, architects, and sub contractors quicker and far more efficient.

Plans for the future

Strictly managed and planned growth will be the way forward for Fry Construction. It has recently picked up two large contracts: one is for an MRI project at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the other is a Cath Lab (Heart Catheterisation) project at Lackland Air Force base in San Antonio. Fry is currently retrofitting three Cath labs at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, Texas.

One of the company’s most complex projects in the past was to retrofit seven Cath labs at the Methodist hospital in Houston. This meant creating a sterile area in which Fry Construction could work at night on one lab, while keeping the remainder operational. “That was pretty challenging,” says Ben Fry, with considerable understatement, but then, he added, it’s those kinds of individual project challenges that make the job so interesting.

Increasingly the company finds itself involved with R & D being carried out by equipment manufacturers, he says. Siemens, for example, holds a seminar every year with a select group of construction contractors, to inform them of new developments and to get feedback on construction issues. This means that construction companies like Fry are influencing designs and occasionally triggering modifications.

Ben Fry says he expects to see the company continue to grow over coming years, depending on the market, which to some extent is dictated by the Government’s willingness to reimburse hospitals and clinics that install specific types of new equipment. However, his plans include taking on more managers and moving on to larger projects. In five to ten years, he also envisions employing their own in-house designers and architects to further improve service to the growing list of clients.