This article and
photo ran in Business Venture Magazine, 1996
As American business prepares to close its most productive and busiest 100 years, and the global economy prepares its launch into the 21st Century, a brief time of reflection will undoubtedly be observed.
The developments and progress seen since 1900 rival any period in history. And, since the scope of that macrocosm is so wide, it will be microcosmic specifics that dominate the discussion.
It is in such companies as McNerney and Son, Inc., general contractors and builders, that the progress of the past 100 years can be tangibly demonstrated.
Started by Peter McNerney in 1900, McNerney and Son has developed along with the times, from an asphalt roofing company to a construction company to present day general contractors and construction managers.
John H. McNerney, president, a fourth generation member of the firm, joined in 1992 and was instrumental in developing two product lines: Interior Division, specializing in partition, furniture Systems, in-plant offices and mezzanines and a pre-engineered steel building line featuring Butler Building Products.
"With Butler, we have the ability to service and continue servicing our customers with any type of need, whether it be a new building, an interior remodel, or solutions to a facility or business environment that needs a reorganization," John said.
"Our philosophy is, and has always been, economic solutions for customers and maintaining the utmost quality while keeping the time schedule of the project or projects," he said.
According to McNerney, 75% of the firm's work is negotiated, and of that, 75% is with repeat customers. "This gives us a good mix by servicing our existing customers while keeping a controlled rate of growth with new customers," he said.
John's father, N. James McNerney, bought control of the company in 1955. He is active as Design and Build Construction Manager. "Being a family business, we are fully involved with our customers, no matter if the job is a $2,000 project or a $1,000,000 project," James said. "The customer will always be dealing with the owner himself; if anything is needed, John can be at his desk upon request to go over any wants, needs, or changes."
John echoes his father's belief in McNerney's strengths. "I feel this makes our services very desirable, as opposed to firms who may leave any business dealing with the owner up to another member of the company," he said.
John said another factor which differentiates McNerney and Son from other contractors is, "We are solution-oriented. A customer may say, 'we would like you to bid this job, but it looks like our budget may be tight.' In this situation, we immediately develop an in-house construction team to start creating solutions, including alternatives and options that wouldn't necessarily make any major change whatsoever to the facility, but would save a significant amount of time and money."
An example of this was when Marathon Oil Company was looking for new methods of construction. They wanted to get the same product, but wanted ways to save money on the facilities, and speed up the construction of the building itself. McNerney was selected to work with Marathon on an innovative approach to achieve their goals.
"We set up a design build team that would partner with Marathon to achieve the goals laid out," John said. "As the project evolved, we would design the station with an architect chosen by the design build team. McNerney was also doing the permitting for the entire project. Then the procurement process was analyzed to see if there may be savings in any one of the thousands of items that go into a gas station and convenient store."
In the end a design/build/partnering project, including permitting and procurement, was developed; Marathon gave McNerney the "whole ball of wax."
Real estate development is also a niche of McNerney and Son. "We are currently developing the Wales Road Industrial Community, which is in its third phase," John said. "We are always involved with speculative real estate, in which we will build a facility without a tenant and then market it for sale or lease. We are looking at a spring 1997 start on a new spec facility in the range of 50,000 sq.ft."
The McNerneys agree on where the company is headed as it approaches the new millennium. "We would like to keep our size and grow only with our customers' needs and new prospect opportunities. We plan to be completely computerized, with a company intranet, home page, and a local linkup to our currently computerized customers. We are constantly looking for areas in which to improve ourselves or achieve a better solution device for our customer base."
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