Jay Dacey (left) and Dan Russell, founders of Braintree-based Integrated Builders, are shown here during a February visit to the Winchester Place Condominiums in Winchester, one of the projects being overseen by their firm.
When Black Rock Golf Course developer George McGoldrick Jr. tabbed Integrated Builders to construct his Hingham project’s 45,000-square-foot clubhouse, the choice was influenced by two factors. One was a favorable recommendation from a trusted building inspector. The second?
“I also figured that if anybody ever had a problem, I could tell them, ‘Go talk to those two guys at the end of the bar – they’re the ones who built it,'” McGoldrick chuckled during a recent interview. The “two guys,” Jay Dacey and Dan Russell, are not only members of the fledgling private course, but also the founders of Braintree-based Integrated, a multi-faceted general contracting firm that is now closing out its 10th year in business. The firm focuses on the Southern New England market.
Thus far, Integrated’s performance has justified McGoldrick’s instincts, he said. The slickly designed clubhouse is on track for an August opening, even in the wake of a harsh winter and soggy spring that has challenged all New England contractors. But armed with a slogan to operate “from a client’s point of view,” the two former alums of the renowned Flatley Co. insist their customers need not have such a close relationship to garner Integrated’s avowed attention to detail.
“If something is not right, we’ll fix it,” said Dacey, citing one instance where Integrated relocated an elevator even though the design plans had deemed it be placed in a certain location. “Why aggravate a customer over a few thousand dollars?” he said, adding that the firm also holds a certain golden-rule standard for its employees and subcontractors. “We ask them, would you accept this work in your house?” Dacey explained, with the company so confident that it doubles the typical project guarantee period from one to two years.
The Early Years
That approach would seem particularly critical for a firm that has always relied on repeat business. After struggling through its inaugural 1992 campaign, a period when the commercial real estate market was just emerging from a brutal three-year recession, Integrated turned a small lobby renovation for Data General into a stream of assignments over an eight-year stretch, with the relationship lasting until the high-tech concern was acquired by EMC Corp.
“We owe a debt of gratitude to Data General,” said Dacey, both in helping to carry Integrated in the early years and in reinforcing its commitment to the customer. The firm has since performed repeat projects for such entities as Berwind Property Group, Amersham Biosciences and Clair Mercedes, for whom the contractor recently completed an acclaimed luxury automobile showroom in Westwood.
Indeed, while Integrated has an established track record on corporate contracting, and anticipates further business from interior build-out projects, the firm has performed a wide variety of construction. Along with Porsche and Audi auto dealerships, Integrated was recently hired to retrofit a Rhode Island industrial building into a precious metal processing facility for Tiffany & Co. The company is also comfortable in the retail and multifamily sectors, with a luxury Winchester development, the Winchester Place Condominiums, among the ongoing projects presently being overseen by Integrated.
Launched on little more than its founders’ bootstraps, Integrated’s growth has been encouraging, said Russell, with revenues rising from $1.2 million in the second year to a peak of $47 million in the late 1990s. “It has exceeded our expectations,” said Russell, with the firm today employing about 40 professionals.
The downturn has slowed Integrated’s growth slightly, with revenues down to about $35 million last year after reaching $40 million in 2001. But after a sluggish beginning to 2003, Integrated is hoping to again reach the $40 million mark this year, said Russell, a forecast aided by several recent designations. Integrated, for example, just completed an 80,000-square-foot fit-out on behalf of Siemens Corp. in Chelmsford. The project involved reconfiguring office and laboratory space at 271 Mill Road, originally developed for Tellabs by Boston Properties.
Along with the Tiffany’s conversion, Integrated is also busy on a major overhaul of the Blue Hill Country Club in Canton, is serving as construction manager on an $8 million renovation/expansion for Control Delivery in Watertown and has several tenant fit-out projects in various stages as well.
While acknowledging that Integrated is pursuing various leads for future projects, Russell and Dacey also stressed that there is a limit to the ultimate size of their creation. A key element of the firm’s quality control effort, Russell explained, is that he and/or Dacey is always directly involved in overseeing each undertaking. The capacity is probably about a dozen jobs annually, they estimated, or in the $60 million to $65 million range.
Integrated has done a number of sophisticated laboratory projects, and Dacey said the firm hopes that life sciences will be a source of activity in the future. For the time being, however, that arena has tailed off, while construction of new commercial buildings is also likely to be slow over the near term. In addition to the core projects it is working on, Integrated also has begun providing estimating services to landlords and potential investors who might want to determine the cost of renovating a property prior to purchasing the asset.
Joe Clements may be reached at jclements@thewarrengroup.com.
