The Dow Smith Company EOS Leadership Team (from left to right) Partner and Design-Builder, Joey Rhyne, Field Operations Manager Trey King, President Dow Smith, Safety Director & Chaplain John Key, and Partner and Director of Accounting Shauna McConnell.
During this time of global reset, everybody is being forced to make changes. We have used this time as an opportunity to take a deep look at ourselves, at Dow Smith Company and to discover who we really are and how we are different than other general contractors and design-build companies.
We recently started a journey by adopting the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS). EOS has helped us get focused, clarify our company’s vision and achieve traction in an effort to become a healthy, focused leadership team and organization that makes continual progress towards achieving our goals and vision. In doing so, we have discovered three things that are unique to Dow Smith Company:
1. Servant Culture
The culture at Dow Smith starts with service. Our soon-to-be revised purpose statement will simply be “To Serve.” Listening to our clients and responding to their needs for a new or renovated building “lights our fire.” Pouring concrete, framing walls, hanging doors, and installing toilet paper holders (up to you to find the toilet paper) are much more than just building activities. They are our ways to serve our clients’ needs.
2. Streamlined process (Pre-construction & Construction)
From the moment we are chosen to build or renovate, we immediately start a plan of action that we have crafted for more than 28 years. Imagine a flow chart that begins with assembling the design team and then moves to vision collaboration, schematic design, design development, construction drawings, construction, punch list, and move-in. And all along those steps, a real-world estimate is updated so our client always understands where we are in the process and what it costs.
3. Transparent Communication
We show everything! We believe in developing strong relationships with our clients, but we can’t read their minds. The estimates we provide during the pre-construction phase and construction phase will show true and actual numbers. The fee we charge will be transparent. The wage we pay everyone is seen. Our labor burden is true. We will show all the quotes we receive from all of our subcontractors and vendors. And when we have drawings sufficient to get quotes from subcontractors and vendors we will get at least three quotes in all categories. We make sure that our clients pay fair market value. We believe in consistent communication. We text. We email. We make phone calls. And then we communicate what we anticipate to happen next. We communicate what we need to keep the project going.
We discovered these three unique features by using what we have learned through EOS and by listening to our clients and employees. We recently completed a project for Dhar Family Medicine & Audiology Consultants in Smyrna, Tennessee. Dr. Shashi Dhar summed up his experience with Dow Smith Company: “They have great team coordination. They bring in all the vendors and get the very best price for the customer.”
In an upcoming blog, we look forward to sharing our core values and how they guide us in our relationships with our clients and our community.
