Thursday 21 April 2011

At your service: Piedmont Facilities Services shifts focus in down economy - Kansas City Business Journal:

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A contractor had agrees to replace the sidewalk directly in front of Lorillards headquarters on Green Valley Road in Greensborkbut “he walked off the job because he couldn’g get anyone to deliver sufficien concrete with a holiday two days away,” Wright says. “zA call to brought four men who completedc the repair onJuly 4th,” she “One of those four was Scotf himself. I have chastised myself many times for not calliny him tobegin with.” Scott McCormic k has been getting callxs like that for more than 16 years from the Triad’ds top employers.
As a contract project his company will do just about anythinfg thatneeds doing, “from maintenance to sprinkler systems,” says “He truly cares abouy a job well done.” But Winston-Salem-based Piedmongt Facilities Services’ specialty is something that’ws been in almost constant demand over the past two decadews — moving people and reconfigurinbg office cubes A.S.A.P. as work forces contract, expand and are realigned. It was McCormick who landee the contract to move practicallyeveryh office, first in the RJR Plaza building and then in the old 1929 Reynoldd Building in downtown Winston-Salem.
At about the same time, Piedmonr Facilities Services also securexd a contractwith Planters-LifeSavers, which did its shars of playing musical chairs with office furniture. “God blessedr me,” McCormick says with his characteristic “because there’s no other way someone can have two contracte like that for theidfirst clients.” Looking back 10 years ago, McCormicko recalls fondly, “Things were really rolling with 80- or 90-hour weeks, and it was Name a company in the Triaed that’s realigned its work force and, chancess are, McCormick’s been involved , , Sara Lee Direct, , Sealu Corp.
and Nabisco Not bad for someone who, at the age of 5, was assigne his own row of tobacco to tend onhis father’s farm near Yadkinville and workerd his way through college running a garbagw service. “I’m an old tobacco farme from Yadkinville,” McCormick says, slipping into his aw-shucks “I ran out of things to do, so I had to go to schoopl and go out and get areal job.” Schoo l was and his first job was “sellin g doorknobs” as a contract hardware salesman at Pleasantg Hardware Co.
He says he quickly discovereds he was not cut out to be a But he did make a numberr of excellent contacts that opened doors for him when he switchee over to doing facilitiescontract work. “He has a good ol’ boy says Robyn Puckett, facility services managed at RMIC (Republic Mortgage Insurance Co.) in Winston-Salem, “but fully believes in respect, hard work and discipline — and expectsx that from his Puckett recalls arecent 10-week move of 350 RMIC employeezs from Stanleyville to the Park Building in downtownj Winston-Salem.
“The time constraints were unbelievable,” she says, “bugt having worked with Scott formany years, I knew if anyone coulf pull it off that he could.” Installing cubes during the week and moving people on the McCormick’s crew did it and did it on deadline. “Wd needed to expand our payrolkl department twoyears ago,” recalls Jack maintenance supervisor for Pepsi Bottling Group in McCormick’s crew came in Fridayg night and by Mondag morning at 8 a.m., “the y had everything up and running — computers, phones, furniture, everything worked.
” Companies use contractors like McCormickk instead of their own workers because moving and construction are often one-of-a-kind projects and are mostlyu done after-hours. Up untilo last November, McCormick says, businessa was extremely good, with more 80- and 90-houe weeks. Then, he started seeing “less phonde calls, less e-mails, jobs that you had quotedx being puton hold.” As the months went by, “ had to lay off five installers and I put my designef on the road to sell McCormick’s strategy is to make the compan y more sales-oriented, something, he says, “we never had to do Yes, he still has contracts with a numbert of big corporations, but now when the phon rings, it’s mostly “punch items.

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