Cover Story
Fighting the current
How Walt Fegley keeps Reno Contracting looking up in a down economy
By Erik Cassano
Smart Business San Diego | April 2009
Page 1 of 4
Walt Fegley fights the current economic downturn by ringing a bell.
No, it’s not a metaphor. He and his staff at Reno Contracting Inc. literally ring a ship’s bell, located in the company’s estimating department.
The bell doesn’t have the cure for lost revenue or work force downsizing, but it does help boost morale.
“For every job we get, we ring the bell,” says Fegley, Reno’s president. “We also put a big announcement out. The message is [that] we celebrate everything that is worthy of celebration. Everybody is proud to be working here, and I want them to know that they should be proud of all the things we are doing.”
As with many companies affected by the current economy, maintaining a positive outlook has been difficult for Reno’s employees. The construction firm, founded in 1993, had grown to a $213 million revenue company by last year. This year, due to a number of planned projects that dried up, company revenue projections have fallen to around $130 million. Reno had to lay off eight people in the past year, and a number of other employees left the company, moving out of Southern California due to the high cost of living.
“Nobody is looking to build right this second,” Fegley says “Everyone is waiting to see what is going to happen with President Obama and his new cabinet. It’s very difficult to see anything out there that you can count on. It’s going to be a very challenging year.”
But challenging or not, Fegley is among those who are charged with paving the way for future success at Reno Contracting. To do it, he’s had to focus on staying nimble, constantly communicating with his people to keep morale up and keeping as much of the company’s best talent as possible.
