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Building on Experience: Years of metal building history make Barnes Buildings a success July 8, 2013

Founded in 1996, much of the success of Barnes Buildings & Management Group Inc. of Weymouth, Mass., has evolved from the past experiences of President Marty Barnes. In 1974, Barnes graduated from the Wentworth Institute in Boston and upon graduation went to work as a structural detailer for a small local metal building company. In 1982, Barnes decided to open his own company doing contracted design-build projects using pre-engineered metal building systems. Due to the poor economy in 1990, Barnes closed the company and went to work for Metallic Building Co., Houston, as its first sales manager for the New England area. Six years later he decided it was time to go back out on his own again.

“Having established a prior business, I had a pretty good dose of the pressure and challenges that occur when you own your own company,” explains Barnes. “I always enjoyed that. I like the hard work and the competition, and knowing that as the owner you directly control the path that contributes to the success of your organization. I like being in control of the problems and situations as they arise and determining how they will be solved and handled.”

Playing the Field

Barnes likens constructing a project and running his business to being the head coach of a sports team. He believes the winning game plan strategies formulated by a successful coach if he selects good players with a team first attitude. “Having good loyal employees who think team-first is essential to our continued success and providing exceptional service to our customers,” he notes. “Most of our management people and many field personnel have been with us well over 10 years. They are the key to our success.”

When comparing his past experience as a general contractor, Barnes says he learned a couple of valuable lessons: “Stick with what you do best. We still get calls asking if we would do a foundation or other contract work, but we prefer to stick with what we know and do that best and that’s the steel work! We have our own trained steel erection and installation crews and equipment, and we generally deal with the same material suppliers.”

The quality of Barnes Buildings’ work has been applauded by numerous organizations over the years including Metallic Building Co.’s President’s Award in 2001. The company has also been recognized twice by the MBCEA as its “Building of the Year” award recipient. Barnes Buildings was recognized in 2003 for Campanelli Stadium, home of the Broxton Rox Minor League baseball team in Brockton, Mass., and in 2005 for the Manchester Fishercats Minor League Baseball Stadium in Manchester, N.H. Barnes also won the Eagle Award for Excellence in Construction from the Associated Builders and Contractors Inc. in 2003.

Currently customers are seeing the added value in pre-engineered metal building systems, especially within the recreational construction sector. Barnes Buildings has completed a number of recent recreational projects, including the 165,000-square-foot University Sports Complex at the StarLand recreation complex in Hanover, Mass., and the 50,000-square-foot Falmouth Ice Arena in Falmouth, Mass. Barnes claims, “We are capable of providing and erecting large clear span framing that is required for playing areas at a very reasonable cost and very rapidly.”

Building a Reputation

Barnes Buildings inherited much of its initial client base from Barnes’ previous relationships with Metallic customers. Barnes has maintained a relationship with Metallic as a Metallic builder, and has strong relationships with Houston-based NCI Building Systems’ companies.

In terms of forging new customer relationships, there are always some challenges. “Sometimes we would also lose a metal building job strictly because they were buying low price,” he says. “But they’d come back to us next time or even halfway through the project.”

Barnes Buildings holds itself to high standards in providing steel construction. It also has its own local steel fabrication facility where it fabricates structural steel and miscellaneous iron, which provides yet another valuable offering for its customers. The company markets itself as “Steel Construction Specialists” and states that the “Best Buildings are Built by Barnes.” For Barnes, “Nothing is done unless it’s done right.”

In addition, Barnes Buildings prides itself on its comprehensive safety program and providing quality steel construction from a single source. “We try to cover all the steel bases for our clientele,” explains Barnes. “We are not telling them we’re going to put in a foundation for them. We’re telling them we’re going to give you a steel structure, steel siding and roofing if you need that and we install the systems. We can do steel fabrication as we have a shop facility for steel fabrication. We can integrate all these products and bring them as a single-source contract and be responsible for the entire package.”

Article taken from:

http://www.metalconstructionnews.com/articles/magazine-features/building-on-experience.aspx