Taken from the October 1998 issue of FDM.

But seizing such opportunities and making strategic machinery purchases to handle them — sometimes at a moment’s notice — have helped the Sterling, VA, company expand to a $5 million business with clients including federal buildings and national accounting and law firms.

Willing to “grow to the size of the job,” Jefferson Millwork & Design waits to purchase machinery until a contract creates a specific need. “It’s better to have work that requires you to augment your tooling,” says Mark Howe, vice president. “That’s the ideal position to be in, for it to start paying for itself right away, rather than borrow against future work and hope you get work to support it.”

After winning the bid for the job in 1996, Jefferson Millwork & Design had six months to assess what was needed before production was to begin. Creating the highly custom designs by hand, which included hundreds of curved, radiused, and tapered components, would have been almost impossible. Plus, the shop’s 25,000-square-foot facility offered limited space.

So the company bought a Weeke BP 140 CNC machining center from Stiles Machinery. Vice president Mike Corrigan estimates it took about six months of fine tuning to get the machine active and communicating smoothly with AutoCAD 14, Holzma’s Cut-Rite cutlist and optimizing program, and Stiles’ WoodWop software for generating machining code. A Brandt Optimat KD69 edgebander and a Rees dust collection system for the machining also were purchased.

Another room required 40 intricately carved MDF medallions to be set atop 30-foot-high columns. Although it took four days of initial programming, the Weeke could produce one in about five minutes.

In the midst of production at the Ronald Reagan pavilion, another equipment need was identified. Each of the desk panel designs included solid wood edgings. With the shop’s traditional clamp, drying the glued pieces took up to five hours. So a Hess Mobil 2500 clamp, able to apply a 3/4-inch wood edge in about 30 seconds, was quickly purchased.

Even during the bidding stage of the Ronald Reagan project, Jefferson Millwork & Design was willing to upgrade its equipment. Howe, who had prided himself on his artistic drawing abilities, had to rethink his policy of always drafting by hand, as he had for the Holocaust Memorial Museum project. “I believed that when you open a set of shop drawings, architecturally, it was the first thing that would show what you’re capable of — how much detail you are willing to commit to,” he says.

But to bid for the project, contending companies had to submit computerized drawings. Although it was a difficult decision for Howe, the company purchased AutoCAD 14. Experimenting with fonts, the shop’s three full-time engineering and draftsmen attempt to make the electronic drawings look as artistic as possible.

Having loyal clients who ensure a steady income helps too. Eight years ago, Jefferson was hired for a basic millwork job by Hogan & Hartson, an up-and-coming Washington D.C. law firm. As the firm grew, it kept its business with the shop. Now Jefferson Millwork & Design handles all of the woodwork for the firm’s U.S. branches. “And that’s not bid work. It’s simple negotiated work,” says Howe. Over the last five years, Corrigan estimates that the contract has brought in an average of $1 million per year.

Now, about 40 percent of the company’s work is negotiated. The 60 percent that is competitively bid keeps the company “in the marketplace — and lean and mean,” says Corrigan. While a mere four years ago, jobs ranged from $100,000 to $350,000, the company now pursues contracts in the $2 million+ range.

Part of the company’s success is attributed to a willingness to cooperate with architects and general contractors. “We realize that we will be working with these people again in a year,” says Howe.

Jefferson Millwork & Design also offers its engineering services to architects and other involved trades. Although architects occasionally hire the company to do drawings for a project, it does not guarantee that the company will land the job, or even make a profit from the work. But it keeps the business from going elsewhere.

As its client base has evolved, Jefferson Millwork & Design has replaced a specialty in laminate casework for veneer furniture and millwork. The company outsources veneer panels for larger projects to Bacon Veneer, Des Moines, IA. Laminates are produced at the shop, running through a Fin SC2R 1300 glue machine and Europress EC6/120 hot press.

The production floor also features an Altendorf F45 Elmo sliding table saw, an Altendorf F45 sliding table saw, and a Holz-Her 1265 vertical panel saw.

Not interested in working with “transient woodworkers,” Jefferson Millwork & Design, Sterling, VA, strives to hire personnel for life.

“If an employee does what he tells us he can do, he has a job for life,” says vice president Mark Howe. In today’s market, the company realizes that a commitment must be made from not only the worker, but also the employer.

The company’s niche in premium customized millwork demands that workers are devoted to quality and efficiency. And to get personnel up to speed is worth the time. “We don’t believe that it’s too much hassle to train and get employees used to the way that we do business, or pay for furthering of education. It’s the little details that affect our bottom line,” says Howe.

Hiring for life allows time for management to get to know employees and their skills thoroughly. Sometimes workers may start in one position, and later be assigned to a new duty that might be a better fit. Rocky Brown, Jefferson Millwork & Design’s CNC programmer, started in production and was initially “anti-computers.” But when a situation gave him exposure to the software side, he found that his true expertise lay in programming.

Employees enjoy an extensive benefit package, including health insurance, short- and long-term disability coverage, life insurance, a 401K program, and profit sharing. In some cases, management will support its staff in non-work-related areas, such as personal financial problems or lack of English language skills. “That’s taking care of your own. And these guys know it. When they’re off on the weekend, the word gets spread and employees come to us,” asserts Howe.

With reputations as a good place to work and a strong competitor in the market, Jefferson Millwork & Design enjoys the situation of employee candidates seeking it out. Word-of-mouth has proven to be more effective than advertising in area newspapers for the company. If a Jefferson Millwork & Design worker brings in a person who is hired, he gets a “headhunting reward,” and an additional bonus if the person stays for 90 days.

As is the case of most of its machinery purchases, Jefferson Millwork & Design, Sterling, VA, itself began as an answer to a need of a job in progress.

Vice president Mark Howe explains how he received an interesting call from an old college buddy in the fall of 1990. His friend was working as a general contractor for an extensive complex job with a short schedule that was located in downtown Washington D.C.

“The job was for a big law firm and it involved stainless steel and birds-eye maple,” remembers Howe. “And they had underbid it — the industry was very tight. And they realized very quickly that they couldn’t get it done.” The general contractor decided that he had to create his own woodshop in order to make the schedule. Howe soon received an invitation to “take a chance” and join the newly formed business.

Howe’s background was in millwork and design engineering, but he also handled the business side. One other employee was brought on as a foreman.

In 1992, vice president Mike Corrigan left a job as an estimator for a general contractor and was hired at Jefferson Millwork & Design as “the numbers man,” handling contracting, budgeting, and project financing. “That left Mark free to engineer, design, and produce the top quality millwork, while not getting involved in the head-aches that go on day to day on the job site,” notes Corrigan.