by Matthew Nuth
From downstairs, Dad called, “Boys, come on down. It is time we talked.”
William looked to Paul and whispered, “Don’t say a word about what I just said, Paul. Dad wants this to be a surprise for both of us. He’ll be pissed that Lyle let me in on the secret.”
Paul glanced down the steps and yelled “Coming, Dad. Give us a second.”
“William, but I don’t know that I want to jump into the business now. My God, I just got home and I think I need to give myself a chance to make it on my own. I think college is first on my list. I have a whole year to catch up on you.” Paul smiled and gave William a brotherly punch to the shoulder. “By the way, how goes engineering? Rumor is engineering is the future of the country.”
William rolled his eyes. “I guess it’s good. Tougher than I expected, though. Calculus is eating my lunch. Paul, you got to consider the business. It’s for all of us. I’ll bet Dad can figure out a way for us to do both, don’t you think. Heck we can both go to A&M here in town. It might take us longer, but we’ll be our own bosses; making a name for ourselves.”
In William’s face, Paul could see the optimism bursting. This had apparently been something that was so important to him, he was having trouble containing his exuberance.
“Okay, we’ll try, but school is number one priority, right?”
“Right,” William solemnly responded turning his head away to attempt to hide his grin.
The boys headed downstairs, to hear Dad out.
Chapter 7
Winter had come early in 1948. Halloween had not yet arrived and two snowstorms had already dumped a blanket of white on the town. “Guess what kids?” Paul thought to himself as he drove toward the campus to drop William off for class. “This year the trick will be on you; no treats unless you were willing to traipse through crusty snow and brave the freezing nights of a Colorado winter.” Paul hated the winters and had longed to leave for somewhere that never saw snow, the San Diego endless summer Orley had described so often. Southern California would eventually be home.
The last three years had flown by for Paul. He had meant to enroll in school, but with the business, things ALWAYS seemed to come up that compelled him to pour himself full-time into the job. It did not bother him; he was still young. Hell at 23, there was always next year.
In reality, it did not even bother him much that William had followed his brotherly advice, deciding to put the business last and put school as his number one priority. Someday, William’s education would be a great addition to the business. So, for now, William was in school and Paul had largely taken over the reins from Dad to run the business.
Lyle and Virginia made his transition from kid to adult, from GI to private citizen, and from Dad’s son to boss, a heck of a lot easier than it could have been. They were smart and completely selfless when it came to getting credit for a job well done. They were happy with their share of the profits at the end of each month. Paul had begun to develop a completely different understanding of their relation with Dad. Theirs was one of complete appreciation, trust, and reliance borne out the hard times of the Great Depression. Two families had been thrown together by circumstances beyond their control that had synergistically bonded to create a successful life. Dad and his family brought talent and some money, Lyle and Virginia brought intelligence and a desire to work. Together they had developed a bond of loyalty that, today, Paul was ashamed that he had not grasped as a kid.
Paul was still surprised at Lyle and Virginia’s apparent humility. It was if they lacked any ego when it came to being recognized for their ideas or contribution . . . and their contribution was quietly huge. Three years ago, Paul had not an idea as to what the awning business was, let alone how they would expand into general contracting. Yet, they had persevered and learned together. Together, they had completed a handful of home remodel efforts, built half a dozen homes; selling each for a decent profit, and now were bidding on an opportunity larger than all their previous construction efforts put together. The awning business was pretty much a memory at this point.
Virginia ran the office, took care of the books and pretty much made sure Simmons & Sons stayed current with the bank. She paid the bills to the suppliers and contractors making sure the checks were available for Paul’s signature each morning. Most importantly, she made sure they remained frugal, not allowing their growth to get ahead of their cash flow. Lyle worked as the foreman for the construction jobs, occasionally still willing to lend a hand if the job fell behind schedule. Paul, completed the bids, met with the bank to review their line of credit and ensured their permitting was current and proper. Dad, pretty much provided a steadying hand and provided Paul “free” consultation. At 23, Paul no longer minded the guidance. In fact, he appreciated, no, cherished it. The discussions always left him feeling more confident about their decisions. William’s contribution: well that would come next year when he finished school.
Paul pulled the truck up to the curb and Bill bounded out. “Paul, thanks for the ride. I will be studying late tonight at the library, so don’t worry about picking me up after work. I’ll either walk home or hitch a quick ride with a pretty girl from school,” his countenance flipping from serious to smiling.
Paul grinned, too. “Good thing. I wasn’t planning to give you a ride anyway. We have a ton of work to complete the bid on renovating the Armstrong Hotel. It served well as a barracks during the war, but frankly the GI’s staying there while they went to school at Colorado A&M beat the hell out of her and now she needs some real tender, loving care. The Armstrong wants the entire ground floor reworked to make room for two large conference areas and large foyer for the lobby. If we win this bid, it might be the only good thing to come out of that war for me.”
William looked down and toed some ice from the walk. “Crap, when does the bid need to be in? I am swamped with mid-terms and I have to nail these exams if I am to stay in the engineering program. I am afraid I will not be able to help”
Paul laughed at the comment since it seemed that William never had time to help with bids. “Lyle, Dad, and I have pulled together most of what we need, William, so don’t sweat it. You have go and get ahead of the power curve with school. We really need you if we’re going to make this step. We are counting on this deal paying the bills for next year.”
William, nodded, turned quietly away and began walking to his classes. To get to his classes, William tramped through a thin, icy crust of snow covering the grass of a cottonwood-lined, commons area about the size of football field. Paul waited in the truck until he saw William’s figure duck into the blonde brick, three story building that served as home for the school’s aspiring engineers. Paul had been in the building several times. It always left him feeling somehow inadequate as he watched the students moving from class to class, proudly lugging their thick books and slide rules as badges of honor.
Paul put the truck in gear and pulled slowly away from the curb. Today he and Lyle would be spending the majority of the day at Dad’s house hammering out the final aspects of their bid. He was optimistic, but somehow had just become less happy than any time since returning home.
* * *
Lyle pulled his legs up onto the spare chair in Dad’s office. “I think we are back on schedule and budget. We should be pretty well done with the hotel by the first of May. So, what’s next?”
It had been a hectic six months since winning the Armstrong bid. Things had turned tough when they had discovered a need to re-plumb the heating and replace the boiler. Although the additional cost was renegotiated into the contract, they had failed to garner acceptance for a delay in the job’s completion date commitment. A performance bonus of 5% awaited them if the Armstrong could reopen in time for the spring. May 1st meant the difference between a big profit and barely break even.
It now looked as though profit was in sight, but it had come with some pretty high personal costs. Lyle had been pu
tting in 12 hours Monday through Saturday, keeping the subcontractors on schedule and riding hard on the quality aspects of the job. Paul had taken responsibility for managing the boiler and plumbing upgrade, leaving him no time to beat the pavement to bid on future business. The effort of soliciting future business had fallen solely on the shoulders of Dad.
The strain had taken the most toll on Dad. The financial risk of the Armstrong job had aged him years over the six months of the project. The relief on Dad’s face upon hearing the news from Lyle was obvious now that it appeared they were going to turn a profit. Paul even thought he could see the hint of a smile as Dad’s cheeks tightened and the slight indention of dimples showed, something that had been missing for too long. It was becoming obvious to Paul their business was going to have to change significantly if they were to continue to grow.
Paul tentatively suggested “This was tough on all of us. Maybe it’s time we looked to add another person to the team.”
“Paul, I think you are right. I think it is about time I pulled William back into the team to pull his weight,” Dad stated.
“Well that’s not exactly what I was thinking. Besides, William will be a full-fledged engineer in a year. Let’s not make him pull out of school now. He would have saved us a ton on this last job just by being able to certify our construction plans had he already been a full-fledged engineer. I was actually thinking we should pull in a part-time architect to the business.”
Dad rolled his eyes. “You have not talked to William much about his grades, have you? He will be lucky to finish in another year and even at that, since he hasn’t been the most stellar student, I am not sure we could not pull in a better engineer to the team. I am beginning to question if I made the right call to make him part of the business.”
Paul was shocked. Lyle just quietly pulled his feet down from the chair and stood to leave the room.
“Don’t leave, Lyle. You know what I am talking about. You want to tell Paul how helpful his brother has been the few times he has been on the job site,” Dad commented sarcastically.
Lyle turned back to Dad, “John, I don’t feel comfortable talking about William. He’s a good kid. Maybe he’s just not cut out to be an engineer.”
“Stop it, Lyle. If we would have put his suggestions into the job, we would have had a mess on our hands today. Instead of getting ready to celebrate success, we would have still been stuck in rework and probably would have had some real dangerous situations with the material savings he was proposing. Thank goodness, some the contractors came forward and forced us to seek out a real professional to engineer some of the support beams we needed for the ground floor. Hell, the whole place could have come down on us during demolition.”
Lyle looked at the floor then to me. “He’s right, of course,” then back to Dad “but, he’ll learn. He still has another year of school.”
“School, yeah sure. If he could keep his eyes in the books and not on the girls I could agree with you. I just do not see him being much help as an engineer. I’ll tell you what, I will put off any conversations with William for the time being. Paul, what do you have in mind for the architect . . . and how do you suggest we pay for him?”
Chapter 8
Three weeks later, the final inspection of the Armstrong was complete. With the deposit of the final funds from the Armstrong hotel, it was time to introduce Dad to Paul’s idea for the next phase of John Simmons & Sons. A project that would change the complexion of their company for good and make a real impact on the town.
For Paul, the prospect of going to school full-time was fading even though Dad was pushing him to enroll in the upcoming term. For Dad, John Simmons & Sons had been moving along just fine and would benefit greatly in the long-term by having Paul earn a degree in civil engineering. Although Paul’s Dad had made his mind up that the investment in William’s education was not going to prove to be much of an asset, he had decided that Paul’s natural leadership abilities and creativity would ensure the second investment would pay premiums. For John Simmons, putting off the idea of expanding the business only made sense. Paul, on the other hand, was committed to the next phase of the business, as much for proving his faith in his brother was well founded, as it was for the good of the family.
The last three years had been a period of transformation for the business. The importance of awnings had diminished to size to where it had moved from being the life-blood of the business, to a becoming a nuisance, to effectively being shut down. Shuttering awnings had liberated needed office space and freed up resources for the growing construction portion of the company. The construction work had proven profitable, but as Paul had come to realize, the difference between business success and bankruptcy was extremely small, continually dependent on the next job in the queue. In Paul’s mind, to slow the business at this time would define and limit the business, crippling its growth and relegating its best days to those in the past. In fact, he thought slowing the pace now would prove the end of the business. He owed it to William, Virginia, Lyle, Mom, and Dad to not let it fail. School would wait.
This summer, William would work full-time with the company, under Paul’s direct tutelage. Although William had jumped at the opportunity, Paul had become all too familiar with a pattern with William; jump into an idea with exuberance, only to see the interest wain with time or as the job got tough or whenever he saw a pretty girl. Paul was certain that he would need to ride William hard to get steady contribution. He was hopeful that by the end of the summer, he could make a significantly favorable impact on William’s commitment to the business, his future, and his life in general. Most important to Paul was to use this summer to create in Dad’s mind, a different image of William’s contribution and importance to the business. William would either win over his Dad’s trust or be relegated to a role of merely being a tolerated participant in the business due to blood rather than ability, relying on nepotism for his livelihood.
In addition, this summer would be a defining time for the business. Paul had laid out plans for the purchase of a 40-acre plot of land south and east of the college campus for a small housing development of up to 110 homes. It was going to be a new concept for Fort Collins and would put them on the map as a primary construction company in the region. It also would test their mettle for the first time as a developer. The project would mean the addition of a full-time architect for home design, the development of a strategic partnership with a local realtor, and a significantly expanded line of credit at the bank. The promise was large, but the challenges were intimidating.
The selection of the architect had been pretty simple. Limited funding really constricted the search to green hires right out of college. Paying for relocation was out of the question, so limiting the search to people already residing in the region was critical. They eventually settled on a newly graduated architect named Arlin Peeples. Arlin, just a kid really, was someone William had met at college this past year. They had gotten to know each other from their late-night study efforts in the campus library. Arlin had been impossible to miss in the library. To keep his mind alert with his studies, he would periodically jump up from his chair only to fall to the floor, rolling over and over on the cool tile, soaking the coolness up to shock himself back awake. William could not help but laugh at the antic and introduce himself. It was only weeks later that William discovered that Arlin was an exceptionally creative student. Unfortunately for Arlin, but fortunately for Simmons & Sons, his prospects upon graduation had not been great unless he wanted to move to Denver. Although the job with John Simmons & Sons did not pay much, it provided him a means to stay in town with his family and gave him a rare opportunity to make an impression on a new residential concept based on limited number of basic home designs for an entire neighborhood. He would be responsible not only for the initial home designs, but he would also establish basic design options for the interiors and exteriors that enabled each home to have its own ind
ividual look while still keeping the economies associated with common construction processes and materials. He took it as a challenge and opportunity to make a mark early in his career.
The project also required the addition of a committed and focused realtor. Joseph Klein and Company, had signed on to the team. Joseph Klein and Company came with a number of contingencies. The participation provided the realtor final approvals on the basic home designs, lot plans, basic construction materials, appliances and pricing. In addition, they wanted a sales office and exclusive rights to market and sell the new properties. Their cut was to be 3.5% of the net selling price of the homes. For their take, they had agreed to develop and provide all marketing materials, provide full-time sales staff support, serve as broker, and, through their banking connections, provide the primary conduit for necessary mortgage funding.
With these two new resources, three huge challenges still loomed. First was garnering a commitment of significant funding from the bank, second, closing on the land parcel purchase, and last aligning with the town on extending their utility and road access.
Virginia and Paul hashed out the proposal to the bank with Paul’s Dad. Paul had not anticipated the number of variables Virginia had wisely contributed to the business plan. By the time they were ready to go to the bank, they had supplemented the basic financial overview with details on labor, material suppliers, zoning, typographical maps, some basic home elevations to provide a pictorial look at what they were intending to deliver. The work had been much more extensive than Paul had initially expected to deliver, but after the work, he realized how unrealistic his original thoughts had been. He now felt confident that they now had a plan that not only would pay off financially, but would also make a huge contribution to changing the face of the town.
