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by Heather B. Hayes
Virginia Business
May 2004

Some companies can turn challenges into opportunities, and so it was with Terry Robinson and THR Enterprises, Inc. Faced with a self-imposed task of breaking into government contracting, the company has thrived “beyond any dream imaginable” at providing building construction and renovation for major federal clients. The key to success? Being proactive and fostering a reputation for quality. “If you do a good job and you continue to do a good job, they’ll keep hiring you,” Robinson says.

The 38-year-old Robinson eschewed the typical salaried career path after studying building-construction technology at Norfolk State University, deciding instead to run his own company. THR Enterprises was initially started for the purpose of purchasing undervalued and distressed properties, renovating them and reselling them. In 1999, after earning steady profits in the real estate buy-sell game, Robinson learned of the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) program for small and minority-owned businesses and decided to turn all of his attention to the federal government. Since then, he says, “we’ve done everything from restoring ditches to constructing whole buildings.”

The effort has paid off. THR Enterprises has been growing at a speedy clip for several years now, taking in $10.8 million in revenues in 2002 — a growth rate of 189 percent over the previous year — and $15.5 million in 2003. Robinson expects the company to reach $20 million in 2004, thanks in large part to several key contract wins last year, including a pair of Army Corps of Engineer construction jobs to build an aircraft hangar and training facility at Fort Eustis and a housing project at Langley Air Force Base. THR Enterprises was also one of a few prime contractors to win the right to bid on construction jobs offered under the five-year, $25 million Navy Multiple Award Contract.

For the next several years, THR Enterprises is pinning much of its growth strategy to a relatively new trend in government construction called “design-build.” “Up until now, the government has been designing its own buildings and then asking contractors to do the construction,” Robinson says. “With this new area, we’ll do the designing and the constructing, and that helps take the burden of liability completely off of the government.”

The company got a jump on furthering that goal last year by winning the Langley Multiple Award Contract, an eight-year design-build opportunity with a ceiling potential for $250 million in construction jobs. “We are one of only four prime contractors that have won the right to bid and compete, so we expect that to have a huge impact on our potential revenues,” Robinson says.

THR Enterprises also wants to gain additional business by teaming up with a Fortune 500 construction company. It is currently negotiating with a major firm that wants to partner with a small local business. “This will give them the opportunity to bid on contracts here in this part of Virginia, and it will open the door for us to further gain access to potential work and revenues,” says Robinson, who notes that if the deal is completed, it will mark the first time that THR Enterprises has acted as a subcontractor. All of its previous and current work, including contracts for the Veterans Administration hospital system and the U.S. Navy, has been as a prime contractor.

THR Enterprises, which recently added 7 employees for a total of 52, is currently expanding its operations to Northern Virginia and North Carolina to better serve existing clients. “We will try to grow as big as we can, but only so long as we can remain proactive and still be able to give the type of customer service that we are accustomed to providing our clients,” says Robinson. “So long as we can manage it, we’ll keep pressing forward.”

Return to Virginia Business - May 2004