Hayner Hoyt joins “Top Contractor” list

SYRACUSE — Last year’s revenues of $145.6 million vaulted the Hayner Hoyt Corporation into the top ranks of USA construction companies as measured by revenue, according to Engineering News Record, a McGraw–Hill publication. “In 2013, we’re projecting $186 million in revenue,” says Gary Thurston, the company’s chairman and CEO. Thurston’s son Jeremy C., who is the president of Hayner Hoyt, points out that the company “… has grown 400 percent in just the last decade.”

Richard Hoyt launched the company in 1966, when he shifted from building custom homes to light commercial work. Today, Hayner Hoyt employs 190 in general contracting, construction management, conventional design/build, renovation, and development. In addition to the construction company headquartered at 625 Erie Blvd. W., the enterprise includes Doyner Co., a masonry sub-contractor, and LeMoyne Interiors, Inc., a metal framing, dry-wall, and acoustical-ceiling contractor.

The principals and stockholders of the three, sub-S, operating companies are the Thurstons, father and son, who also own two real-estate companies: Thurston Properties and 6715 Joy Road Associates, LP. The two real-estate firms own the 35,000 square feet of building space which houses the operating companies.

Health-care construction is a major source of the company’s rapid growth, including an eight-level addition currently under way at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center in Syracuse. “The LEED project …  [comprises] 260,000 square feet, which includes 72 hospital beds, 36 ICU beds,17 operating rooms in a 73,000-square-foot surgical suite, an expanded post-anesthesia unit, and 12,000 square feet dedicated to a central sterile unit,” says Jeremy Thurston. “The $100 million addition is the largest job we’ve ever … [undertaken]. Ninety percent of the work is new construction and the … [remainder] is renovation.”

“In addition to our work in the health-care field, Hayner Hoyt has enjoyed steady growth in construction for the higher-education community,” says the company’s president. “These two areas complement our other clients in financial services, hospitality, industrial and commercial, retail, historic renovations, churches, housing, and office space.”

Both Thurstons attribute the company’s success to its adherence to the original philosophy of Richard Hoyt and Don Hayner. “We have a full book of business, because we’re customer-oriented,” notes the company chairman. “Nearly 100 percent of our business comes from either our existing customers or from referrals by these customers. We don’t pursue hard-bid work, preferring to rely on the continuity of our relationships … The company has never been revenue driven; we’re opportunity driven. That’s why we weathered the recession with only a modest dip in revenues. On the whole, we have grown our revenues, profit, and the number of employees since the recession began in 2007.”

“There is one change,” says Jeremy Thurston. “Historically, we have sought most of our work within a 60-mile radius of Syracuse. The only time we have done work out of the area is when we follow a customer to a new site. Considering our current size, the company needs to reach out farther [geographically] to find enough opportunities to continue our growth. We are also moving ahead to find a sales-and-marketing manager to identify construction opportunities, especially in the private sector.”

Hayner Hoyt’s chairman, who is celebrating 40-plus years in the construction industry, has witnessed a number of technological changes that have impacted his business. “When I started out, my first firm was actually computerized, [albeit] with a punch-card system. We had basic software that performed functions such as estimating and payroll.

Today, everyone has a computer, and we [even] have laptops/tablets in the field. Everyone has an iPhone and an email account. Project engineers can take pictures with their smart phones while on a project and share a visual of a problem. We also use BiM (building-information-modeling in 3-D) to identify potential problems before we get to the construction phase, and we store all of this information electronically. Communication with the staff and with the customers is obviously much easier, especially with web conferencing,” says Gary Thurston.

“But there is a downside to all of this technology,” says Jeremy Thurston, the company president. “Relying too much on technology detracts from personal relationships. Conflict resolution via email is not very effective. It’s also too easy to pull design detail from a previous project rather than think through a [particular] problem. We spend $150,000 a year on technology, and I know it’s necessary to run the business. Still, I think we need to spend more time thinking and less time rushing to communicate.”

Hayner Hoyt’s rapid growth has put pressure on the company to find talented employees. “It’s hard to find experienced people,” says Gary Thurston. “Fortunately, we don’t get a lot of turnover, and some of our staff has more than 40 years [of longevity] with the company. Our recruiting is mostly local, hiring from area colleges and universities. We have to grow our own talent. Hayner Hoyt pays competitive salaries … [supplemented] by bonuses. We pay 100 percent of the employees’ health care and have a 401(k) with over $8 million in assets. The plan vests every new hire from day-one. I think we have created a family environment.” Thurston’s comments are supported by Hayner Hoyt’s recognition — six years in a row — as one of the “Best Places to Work” in New York State.

When talking about employee talent, both Thurstons also point to the management team that guides the company. In addition to the two principals, Maureen Barry is the company CFO, Michael George is vice president of operations, Marty Rainbow and Gus Hernandez are project executives, Terry Anderson is the human-resources director, and Steve Benedict is the director of field operations.

Gary Thurston, 67, is a native of the Mohawk Valley. He graduated from Utica College in 1968 with a degree in construction management. Thurston joined Hayner Hoyt in 1978, starting as a field superintendent on a project in Buffalo, and moving up to project manager and head of operations. He was appointed president in 1985 and moved into the position of board chair in 2008. Thurston is the father of five sons; he and his wife, Mary, reside in on Onondaga Hill during the winter months and Sylvan Beach in the summer.

Jeremy Thurston, 36, grew up in Marcellus and also attended Utica College, graduating in 2000 with a degree in construction management. He joined Hayner Hoyt in 1998 while still enrolled in college. Jeremy Thurston’s path began as a project engineer, rose to project manager, and then head of operations, before becoming president in 2008. He resides in Camillus with his wife Carrie and their two children.

“I always knew that I wanted to own my own business,” says Jeremy Thurston, “but at first my father wouldn’t give me a job. He wanted me to earn my stripes.” The elder Thurston concurs with that assessment. “Jeremy worked his ass off,” says Gary Thurston, not putting too fine a point on the description of the process. “Once he proved himself not just to me but to the employees, he became president.” Jeremy Thurston became a stockholder in 2010.

Hayner Hoyt also attributes its success to long-term relationships with area professionals. “We have been with KeyBank for decades, even back in the days when it was First Deposit [& Trust]. We also rely on M&T for our insurance. The folks at Firley Moran [Freer & Eassa] have … [overseen] our accounting for as long as I remember, and Jack Stinziano (now retired) has handled our legal work.

Hayner Hoyt’s rise to the top ranks of American contractors has not been without setbacks. In 2007, the company began rehabilitating the Hotel Syracuse Tower to convert it into a 75-unit apartment complex. The owner/developer, GML Tower, LLC, and a subsequent owner, Ameris, went bankrupt in 2008. Hayner Hoyt stopped work on the project and filed a mechanics lien for $3.2 million. Altshuler Shaham Provident Funds, which held a $10 million mortgage on the property, challenged the lien contending that its mortgage outranked the lien. Two New York State courts sided with the Thurstons, who in June 2012, purchased the building, now renamed Symphony Tower. A year later, the New York Court of Appeals overturned the lower courts’ rulings.

“We own the Tower,” says Gary Thurston, who has paid all of the sub-contractors in full for their work. “After five years of legal haggling, it’s sad to see the project stalled like this, a project which could help to revitalize downtown Syracuse.”

Hayner Hoyt has entered the ranks of America’s top contractors in less than half a century. The only question now is how far up the rankings will they move.

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@cnybj.com