SYRACUSE — MCK Building Associates, Inc. recently took some steps to not only grow the construction business, but also to expand its management team and groom the next leaders. Robert Medina and Ted Kinder, hammers at their sides, founded MCK Building Associate in 1978 working on small residential properties. Through the years, the size of […]
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Robert Medina and Ted Kinder, hammers at their sides, founded MCK Building Associate in 1978 working on small residential properties. Through the years, the size of the projects grew and the company expanded as well. As the company took on larger commercial and institutional projects, employment grew as well from that initial two-man operation to today’s 22-employee company.
“We continued to grow all the way through the 90s,” says Kinder, now the company’s secretary and treasurer.
Along with expanding into commercial and institutional projects, MCK Building Associates also took on the role of developer. With a variety of partners, MCK has a hand in more than 10 different projects — ranging from townhouses and lofts to commercial properties.
Kinder has enjoyed watching the company expand over the years, but both he and Medina are looking ahead to retiring within the next five to seven years. To prepare, MCK Building Associates made some recent management changes. While Medina remains CEO, Kinder has stepped down as company president, making room for Timothy Stitt to take over that role while Kinder’s son Jamie Kinder assumes the role of vice president.
“We’re moving forward with Tim and Jamie taking over the construction side of the business,” Ted Kinder says.
When they founded the business, Kinder oversaw the procurement side of the business, working with subcontractors and suppliers, while Medina looked after the financial end of things. Going forward, Stitt will take over those banking duties while Jamie Kinder oversees the procurement side.
Stitt has been with MCK Building Associates for 28 years, starting as a form carpenter and working his way up the ranks to supervisor and project manager. Jamie Kinder has been with the company for nine years, although he grew up working in the business, and most recently served as a project manager.
One of the first projects the new management team is tackling is updating the company’s website with help from Syracuse Design Group. The goal is to make the website, www.mckbuildingassociates.com, more interactive and user friendly. Jamie Kinder says he hopes the new site is live by the end of summer.
Also on the technology front, Kinder says “we’re also looking at various estimating software and project-management software that we can use to streamline things a little more.”
“We have a great product here,” Stitt says. The technology improvements will only enhance that.
New marketing efforts will also help spread the word about MCK, Ted Kinder says. The company plans to do some direct mailing as well as some print advertising and networking with other developers. The goal is to grow both public and private business, Kinder says.
MCK Building Associates has carved out a solid niche over the year with historic building renovations, but he hopes to further expand the company’s commercial and institutional projects. Right now, about 50 percent of MCK’s work involves public projects, with the other half in private work both on its own as a developer or in partnership with other developers.
The company’s revenues are currently in the $8 million to $12 million range, and Kinder hopes to grow that with the new management team, technology, and marketing efforts. He declined to share a specific revenue goal.
This year is already off to a good start, Kinder says, with a development project in Rochester and several school projects under way. The work includes five elementary schools in the Baldwinsville area, Lansing High School, and a $3.5 million renovation project on West Street in partnership with the Syracuse Housing Authority and the National Housing Trust.
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