Inside Story

Client focused: Marcel Zalloua, project director and Sergio Pires, director of Valmont

Company: Valmont

Rank: 2

Chief executive: Sergio Pires

Founded: 2004

Revenue 2008-09: $14.16 million

Growth: 282.21 per cent

Secrets of success: Fostering a culture that is committed to client satisfaction.

Sergio Pires and Marcel Zalloua founded Valmont in 2004 as a pair of fearless 22-year-olds who needed their parents to guarantee a $200,000 start-up loan after repeated rejections from the banks.

The company, which manages office and retail fit-outs from design to construction, now counts Virgin Atlantic, iiNet and property groups Mirvac and Grosvenor among its clients.

Revenue has grown from less than $1 million in 2005-06 to nearly $14.2 million in 2008-09, putting it in second position on this year's BRW Fast 100 list.

Pires and Zalloua met as construction-management students at the University of Western Sydney and went into business after working for their now rival Built.

The Sydney company had three employees in 2005-06 and now employs 16 full-time and one part-time staff members.

Director Pires, who runs the finance and marketing side of the business while Zalloua looks after the construction and project-management aspects, says they chose to deal with commercial property fit-outs because it was lower risk than residential interiors and there was less competition in the field.

He attributes the company's success to fostering a culture of commitment to client satisfaction among staff. "We put client satisfaction in front of margin, which ensures our main stream of work is from repeat clients."

Pires lists one of his regrets in running the business as poor recruitment choices in the past. "We [should] have taken more time with any recruitment for positions, as quality staff are everything in business. Waiting for the right staff member will save you time, money and your reputation."

To help retain key staff, several receive shares of the company's profit.

Pires says the company plans to recruit more staff this year to aid its expansion. A second office was opened in Perth at the end of last year, a move he says he regrets not making sooner.

The company undertook some work with clients who were expanding into Perth and the pair noticed the potential of the city, with few competitors in its niche. Pires says they "ummed and aahhed" about it for 18 months before opening an office just as the market was contracting.

"If we'd gone in when the market was booming, when the mining companies were going crazy, we really could have taken advantage," he says. " We learned from this you should trust your instincts and go for it. High risk [equals] high return." The office has two project managers, with design work conducted by staff in the Sydney office.

The company will continue to expand its Perth and Sydney offices but has no immediate plans to open in any more locations, Pires says, as competition is fiercer in Melbourne and Brisbane and clients in these cities can be serviced easily out of Sydney.

"Steady growth allows you to address any adverse business practices that may affect the product and the brand that you are offering," he notes, saying the company's long-term goal is a stockmarket listing.

To make up for business lost in the past year due to the global financial crisis, the company started marketing directly to building owners rather than tenants, meaning more of their work has been for landlords, including building refurbishments and "make-good" work where fit-outs are stripped at the end of leases.

Pires says the work is probably not as interesting as the company's usual jobs but has kept it growing and hiring staff despite the downturn. It has also been forced to tighten margins to win work, he says.

Demand for green fit-outs is on the rise and has become the industry norm, with most interior specialists quick to adopt green measures in their work so it is unlikely to be a significant growth market, he notes. “It's a necessity, but everyone's involved in it.”

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