C.A. O’REILLY & ASSOCIATES BUILDERS INC., Chatsworth No. 1 Fastest Growing Company $10 Million to $49.9 Million (4,411%) No. 1 Fastest Growing Company Overall What’s a guy to do when the company that he’s devoted 24 years to decides to pull up stakes and return to its roots in Texas? He convinces some other good people who also don’t want to move that he can keep them busy servicing some of the clients to whom they’ve already proved their worth and starts his own company. That’s the story of C.A. O’Reilly & Associates Builders in a nutshell. Chris O’Reilly had been working for HCB Contractors (now known as the Beck Group) for a total of 21 years, building many of Southern California’s landmark buildings, including the first high-rise buildings in Warner Center. Even though the company was based in Dallas, he never thought they’d up and leave, but that’s just what happened. So he talked things over with good friend and fellow 14-year Beck employee Steve Duhm and they decided to take the plunge and become their own bosses. They approached Crate & Barrel, which had used Beck exclusively in California for all of their store construction projects for more than 10 years, and explained that the duo wanted to stay in California and continue doing the C & B; work. The first job wasn’t just handed to them, though. They had to bid it just like everyone else. But their experience working with the company, and their relationships with subcontractors who also had experience doing retail work, helped them win their first project. In the past three years C.A. O’Reilly & Associates has completed four projects for Crate & Barrel and has two others underway. And they’ll likely keep doing that work, according to Rich Stange, senior construction manager for Crate & Barrel who was responsible for oversight of the newly completed Westfield Topanga store. “This was the first time I had worked with them at Crate & Barrel, but the company has been working with O’Reilly for years now, all with positive results,” said Stange. “For me personally, this was one of the smoothest jobs I’ve ever worked on and I’ve been with Crate & Barrel for 10 years.” In particular, Stange said that O’Reilly demonstrated a high level of craftsmanship and attention to detail. He also cited the way they managed the job site itself. “Their site was as organized and clean as I’ve ever seen,” said Stange, “and to me a clean site equates to a safe site so I’m always grateful to see such an organized site.” Meeting deadlines Last, but not least, he said, O’Reilly completed the project on time and within the budget. “They did a really good job with scoping subcontracts, buying the project out and controlling changes,” Stange said. O’Reilly has also completed a number of high-end retail remodels in Beverly Hills for Rolex, Yves St. Laurent and 2 Rodeo; and some shell retail buildings out in Rancho Cucamonga for Forest City Development. “For a small outfit, we’re in good shape; we’re booked solid through the next nine months,” said Chris O’Reilly, who has a business degree from California State University, Northridge. “But we’re going to be spending a lot of time marketing over the next little while.” One plus is they’re carrying no corporate debt. “For the first four months, we didn’t take a paycheck,” said partner Steve Duhm. “We refinanced our houses and took cash out to get things started.” Another thing they’ve got going for them is the way they treat their subcontractors. “Our company philosophy is that we are partners with our subs,” said O’Reilly. “We have to treat them as well as we treat our clients. We’ve got to be loyal to them and they’ll be loyal to us.” For example, on smaller projects, O’Reilly will finance the subcontractors, meaning that they don’t make the subs wait until the client pays their last bills. They also process change orders as they come along, not waiting to total everything up at the end of the job and then try to negotiate. Knowing they’re going to be paid timely motivates subs to give them better pricing, also, Duhm added. And that’s something they can pass onto their clients as well. “We like it when it’s a win-win for everyone,” said O’Reilly.