Team Players

Robert A. Bothman Inc. Maintains a People-First Attitude

By Robert Carlsen

It must be a sight to see laborers in yellow safety vests jumping into a Toyota Prius hybrid and tooling along jobsite to jobsite, but that's what's happening at Robert A. Bothman Inc. General Contractors in San Jose.

Green, sustainable actions and products, enthusiastically promoted by management, is equally accepted by the Bothman staff and crew. It's like they're on the same page, a team mentality, and this factor is fueling the company's rise to success.

"We are gearing up to reach a $100 million mark in three years," said Bob Bothman, the president. He added that in four years, the plan is to move into new, expanded local headquarters - in a high-tech, green building now in the planning stages.

Saeed Yousuf, COO, said that through collaborative effort, and in a challenging business environment, the company has managed to double its business in the past four years.

A solar roof over the current corporate HQ building in San Jose, carpooling and the hybrid fleet are just a few of the investments in the environment made by the 28-year-old firm.

Brian Bothman, VP and director of project management and Bob's brother, said the payback for the sustainable elements at the 6-year-old headquarters will be within the four or five years.

"We continue to measure the benefits, but it's definitely worth the investment," he added.

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Brian said he was surprised at the change of attitudes of his crews about using the small hybrids. "You'd never think they'd trade in their trucks for these vehicles, but they did it," he said.

According to James Moore, vice president of estimating, Robert A. Bothman Inc, started the business (named initially B & B Concrete Construction) as a concrete subcontractor, doing mainly residential foundation and site concrete work.

In the early 1980s, Bob began bidding subcontractor work for public park builder Robert Quatman Associates of Hayward. These projects marked a more formal entry into public works construction, which has been the firm's core business ever since.

Robert A. Bothman Inc. began life as a general contractor with a 1987 playground project for Castro School in Mountain View. The following year, the general contractor won a $3 million bid for the Fairfield Linear Park.

The early 1990s recession forced Bob to diversify the company, developing an emphasis on heavy engineering through a series of earthquake seismic retrofit and repair and municipal infrastructure projects. School landscape and sitework also worked well for the company.

The company stretched its capabilities on the $4.8 million first phase of a 10-year, $13.5 million engineering and landscaping project on the Guadalupe River in San Jose for the Redevelopment Agency of San Jose, which was completed in 1994. But the risk was worth it, according to Brian, in that the company formed a good relationship with the city and future contracts ensued.

Moore said that Bothman's entry into the sports facility construction market began in 1993 with the Strawberry Field project at UC Berkeley. The success of this project led the company to the university's Memorial Stadium field renovation project.

Bothman then ventured into the design-build market to take advantage of the 2002 passage of Assembly Bill 1000, which authorized a design-build pilot program for three community college districts (San Mateo Community College District, San Jose-Evergreen Community College District, and Los Angeles Community College District) and up to five individual projects in other districts around the state.

The company, after the lengthy RFP process, was awarded the San Mateo CCD contract for a complete reconstruction of the athletic facilities at the district's three schools - College of San Mateo, Canada College and Skyline.

"We did everything - demo, synthetic turf football, soccer and baseball fields, running tracks, tennis courts, new bleachers, ADA improvements, landscaping and irrigation," Bob said.

Jose Nunez, executive director of facilities, maintenance and operations at San Mateo CCD, said Bothman did an excellent job on the $20 million project, the scope of which was certainly daunting.

The company also has a good relationship to its home city, having been involved in a number of public park and infrastructure projects for the city of San Jose.

"I remember the company 20 years ago as B & B Concrete working out of a small house," said Tim Rott, principal engineering technician for the city's facilities architectural services division. "It has been fun to watch them grow."

The mid- to late-1990s led Bothman to showcase its core competency in concrete foundation work, which later, in 2004, became the basis for establishing a new office in Hawaii .

Bob said he plans to expand the Hawaii operations, which are based on the Big Island, to commercial and resort work as well.

One of the key elements of Bothman's success is the accessibility of its management team.

"Really, the only way to learn what's going on with the company is to be in the field, which we do regularly," said Bob. "You keep the finger on the pulse and your employees feel connected."

Brian said the company's open-door, flat-management tradition has translated into employee longevity. "We have some employees going on 20, 30 years," he said. "And over 30 out of our 218 employees have more than 10 years invested."

Another key is communication, and Bothman has also invested heavily in information technology, including virtual private networks, Timberline construction accounting and hard-dollar estimating software, Nextel communication products and wifi onsite.

"Even though we are growing rapidly and using modern technology, we remained true to our corporate culture -- respect and promoting hard work," Yousuf said.

And even though Bothman has been successful in retaining staff, management is also focused on the future. It currently has intern programs at San Jose State University, Santa Clara University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

"We also pinpoint five to six young people on staff and cross train them in other operational and field duties," said Bob. "We have to get ready for the future."

Yousuf said the long-term plan is to reach $200 million in revenues by 2017. The company is also licensed in Nevada and Arizona.