ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, April 14, 1996 TAG: 9604150001
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-3 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG
SOURCE: TOM MOATES SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
In business, success is measured any number of ways. An office in a posh new building, for example, with a giant sign in front.
But on Progress Street, a successful design and construction company makes its home in a modest apartment in an inconspicuous house.
The offices of Shelter Alternatives once occupied only the downstairs corridor where Mary Jane Huber now runs mission control.
But the business inched outward over the years and eventually displaced one of its owners, Eric Sallee, who had lived in the apartment while the business grew.
Clutter, however, hasn't consumed the floor space. The large, open rooms look as if they were part of a well-kept residence, except there's a drafting table or desk where the bed or television would be.
"We have a very low overhead," explains Cliff Dowdy, who, along with Sallee, owns the company.
The organization benefits from the Spartan setup. "Eric can lay his hands on all the figures from a house we did, say, three years ago in about 30 seconds," Dowdy said.
The first years of business for Dowdy and Sallee were "rough ... very rough," Sallee said. "To be perfectly honest, I only made $400 the first year."
The two met on a construction job. Sallee, fresh from completing his master's degree in engineering mechanics at Virginia Tech, decided to spend the summer as a carpenter's helper while interviewing for jobs. Dowdy, who had started doing carpentry in college, was lead carpenter on the job.
"One thing let to another," Sallee said. Soon the two men were partners in building a new house for resale, and Sallee had postponed his plans to go to law school. They started the business in 1988.
Not that it wasn't busy, even back then. "We built several houses, but the cash flow was bad," Dowdy said.
The horizon brightened just "yesterday," Sallee said, and laughed. But he wasn't exaggerating. Just this year, for the first time in the company's history, design contracts and a waiting list for new construction exceeded Shelter Alternatives' capacity. "We turned down the opportunity to bid on three jobs - big jobs," said Sallee.
The partners say the secret to their business lies in the name: alternatives. "We spend hours and hours talking to the clients here at the office, to educate them about choices, costs and design to the extent that they can decide what's right for them in a knowledgeable way," Sallee said. "We are probably the most customer-interactive and open-book builder around."
"I like to meet people initially and visit the site with them," Dowdy said describing how they operate with clients who are seeking custom homes. "It's about placing a house to meet a client's lifestyle as much as it is designing a house."
The company has had little employee turnover, even through the recession in the early '90s, and that's kept morale high.
"We have averaged roughly 22 employees over the last several years," Sallee explains, "and of that number, half - including each of our field supervisors - have been with us at least five years." The company now has 25 employees.
The company's annual revenue is about $2 million and is expected to grow this year with the company's involvement in a major residential development in Blacksburg, Sallee said. That volume is still relatively low in an industry that considers any company with less than $50 million a year in business a small builder, Sallee said.
The company maintains more employees than many small builders, who tend to rely on a larger number of subcontractors, Sallee said. The company does a lot of the construction work itself and also employs several workers doing design work.
"In order to do remodeling," Sallee said, "you've got to have your own employees," citing tight scheduling and direct client contact as reasons.
Shelter Alternatives maintains a high standard in its building endeavors - something that's reflected in the price. "We're very open about that," Dowdy said. "We spend more money on insulation and the little details, and that has to be communicated. It's a complete system we've worked out."
That system may be more costly up front, but it is based on the idea that energy efficiency, structural integrity and quality materials pay off over the lifetime of the house.
Shelter Alternatives is the only company in the New River Valley that employs a certified Graduate Master Builder- Sallee - andone of only 20 small custom builders nationwide to belong to the Builder 20 Club, a networking organization.
If you're wondering what Shelter Alternatives is up to next, then look toward the soon-to-be-built Spring Valley subdivision, an upscale, planned community of colonial-style houses to be built in a parklike setting in Blacksburg. Shelter Alternatives so far is the only approved builder for that subdivision.
There's integrity in the design work, too.
For the last three years, the company has won the New River Valley Home Builder's Association award for design excellence.
And the company's reputation is spreading beyond the New River Valley. Last May, "Builder Architect," a national trade journal, cited the company for innovation and excellence.
LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: GENE DALTON/Staff. 1. Cliff Dowdy and Eric Sallee inby CNBfront of one of the houses built by their small company, Shelter
Alternatives.