When a growing seven-year-old Newfoundland-based project management company chose to expand its operations into the rest of Atlantic Canada last January the timing couldn’t have been worse.
By March, as the pandemic hit, the company spent three months “in absolute survival mode trying to secure credit,” says Terry Hussey, CEO of Vigilant.
“We went from double revenues to how much cash do we have and how long do we last?”
But over the summer, with the support from the federal government’s emergency wage subsidy for some of its 16 employees and continued construction activity in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, Hussey pushed ahead with expansion into the region.
“It took courage or insanity on my part to say, we have to do this (expansion) even though COVID is a reality,” says Hussey, who was named one of Atlantic Canada’s top 50 CEOs from 2016-2018 by Atlantic Business Magazine.
Looking back, it was the right decision, he says, pointing out that holding out in Newfoundland would have resulted in company layoffs and an uncertain future for Vigilant.
Part of the company’s success over the years has hinged on an unusual service it offers. In addition to providing owners project management and cost monitoring payment certification services, Vigilant offers up advice to its clients.
“Possibly the first of its kind,” Hussey says, as the service covers a full slate of issues targeting mid-sized project teams.
And it is “extremely affordable,” he adds, pointing out it represents about 0.1 per cent of a total project’s cost.
What’s more, offering one service can lead to more work.
“What happens is we talk to an architect about a small cost estimate on a job and before we know it they are saying, ‘Can you help us out with inspections on that job or cost contract administration?’”
Hussey says his clients can range from project owners doing $1 billion annually to small car dealerships with a few million bucks earmarked for expansion.
“We try to be the mortar between all the major players on a construction project.”
While Vigilant’s business model might be novel, so is the way it treats its employees. It offers staff unlimited vacation time.
The idea came out of a flex-time regimen Vigilant had been developing that allowed employees to take time off as long as they got their work done. It eventually expanded to “a full-on concept of employee flex time” and unlimited vacation.
“I don’t believe there is any productive benefit to babysitting adult professionals,” says Hussey, noting his staff come from a range of engineering disciplines and histories working in construction, including for general contractors.
Tying them to time clocks can create a culture where staff is afraid to make decisions, he says.
“It sets up a jealous vacuuming of their time and takes attention away from their personal lives.”
Hussey says the flex schedule format has built a culture of mutual trust and respect.
“People who come to work here are taught, ‘You guys are professionals and adults and we expect you to care about the goals of the company…but we also expect you to take care of yourself.’”
Worktime tracking conducted by the company shows that vacations for the staff ranges from 3.5 weeks to five weeks annually, he says.
Executives at Vigilant need to “live the policy” as well, he says.
“Every quarter I will take a week off.
“It has given me the freedom, the perspective to come up with my best insights of the company.”
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