EMJ Corp.
Contractor gets involved early to meet client demands

By Mardy Fones

In the deadline-driven world of retail construction, EMJ Corp. of Chattanooga, Tenn., has built its reputation on working closely and early with clients.

"Our preconstruction services - budgeting, plan reviews, detailing, site analysis - set us apart," said CEO and Chairman Jim Sattler. "We get involved early and deliver services upfront so clients get a value-driven end product on an expedited schedule."

From its earliest days in 1968, EMJ's core business has been retail. Today, Sattler estimated 85 percent of projects are retail and executed using techniques the company has developed to keep multiple jobs on track and on deadline.

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"We look at ourselves as a manufacturing center," Sattler said. "Our methodology allows us to do multiple jobs without reinventing the wheel. We mold the system to meet individual client needs."

He said that system is anchored in always meeting deadline.

"Retailers have a timeline that must be met," Sattler added. "They're hiring, relocating and staffing. They've bought advertising three to six months in advance. If the builder misses (deadlines), he's out of business in retail construction."

To achieve these results, EMJ often begins working with clients while projects are still in conception, said Ron Jobe, EMJ executive vice president. He said EMJ's work for CBL & Associates Properties Inc. of Chattanooga on Atlanta's Arbor Place shopping mall is typical.

Preconstruction services were provided for nearly 10 years prior to construction of the mall in order to help its client meet objectives. Planning began in 1987 with development, analysis, budgeting and design and the mall opened in 1999.

Parkway Place of Huntsville, Ala., another CBL project, is an example of EMJ's ability to focus amidst a complex project. There, EMJ razed part of an existing shopping center and replaced it with a parking deck and a pad for a Parisian store. Once the Parisian reopened, EMJ leveled the rest of the shopping center, built an additional parking deck, two-level mall and a Dillard's store.

Michael Lebovitz, CBL president, said EMJ projects are on time and on budget.

"They deliver a quality product for us as owners and for our customers," he added. "At a remodeling project in St. Louis recently, there was an electrical explosion which caused a major department store to lose power. EMJ worked around the clock to insure the store was back in service as quickly as possible."

The approach pays off for EMJ.

"Our business is up 86 percent over 2002 and up 75 percent over our five-year average," Sattler said. "Revenue in 2002 was $212 million and we're expecting to be at $395 million in 2003. Prior to this year, our five-year average was $245 million."

EMJ has approximately 200 employees.

Branching out. In 1990, Food Lion asked EMJ to build 42 stores in the Dallas/Ft. Worth market and a 765,000-sq.-ft. distribution center near Dallas. The company opened an office there, putting Jay Jolley, current president, and Burt Odom, executive vice president, in charge. Odom remains there to direct office operations.

That project grew to include 100 Food Lions and attracted similar programs and power centers for clients such as DBI, Seitz Group, Ainbinder Co., Lowe's Home Improvement and Kohl's.

Odom said EMJ's methodical, solutions-driven approach pays off, even when there is an unexpected problem such as a 12-acre rock beneath a site tapped for a Target and Lowe's in San Antonio.

Kevin Avondet of DBI, the client on the San Antonio project, said, "EMJ got the trades on site and worked through the issues with the city regarding trees and preservation."

The rock was milled down on schedule and then incorporated as select fill on the site.

"EMJ always makes sure (DBI) delivers on time for clients," Avondet added.

Based on its Dallas operations EMJ added a Boston office from which to build shopping centers for CBL in the Northeast. The office is being directed by Rob Eichelroth.

Always prepared. Preparation, anticipation and communication matter at EMJ, Jobe said. When a building boom in Dallas created a shortage of drywall and steel, EMJ tapped its suppliers in the Southeast to bridge the shortage.

"We really do develop relationships with clients and understand what their needs are," Jobe added. "By the time the plans are prepared and permitting is accomplished, we're ready to go in because a major part of the work is done and we're in control of our own destiny."

In recent years, EMJ has taken its expertise to select projects outside retail. It built two corporate headquarters in Chattanooga - one for US Xpress and the other for Covenant Transport.

It also built BellSouth Park for the Cincinnati Reds minor league baseball team based in Chattanooga. The project is in the center of the city.

"We used our methodology and expertise and applied them to a different kind of construction," Jobe said.

EMJ recently completed an $8.5 million church in Cartersville Ga. It includes nearly 75,000 sq. ft. of space and an octagonal sanctuary seating 2,300 that has no interior columns.

In a project with Los Angeles architect Randall Stout, EMJ is doing $19.5 million in new construction and an addition at the Hunter Museum of Art in Chattanooga. The project includes 4,500 sq. ft. of new exhibition galleries, a new lobby, gift shop and café.

"The museum will be a showcase and different architecturally from anything we've done," Jobe added. "We're very open to being taught and ready to learn from others."

"This is an exciting time for EMJ," said Jobe who started with the company as a project manager 20 years ago under its founder, Edgar M. Jolley. Jolley retired in the early '90s. Two of his sons, Jay Jolley, president, and Ed Jolley Jr., vice president of preconstruction services, are actively involved in the business.

"We have a lot of energetic, young, talented people who are ready to step up to the next level," Jobe said. "We are poised to expand because we have the key people in positions of leadership and we have experience to deliver the goods."

Useful Resources

For statistical information about the commercial construction environment in Tennessee, go to: http://cber.bus.utk.edu/