The Banneker Group

High profile projects like maintenance for the Washington Monument in 2000 is what helped strengthen Banneker Group and launch it into a company that gets noticed.

The Banneker Group’s motto is “Design It, Build It, Maintain It.”

A niche in facilities maintenance and a pursuit of work overseas is what Louis Gilford, CEO of the Banneker Group, sees as the driving force behind his company’s current success and future expansion.

The company, located in Laurel, Md., specializes in general contracting and facilities maintenance. Its domestic business is growing at a fast pace due to its diversified services.

“Most companies know how to build and build well, but we want to go beyond that to build well and maintain,” Gilford said.  “It enables customers to do a one stop shop.” Gilford also provides facilities maintenance overseas. He went on to explain that it captures a client’s attention when a company is able to provide maintenance for the life of a building.

High profile projects like maintenance for the Washington Monument in 2000 is what helped strengthen Banneker Group and launch it into a company that gets noticed.

Gilford built his way up in the construction business. He got his start in construction through his father’s company, the Gilford Group, which handled the renovations of the Washington Monument.

Attending the University of Maryland at College Park in the late 1990s, Gilford began working out of his dorm room, helping his father clean the company offices. Gilford’s major was in sports medicine, but instead of moving onto graduate school, Gilford graduated in 1999 and started his own cleaning company. He used this as a tool to learning how to run a business.

“I got the entrepreneurial bug and didn’t know how to shake it,” Gilford said.

He learned the construction business from his father and took over his company from 1999 until 2003 and then began the Banneker Group, a parent company for TBG, a subsidiary that handles program management, general construction, and facilities management.

Gilford is pursuing work overseas, targeting developing countries. Not just the construction industry, but business as a whole is going global, he said. On a recent two week vacation Gilford explained that he was able to run his business with just his cell phone and a computer.

“With the advent of Blackberries and e-mail more companies are investing with foreign governments,” he said.

Another high profile project Gilford tackled was two restaurants within the National Harbor, an impressive waterfront resort on the banks of the Potomac River just minutes from downtown Washington, D.C.

The Pienza Italian Market was completed on schedule and the Old Hickory Steak House was completed two weeks ahead of schedule.

Staying on schedule is high on a client’s list, Gilford knows. At the time he had only six people within the company and through this project he was able to get good references.

“Our goal is simple. We always strive to be the best and do what’s right for our customer,” he said. “We built our reputation by thinking outside the box. We do things differently and exceed expectations.”

Customer satisfaction is an important building block to the continuation of the company’s success, he said. With that comes a unique relationship where Gilford doesn’t just see them as clients.

“It’s a system of partnering with them. It’s not your traditional customer relationship,”

Gilford said.

Keeping the communication lines open and providing the best-trained work force is the way to gain a customer’s trust and meet their expectations.

“If they’re pleased with it and it’s an attractive project then we can do more work for them,” he said.

Much of Gilford’s work comes from the federal government. The Army Corps of Engineers is one of his biggest clients. His projects were 60 percent government in the past and now have risen to 70 percent since the government’s stimulus package.

“With the recession, things have dried up a bit now, but we’re not putting all of our eggs in one basket,” he said.

Gilford strives to make Banneker one of the premiere emerging contractors in the nation. One of the ways he does that is starting a school, TBG University, which focuses on training in the area of facilities management.  It is open to the general public and there has been a lot of interest, Gilford noted. This fall there will be fifteen students in three classes: construction accounting, blueprint reading, and estimating.

“I wanted to set up a way to invest in our company and what better way than to invest in our people,” he said.

Gilford noted that no certification is needed in the construction profession and he is looking to change that. He has teamed up with the University of Massachusetts and John Hopkins University to create a four year program where students will receive hands-on training and a degree.

“This is innovative and progressive,” he said. “We’re a company that is looking to push the industry forward with this innovation.”

Students can also attend a four-year program overseas through the two universities in conjunction with TBG. They are focusing on northeast Africa and West Africa, he said.

“This country (United States) is going global and we want to be seen as innovators amongst our peers,” Gilford said. “We’re tapping into academia and funneling some of the students into our company once they graduate.”

Gilford is reaching out to his community as well to create interest in construction training. His company had strong ties to community service and mentors at-risk minorities from low-income communities on weekends. He takes part in a work force development program with the city, training interested people in the business. An employee within Banneker spends all day training within this program.

“We’re getting people off the street and back into the work force,” Gilford said.

 His company also has a 20 member program called “CEO Kids” where junior high school students interview CEOs of various companies. The interviews are written up and are printed in TBG’s newsletter.

A strong faith in God has also made his company strong, Gilford said.

“We think we have control over every little thing, but we really don’t,” he said.

Smart business tactics, community outreach, and faith is the winning combination that has made Banneker one of the major players in the business. CLT