Western Specialty Contractors

About Western Specialty Contractors

Western Specialty Contractors, employee-owned and founded in St. Louis in 1915, sells the repair and restoration of a building's outer shell (concrete, masonry and facades, waterproofing and, in some regions, roofing) to property owners and managers and to the architects, engineers and general contractors who specify and buy that work for offices, schools, hospitals, apartment buildings, parking garages, government and historic buildings. Its branch sellers are seller-doers: a sales project manager calls on owners, architects and contractors, does the takeoff from blueprints or the existing structure, prices the job, writes and closes the proposal, then runs the work with the superintendent and foreman through billing and collection. Above the branches, a region business development manager opens doors with decision makers at targeted accounts, works trade associations such as BOMA, IREM and APPA, runs seminars and customer events, coaches branch staff on selling and supports the corporate national accounts team, which offers multi-site owners one contractor for every location. Branches also hire project managers who price change orders and keep the client relationship on jobs already sold, and take college students as sales and production interns. The seats ask for commercial construction experience, restoration preferred, and the ability to read drawings and specifications, with existing architect, engineer and property manager relationships valued for the business development seat.