Houston company constructs growth plan by tapping renewable energy niche
Houston Business Journal - by Tanya Rutledge
When the economy started
to falter, Nelson Alvarado came up with a plan to keep his commercial roofing
business chugging along: More free lunches.
Craig Hartley/HBJ
Nelson Alvarado
(left) and Sidhartha Sen of Integris: Bringing in a new owner with fresh
perspective to adjust to changes in the industry.
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Alvarado,
founder of
Integris Roofing Services LLC, refused to cut back on marketing when the
economy began to lurch. He continued to host his popular conferences, at which
he invites an industry expert to speak on a different topic every few weeks and
provides lunch to invited attendees.
Conference participants
— including architects, small business owners and other industry professionals
— come for what Alvarado says is free advice, usually centered around green and
energy-efficient development projects. Attendees have come from as far as San
Antonio, Fort Worth and even California.
Alvarado says hosting
the regular conferences is definitely money well-spent.
“We do spend a lot to do
these, but it’s smart money,” he says. “You always have to keep a fish on the
grill, or they will forget about you. And they may not need you now, but they
will think about you first when they do need you.”
Marketing has been a
cornerstone of Integris’ business strategy, even when Alvarado first started
the company in 1983. His wife and three daughters would often help answer
phones and type up bids, with the youngest daughter, who was a child at the
time, helping to stuff envelopes for marketing mailers. That daughter, now 23,
plans to eventually join Alvarado in the business as part of his succession
plan.
Alvarado says he is
always open to listening to fresh ideas and new perspectives, whether from his
family members or someone else, which is one reason he brought on Sidhartha
“Sid” Sen as company CEO in May 2009. Sen, who at 35 is 10 years younger than
Alvarado, was formerly with Nexant Inc., where he was responsible for managing
the firm’s renewable energy practice within the petrochemical sector.
Now a 50 percent owner
in Integris, Sen has taken the company into new lines of business that have
kept it relevant during the green movement, including solar roofing, energy
efficiency projects and consulting.
NEW THINKING
