Company name: Blount/Bennett Architects Ltd.
Owners: Joseph Blount, president/secretary, and George A. Bennett, Jr., vice president/secretary
Type of business: Architectural firm
Year founded: 1987
Location: 37 North Blossom St., East Providence
Number of employees: 6 full-time
Annual revenues: between $1 million and $2 million
THE PARTNERS: George Bennett Jr. and Joseph Blount.
Rhode Island's Market Has Changed. Developers, Builders, Investors and Sellers Must Change With It.
By Emilio DiSpirito IV License Partner | Engel & Völkers Oceanside Leader | The DiSpirito…
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For more than three decades, Joseph Blount and George A. Bennett, Jr., have been designing buildings together.
But for the last 13 years, the duo has been focused on one of their greatest design projects – running their own business, Blount Bennett Architects, Ltd. in East Providence.
“We are not different than any other small business when it comes to handling administrative stuff,” said Bennett, vice president and treasurer. “But it’s some of the other stuff in the field that has changed. Keeping up with changing technology, and trends is really important. We believe that the buildings we design need to function for our clients. In order to accomplish that we have to have an understanding of what our clients need, and an understanding of what is out there in terms of design and products.”
Meeting the needs of clients is a top priority for the two. When they decided to form the business in 1987, they were both working for another architectural firm, one that they both agree had a different vision then they did.
”We had a different philosophy,” Bennett said.
Deciding to leave the firm wasn’t an easy decision. Bennett had worked there for 16 years, and Blount, for almost 25.
”I didn’t feel there was a future for me there anymore,” Blount said. “I grew with that company, but felt there was no other place for me to go.”
But a clean start wasn’t all that easy. Citing a need for respect, the two said they opted not to take any clients from the old company with them to the new company.
”We decided that we really had to be careful because we didn’t want to give the impression that we were stealing clients,” Blount said. “The state of Rhode Island is so small, and in a business like this we wanted to be fair.”
After about six months, they started getting inquiries from both old clients and new.
”Really it was word of mouth,” Bennett said. “We did a good job when we got the chance”
The partners agree that much of their success has been the result of return customers. In fact, they said, 88 percent of their current business is repeat, including clients like Cardi’s Furniture, Gregg’s Restaurant and Amica Insurance. They designed Cardi’s store in Swansea and three of the four buildings on the Amica site in Lincoln
”The best client you can have is the one that becomes your friend,” Blount said. “We’ve been to the family functions of some of our clients, and many of them have been to ours.”
According to both Blount and Bennett, part of the appeal for clients is the fact the one-on-one service they get.
“Joe and I strive to be as billable in the firm as any other employee,” Bennett said. “We work on projects as much as the other people in the office do. The entire office works as a team.”
Blount and Bennett said what makes it so easy to get to know clients is the way in projects are assigned in the office. Unlike, other firms where each person is assigned a specific piece of the overall project, the two said, it their office one person is sees the project through every stage of development.
“We found that our clients want to have the same person during the entire process,” Blount said. “It helps us gain a broad range of experience, and it makes the client feel like they are working with someone who really knows the project.”
In addition, the duo said, they have finally learned that they can’t do it all. In the past few years, they have brought together a contingency of consultants to help with both the design and building process.
“There are many facets to architecture and they are constantly changing,” Blount said. “We needed to recognize that we didn’t know everything about everything. We began to realize that we do better on a project when we let others in. It’s like a marriage, and it really helps finish the job.
Though much of the firm’s 13 years have been devoted to commercial and retail design, it has begun to take on some residential renovation and construction work as well.
“Commercial has always been our focus and I don’t see that changing,” Bennett said. “But working on residential properties is kind of a relief.”
They got into residential work when one of their commercial clients asked them to design a home for them. It has become part of their business, but not always a welcome part.
“Residential projects are so time consuming, and so personal,” Blount said.
The two continue to update their business plan, and recently hired a marketing person to help them decide where they want their business to go.
“We have decided that as the salaries increase, we can’t stay at the same revenue,” Bennett said. “This has really forced us to think about what direction we want to go in.”
And that direction, both agree, is toward Boston, where they they think they’d find more business.
“We are planting seeds for the future,” Bennett said.
