07/18/2005
Big in Size, Sprinkle Masonry Remains Small Business at Heart
Bob Hedrick is among Virginia's leading advocates for small business, even though his own business has long since outgrown that classification. Hedrick, CEO of Sprinkle Masonry, Inc., in Chesapeake, employs between 200 and 400 employees and has seen revenues of close to $20 million in a single year, but he remains a staunch believer in the values and principles that govern small business and the role it plays in the United States.
"I am small business. I know what the day-to-day battles are like. I know about government bureaucracy. I know about putting everything you own at risk," he says.
Trained from an early age as a masonry contractor, Hedrick always planned to someday have his own business. When a fellow contractor named Don Sprinkle invited him to buy into his business in 1985, Hedrick jumped at the opportunity. Sprinkle Masonry was already 25 years old at the time, and "it's a lot easier to join a business that's already established," Hedrick notes.
When he joined Sprinkle Masonry, the business was bringing in roughly $3 million a year. Over the next 12 years, he helped grow its revenue almost 600 percent, and in January 1998 he retired.
Six months later, however, he was back on the job, this time as full owner of the business. "I failed retirement," Hedrick laughs. "Don Sprinkle had had enough, and he asked me to come back to work. I made a joke that he'd have to sell me the entire business. A few weeks later, he made an offer."
Despite the business' success to that point, taking over the helm was a risky prospect. "I had to borrow a lot of money -- millions of dollars," Hedrick explains. "But my wife said, 'If you want to buy it, we'll just call it a big house payment.' Over the preceding 12 years we had worked like dogs to build the business to what it had become. Don was tired, and he might've closed it." Hedrick didn't want to see that happen.
Today his son Robert is president of the company and a partner in the firm, having worked his way up the ladder over the course of 16 years, starting out as an estimator, then taking over operations in the field. Along with Debbie Sawyer who has worked with Bob Hedrick for 20 years and is the companies Controller and now a partner in the firm they have continued to build on the hard work and reputation started by Don Sprinkle, as a team.
"This is a very hard business," Hedrick explains. "Initially I didn't want Robert to get involved, but Don said to me, 'It's not your choice, it's Robert's.' I'm glad more than I can express that he is involved now. He has the experience, the education and, most important, he's got the right attitude with people."
Hedrick also credits NFIB for his business success: "When it comes to running a business, D.C. is not much help, but NFIB is."
Hedrick has been an active member of NFIB for 17 years. He and his wife have served as delegates for Virginia at national meetings and at the Small Business Summit in Washington, D.C., and he recently stepped down from his post as chairman of the NFIB/Virginia Leadership Council.
"I still am very involved," he declares. "I write a lot of letters, and I continue to bring in new members -- I've always done that. I've gotten involved in other states, too," he adds. "NFIB is the best organization out there. They speak for us and they're there all the time, fighting for us. My involvement with NFIB is time and money well spent."
