STARTING A BUSINESS: TOP 5 TIPS FROM ANDREW ALTOBELLI
1. Structure your company early for growth because you don’t know how fast you’re going to grow.
2. Have a plan. When you’re small, you may overlook some of the details needed to structure your company, which makes it hard to implement new practices later on.
3. Pay wages that reflect the value of your employees.
4. Understand the marketplace and your competition.
5. Establish a company culture so your em- ployees are working toward the goals of the company, not just their own.
S
traight Edge Striping now does about 1,800 jobs per year, and 65 percent involve roadwork while 35 percent continue to come from new construc-
tion and parking facilities. In recent years, Straight Edge Striping has been the only company in its area to enter into the capital-intensive roadway-striping market as a first-generation business.
“We’re very much in a growth stage,” Altobelli says. “I’m a young guy with a lot of ambition. I’m fortu- nate and am in a good place. I’ve found a niche that I’m able to service very well, and we’re growing.”
Straight Edge Striping is known for its timely service and quality craftsmanship, and it excels with high-pro- file, large-scale projects such as casinos and stadi- ums. “Quality control is a big aspect of what we do here,” Altobelli says. “We’re a larger striping company than most of the companies that we compete against, which means we have much greater resources.”
Working capital and logistics are the biggest chal- lenges to leading a striping business. “We’ve spent well over $3 million in the last five years, and that is
a huge undertaking for any company considered a small business,” Altobelli says, noting that the aver- age cost of a new roadway-striping truck is $550,000.
Straight Edge Striping must also adhere to very rigid timelines and will operate around the clock to finish projects — and it works in every construc- tion sector it can, including housing, roadways and highways, airports, retail, schools and hospi- tals.
In 2011, the company completed striping for MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The $500,000 project included striping for 30,000 parking spots, nearby state and township roads, and infrastructure improvements. Altobelli adds that because the project involved knocking down the old stadium and building a new one, the strip- ing timeline was rigid and involved a tremendous amount of work in a short period.
His company also recently worked on a roadway and parking improvements for the Red Bull Arena soccer stadium in Harrison, New Jersey, so clearly work on new construction projects hasn’t fallen off complete- ly. And as Altobelli and his employees continue to diversify Straight Edge Striping’s capabilities, the firm will remain perfectly positioned to take on work in New Jersey, Philadelphia, New York City, or other portions of the close-knit New England region.
www.straightedgestriping.net
732.302.3001
46
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