Best and J&M signs CEO Newsletter First Edition

By bestsigns  Published On April 3, 2019

QUARTER 2 July 2021

GARNETT SIGNS

Garnett Signs was founded in 1946 by a former WWII submarine commander. The business was founded in San Francisco and has often been one of the few go to sign companies in San Francisco proper.

Garnett was acquired by Steve Savoy in November 2013, expanded into So. California in 2016 and has added an office in Lakewood Colorado in 2020.

Garnett is a turn key sign company that focuses on design, project management, fabrication and installation focusing on six markets: distribution, multi-family, health care, education, hospitality and corporate.

BEST SIGNS

Best Signs was founded in 1924 in Kansas City MO as a rubber stamping company and became a premier ADA sign company in the 1980s when Best relocated to Montrose CO.

Best was acquired by Steve Savoy in May 2003.

Best continues to provide premier products and customer service to loyal national customers at a wholesale price.

Best provides proprietary products that provide Life of the Building Warranty for their Graphic Blast, Lucent and ImPressions product lines.

J & M SIGNS

J&M Signs was founded by Jason and Mike Mueller in 2006 in the Denver CO market as a Wholesale Custom Exterior Sign Manufacturer.

J&M joined with Best Signs in May 2020 to provide a complete wholesale sign offering for both exterior signs and interior ADA.

J&M’s strength is custom quality fabrication as one of the premier sign fabricators in the US. The J&M team has over 100 years collective fabrication experience.

J&M fabricates electric signs, monuments, letters, pylon signs, wayfinding signs including large message centers (EMCs).

CEO‘S MESSAGE

Welcome to our first company newsletter! One of the requests from employees historically is that we need better communication of what is going on at our company. This is our attempt to disseminate key information about who we are and where we are headed as a company. I will be looking for input as to things that are important to the team and will modify accordingly.

I am excited about our future as we grow and become the not only the best sign company in the US but one of the largest!

HEALTH BENEFITS

Our health is a key focus for the company. A healthy work force is a productive work force. Therefore, we have always offered medical benefits to our employees.

This is always a challenge balancing cost with the best benefit package we can provide. Company rate increase is 2.3% for 2022, so no increase for employees.

We have been with CIGNA health for the past 3 years and been able to maintain plan consistency.

Our plan is partially self- insured; therefore, employee health impacts the rates we are charged for health insurance.

Eat well and exercise often!

401K

We have a 401k Plan that uses Vanguard funds. We have been with Vanguard for a number of years now.

Remember to put at least 4% of your pay away because the company matches that at 50% (a free 2%) added to your retirement account.

The 3rd party administrator that manages all the money movement for our retirement funds is Ascensus and uur broker is IMA out of Denver.

We continue to have good support from our team of advisors and enjoy significant returns as stock market continues to set records.

Our total retirement funds balance is over $1.6 million.

HUMAN RESOURCES

Our HR Manager is Carol Lachner.

Please reach out to Carol or your supervisor for any questions or concerns as it relates to your job and/or benefits.

We strive to ensure that all employees are treated fairly and have every opportunity to succeed while employed by our companies.

We currently have 61 employees across all companies. 32 in Montrose, 23 in Lakewood and 6 in California.

As we grow, we are looking to add staff as necessary – especially in manufacturing.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

Celebrate Significant Anniversaries:

Kevin McElligatt – July 17th – 15 years
Bradley Stewart – August 1st – 10 years
David Hanley – August 10th – 10 years
Iris Fleming – September 1st – 15 years
Mitch Topless – September 6th – 5 years
Michael Rubalcaba – September 26th – 5 years

SALES

Sales is the life blood of any organization. 2020 Marked the first time Garnett and Best had an outside sales team. Sales Account Execs are currently all based out of Lakewood office. Jason Poland, Steve Youel, and Debi Ramirez. We have budgeted to add to additional sales staff in 2021. We still have 2 open positions.

Sales of over $8 million already exceeds all of 2020, up 30% YTD.

ESTIMATING

Estimating continues to focus on warehouses quoting almost 3 new projects per week.

Our estimating is focused on 6 market sectors: distribution, multi-family, education, health care, hospitality and corporate.

Estimating team is Melissa Middleton, Marjorie Albert, Billy Huston, Lori Fraenza and Brianne Jacobsen for Garnett and Iris Fleming and Brandi Dunham for Best Signs in Montrose

YTD we have bid over $36 million of work.

OPERATIONS

Operations continue to be impacted by material shortages as well as cash flow limitations.

Vinyl and aluminum price increases and material availability are expected to impact deliveries in Q4 2021.

The other challenge is finding qualified help both in Montrose and Lakewood factories. We need to add a minimum of 2 experienced fabricators for J&M just to keep up with the $600,000 of wholesale exterior signs in production.

We need to continue to be safety minded as our EMR rates need to come down from the current 1.87 rate.

AMAZON

Amazon continues to be our single largest contributor to growth. We have 4 contractors that are working with Garnett on a number of Amazon Projects: Storie and Severson; Fullmer Contruction; RC Anderson and Adolf & Pederson. Each project is now close to $400,000 in Revenue spread among, Best, J&M and Garnett. We continue to bid a number of Amazon projects. We have been working with Amazon corporate to become a preferred vendor listed in all of their architectural plans and specifications.

CEO comments

  • Out combined teams efforts this year has created a potential for the future that we have not seen previously.
  • Our quality is second to none with great capacity in Montrose and in Lakewood
  • Our satellite offices in Upland and Fremont continue to provide consistent support for Garnett growth
  • The major challenges upcoming are expected to be material availability as supply chain issues cross industry lines.
  • We have an approved budget to continue to grow our collective companies in 2022 with added sales staff.
  • We are excited to have reached the holiday season and wish everyone safe and peaceful holidays!
  • Recharge your batteries for a productive 2022!
  • Thank you all for all of your help and patience to bring our company to where we are at today.