Strong growth and a drive to innovate have earned MHPM Project Managers Inc. recognition as one of Ottawa’s ten fastest growing companies. (The article is reproduced in its entirety below)
The Ottawa Business Journal’s Top 10 Fastest Growing Private Companies recognizes the National Capital Region’s stars for their substantial, sustainable and profitable growth. Companies were ranked by percentage revenue growth between year-one and year-three of their most recent three-year period.
Franklin Holtforster
“It is an honour to be recognized as one of Ottawa’s ten fastest growing companies” says Franklin Holtforster, founder and president of MHPM Project Leaders. “Our original idea was that our clients would benefit from a leader that offered a single-point of responsibility to achieve on-time, on-budget delivery of their projects. It’s a promise that continues to resonate and upon which we have built our business from one office in Ottawa into eighteen offices from coast-to-coast across Canada.”
Article: FASTEST-GROWING COMPANIES: MHPM
Published on May 16, 2011
Krystle Chow
Ottawa Business Journal
As elevator pitches go, you can’t get much more succinct than the one for MHPM Project Managers Inc. “You know how construction projects always go to hell and are over budget and always late? Ours don’t,” says CEO Franklin Holtforster.
“If you wanted to build something, you’d come to us and say, ‘Can you lead?’ We organize stakeholders and extract the value (of the project).”
Take, for example, MHPM’s involvement with the building of the Richmond Olympic Oval, which was completed under budget and on time, a little bit more than a year before the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics.
The locally headquartered company’s performance has led to it garnering projects as diverse as the Canadian Embassy in the Afghan capital of Kabul, the restoration of Nova Scotia’s famed Bluenose II sailing ship, and, closer to home, the Lansdowne Live project.
At any one time, MHPM is involved in “300-plus” projects around Canada worth something like $2 billion combined, Mr. Holtforster says.
While it’s often difficult to provide a truly unique offering in the construction industry, he notes the company has been able to consistently grow its business by anticipating the future requirements of the marketplace, as well as by training and certifying its staff in new standards.
“In training presentations, I always lead with the Will Rogers’ quote: ‘Even if you’re on the right track, you’ll get run over if you just stand there,’” Mr. Holtforster says about the firm’s drive to stay ahead of the game.
He adds: “There’s no pixie dust that can be sprinkled on our offering to proclaim a unique capability, but we do a better job at building talent up and surrounding ourselves with the value of lessons learned (from past projects).”
As such, MHPM has been “hiring non-stop for the past 15 years,” and the company has 18 offices across Canada. Mr. Holtforster says the firm is also looking at the possibility of acquiring related businesses as part of its goal to become the dominant player in each of the country’s markets.
“People regard the construction industry as static, but our industry is competitive, creative and necessarily also destructive,” he says. “We believe we see a forward-looking path.”
Year founded: 1989
Local head count: 78
Product/service: Construction project management
Revenue growth: 171.6%
About MHPM Project Managers Inc.
MHPM Project Managers Inc. is an ISO 9001:2008 certified leader of sustainable facilities projects. Founded in 1989,
MHPM represents owners’ interests to realize the design and construction of a wide range of projects. The Richmond Olympic Oval, site of the long-track speed skating events at the Vancouver Olympics; the restoration of the Bluenose in Lunenburg harbour; and the Canadian embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan are just three of the more than 5,000 projects that the company has successfully delivered. Visit our site by clicking here.
For Media Inquiries Contact:
Nyree Costello
Communications Specialist
MHPM Project Managers Inc.
Phone: 613.820.6610 ext. 263
Email: [email protected]
