[StBernard] Wolfman Construction enjoys post-Katrina jolt in business

[Westley Annis]

NEW ORLEANS - "You can't beat Wagner's Meat," and apparently you can't stop
Wolfman Construction from growing in New Orleans' post-Katrina construction
boom. 
Scott Wolfe Sr., CEO of Wolfman Construction, retired two and a half years
before Katrina. Wolfe sold all nine of his Wagner's Meat and Chicken Box
stores to act as an overseer of his nine real estate developments and his
company Wolfman Construction, which was run by his cousin and chief
operating officer Richie Lewis and construction division manager Dave
Wilson. 
  
"We would do small commercial jobs, maybe five a year, and I mainly
supervised what was going on. I was also living off income checks from my
nine real estate properties," said the 44-year-old Wolfe. 
  
When Katrina hit, Wolfe's properties stopped producing income and he went
back to the drawing board. 
  
"I talked to Richie and Dave and said the opportunity is there to really
resurrect our construction business," said Wolfe. 
  
Wolfman Construction, after reporting $5 million in 2005 revenue, projects
between $15 million and $20 million in revenue this year. 
  
The company completed 250 total jobs since Katrina with 42 more in progress.
Wolfe said 65 percent of the jobs are residential, 20 percent commercial and
15 percent roofing. 
  
The three-man run company expanded its employee count to 27, and Wolfe will
hire more for a total of 45 employees. 
  
Employee expansion has helped Wolfman Construction develop three divisions -
commercial, roofing and residential - and a fourth one soon to come in an
HVAC or air conditioning branch. 
  
Coffee conferencing 
  
Wolfman Construction's headquarters of three years on Elysian Fields Avenue
had more than $1 million in damage from Katrina after it was inundated by
nearly 6 feet of floodwaters. 
  
With the building temporarily unavailable and eight of Wolfe's nine real
estate properties also being renovated, the company needed a new
headquarters for several months. 
  
That new headquarters became Puccino's Coffee in Metairie after Oct. 1,
2005, with about seven people meeting every morning to do business. 
  
Wolfman Construction moved back into the second floor of its Elysian Fields
headquarters in December. Wolfe said they used a fiberglass pole to turn on
the electrical meters and installed a satellite dish for phone, fax and
Internet connections. 
The next obstacles were securing supplies and hiring subcontractors to
handle jobs coming in. 
  
"I had a list of more than 400 contractors we used before Katrina. It was
pretty useless when we got back, so we went up and down Airline Highway and
recruited these Mexican and Spanish workers to use them as subcontractors,"
Wolfe said. Construction materials were an obstacle because suppliers would
not deliver materials to job sites. 
  
Wolfe said they had to find land to store the materials and hire drivers and
buy trucks to transport supplies. 
  
"There were four- to five-hour waits to pick up these supplies and also drop
our trash off at the dumps," Wolfe said. 
  
Howlin' at the boom 
  
The Wolfman Construction logo is an overalls-clad wolf with a hammer. 
Construction companies typically don't market but Wolfe has a 25-year
marketing background dating to the day he bought his first Wagner's Meats
grocery store on Galvez Street and came up with the slogan, "You can't beat
Wagner's Meat." 
Wolfe spends $15,000 a month on billboard and vehicle signage, television
and newspaper ads. 
  
"We do a lot of marketing even though we don't have to spend a penny with
the construction boom going on right now," Wolfe said. 
  
Since the storm, Wolfman Construction's biggest job was a $1.5-million
Family Dollar store on Elysian Fields. The store, built before Katrina, had
to be rebuilt after the storm. The store reopened in March. 
  
The company also did a $1-million renovation of Lighthouse Harbor
Condominiums on Lakeshore Drive and repaired the roof of the University of
New Orleans Information Technology Building, an $800,000 job. 
  
Don Bealer, president of the Lighthouse Harbor Condominium Association, said
the 41-condo building was under about 7 feet of floodwaters and lost
two-thirds of its roof and all electrical equipment. 
  
"It was a heck of a challenge. Rather than selecting a carpenter, bricklayer
and a roofer, we decided to go with one general contractor," said Bealer.
The job took about three months. The condo building had power in November
and residents moved back in. About 26 occupy the condos at least part time,
Bealer said. 
  
Wolfman Construction also worked a $230,000 repair job on the former Bell
Foods headquarters on Aries Drive in Metairie. 
  
A tornado during Katrina blew the top back half of the roof off onto
delivery trucks in front of the building, which ruined 100,000 pounds of
food. Wolfman did the job in three months. 
  
"We wanted someone local and reputable to do this job because I'm too old to
go chasing after someone from out of town if the job isn't done right," said
John Bellini, the former Bell Foods owner who owns the building. 
  
Company's future 
  
Wolfe said the company will stay in New Orleans but he is unsure about the
headquarters remaining on Elysian Fields Avenue as the two-story building is
still under renovation. Wolfe said the lot across the street on Elysian
Fields with the old Chevron station is a prospective site. 
  
"I'm definitely toward this company staying in this city because there are
not many locally mid-sized construction companies headquartered in New
Orleans," Wolfe said. 
Wolfe said business next year will probably become more commercial as more
residential homes are built. 
  
Wolfman has $2.73 million in accounts receivable and requires clients to pay
10 percent to 20 percent down before activating the contract. 
  
"Everybody says don't pay these contractors up front; wait until they get it
done. Well, us certified, licensed and reputable contractors are paying for
that post-Katrina belief," he said.. 
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Is he someone you could trust with the work to get it done timely?
 
JLY