The president and CEO of the 80-person firm in South Portland talks with Mainebiz about adapting to the pandemic and about what’s on the drawing board.
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Mark Adams is president and CEO of Sebago Technics, a South Portland-based employee-owned engineering firm with 2020 revenue of around $11.5 million. The company employs 80 people, including 18 licensed professional engineers, five registered landscape architects and five professional land surveyors. Mainebiz caught up with him to see how business has changed in the past year.
Mainebiz: How has COVID-19 affected project volume and work practices?
Mark Adams: Like most businesses, we went remote in mid-March last year and remained remote into early summer. This was new to us and was possible due to investments in technology. While the technologies made it possible, it was our people that made it successful. Everyone adapted to a new way of working without skipping a beat as we went from one office to 70-plus offices overnight.
We now do much of our work through online video platforms and collaborative software tools. I am pleased with our success in remote work, but I am most proud of our continued focus on our culture. It has been central to our company, our people and our success. Digital happy hours, online contests and even me delivering care packages (complete with toilet paper) to everyone’s home during the shutdown are examples of our efforts to maintain our focus on employees.
We saw some slowdown in new work during the shutdown with some bigger clients pausing on a few projects. However, once things started opening, the work began coming in again. We have been very busy for the last several years, and the balance of 2020 and now into 2021 shows no signs of slowing. We have a very healthy backlog and are trying to meet client needs and schedules as best we can.
MB: What are some recent or current projects you are most excited about?
MA: Some of our recent, most visible and challenging projects include the expansion of Maine Medical Center, both at the Bramhall and Scarborough campuses; and the new Morse High School in Bath, a $75 million project for a new high school and vocational center to replace a 100-year-old facility. It is 190,000 square feet to house 650 students. We designed the site, 285 parking spaces new athletic fields, a new bridge, and bike/ped connections. It is what we call an ideal project, in that it involved all of our disciplines and services including surveying, environmental, site civil design, GIS, traffic and transportation, permitting and landscape architecture. We enjoy projects like these because they can be truly transformational for communities.
MB: In terms of hiring, what are your short- and longer-term plans?
MA: We are continually looking for people in most of our disciplines and service areas. We hired several people in 2020 and are actively recruiting for several more currently. Our focus in hiring is on finding good people who want to be part of our ownership culture.
MB: What parts of the business are growing the fastest?
MA: We are seeing exceptional growth in our geomatics services, particularly our high-definition laser scanning, 3D modeling and graphics services. This is an exciting area where we can capture millions of points of data through our terrestrial and aerial scanning equipment. It provides a precise picture of everything from roadways and bridges to buildings (interior and exterior) and land. We can capture most anything and model it for our designers and engineers or for architects and structural engineers. We can also provide digital models of proposed developments that you can drive or fly through virtually.
MB: After your recent acquisition in Bridgton, does Sebago Technics have any further acquisitions in mind?
MA: The acquisition of Sawyer Engineering and Surveying was a strategic opportunity to share in the growth the Lakes Region has seen both before and during the pandemic. We continue to look at other opportunities to enhance our services, add to our talented professionals or expand our market. We are currently working on a couple more acquisitions.
