The Day We Ate Like Kings

There have been a few moments in my career that marked a massive leap forward for Clayco. In each case, we were probably biting off more than we could chew. But the truth is, all entrepreneurs hit these moments—when you’ve got to put up or shut up, step up to the plate, and swing for the Grand Slam.

I started Clayco in 1984 with essentially no money and just a couple other folks. We struggled through the early years, but by 1986, we had found our stride. We were designing and building banks for Mercantile Bank in the St Louis area. Around that time, I met an incredible local St. Louis architect, Robert L. Boland. Bob quickly became a fast friend, a mentor, and someone who opened key doors.

One of those doors led me to Dale Perkinson—one of the top developers in the Midwest. Dale had a sprawling portfolio of projects from Denver to Columbus, Cincinnati to Lake of the Ozarks, and all over the St. Louis metro. He had founded Linclay Corp. and had since retired to St. Thomas in the Virgin Islands, leaving the business in the hands of a few people who were supposed to run it and pay him out over several years.

By the late ’80s, it was clear that plan wasn’t working. Dale and his wife Lorraine came back to rescue the company. They essentially unwound the business, started Perkinson Realty Group and hired a young Bob Clark and Clayco to take over and complete many of the developments previously started with other contractors.

Around 1987, we got a remarkable opportunity to go after a project that was way over my skis. Direct Mail Corporation of America (DIMAC) was relocating from an old, multi-story brick building in downtown St. Louis to a build to suit modern facility in a brand-new business park being developed by Perkinson Realty Group in Bridgeton, Missouri.

At the time, Clayco’s biggest job had been $700,000. This one? About $9 million. We were going up against major local developers and builders. Our team: Perkinson as the developer, Bob Boland as the architect, and Clayco as the builder. A true David-versus-Goliath scenario. I honestly didn’t think we had much of a chance.

We submitted our proposal, were shortlisted, and gave our final presentation. That evening, I saw a Far Side cartoon by my favorite cartoonist Gary Larson in the paper—a chubby kid at the top of a slide, two spiders at the bottom spinning a web. One spider says to the other, “If we pull this off, we’ll eat like kings.”

Somehow, that gave me a strange sense of calm. I went to bed believing we’d win. And the next morning, the CEO, Mike McSweeny, made the call—we got the job.

Lesson: later when we queried Mr. McSweeney why he selected our underdog team over the larger more credit worthy firms he explained “ both teams were essentially tied but the other team spent 20% of their time presenting that the Perkinson/Boland/Clayco team couldn’t deliver the job and turned off the decision makers like a light switch”. Always accentuate the positive.

That project changed everything.