Years of living dangerously

It took about 15 minutes.

Assuming they had all the relevant information and didn’t accidentally send in a half-completed survey, the people who signed up their companies for this year’s A List were done with the entry form in a quarter hour.

Our annual A List, which starts on page 22, is really pretty simple. We ask for the basics, the facts, and then we rank companies according to their profits in the previous year.

You give us 15 minutes and some information, and we show you and the rest of the industry how you stack up against your peers. It’s a simple exchange, an easy process, a snapshot of a company’s long life.

And then you think about it a little more. You get to the survey line that requests dollar figures. You consider the ups and downs of the last year, the times when the company took a gamble that paid off on a project. You realize that it could have easily gone the other way.

With so many companies vying for work in Wisconsin’s construction market, all it takes is one bad decision, one lost gamble or a series of questionable choices to go from the A List to bankruptcy. The proof is out there.

Companies close every year. Some just run their course. Others, like Westra Construction Inc. and James Cape & Sons Co., flame out suddenly leaving a hole in the local industry and hundreds of people without jobs.

Only a select few know why some of these companies go from powerhouse to poor house, but it’s a safe bet that it has something to do with basic economics. Incoming stopped matching or exceeding outgoing.

So, suddenly, that request for dollars put in place or billings on The A List survey means more than a quick glance at company records. It means livelihoods, careers, the survival of the firm.

Most companies probably don’t care much where they stand on The A List. Some have found a niche and aren’t interested in massive growth. Some scaled back over the years in search of a comfort level. Some have found themselves as an arm of huge, national industry giants.

But every company expects that when next year’s A List survey comes out, they’ll be able to put something on that money line.

So, did it really take 15 minutes to get on The A List? Or did it take every working hour of every day in the last year?