Link Construction Still Going Strong After 10 Years

Founded by Mickey Cerra and Willy Fernandez—two friends who had a small office in a garage and $500 each in their pockets—Link Construction has grown to two divisions handled by 40+ employees. Fernandez manages the commercial division, which encompasses retail, industrial, institutional, office buildings, parks—everything except residential. The other division, led by Cerra, includes health care.

 

Cerra commented, "Despite where the economy is right now, we’ve been able to grow in these tough times. I venture to say that this will probably be our strongest year to date, and that’s exciting for us." But it didn’t start out like that.

 

The two friends both worked for construction companies in college, but as Cerra pointed out, "Even though we had an incredible amount of experience working with big projects, an owner wouldn’t give us a $5 million job right off the bat because we were still new at Link Construction. They would say, ‘Oh yeah, it’s great that you’ve done all this work with other companies, but what has Link done?’ It was tough."

 

Undeterred, they accepted small renovations and whatever came their way, and that’s how health care came into the picture. As Cerra related, "We had an opportunity to do a renovation at Hialeah Hospital, a minor CT scan renovation interior build-out. It was when we first opened our company, and they gave us the opportunity and we ran with it. And that one opportunity opened the doors to do another renovation, and another and another, and then we started going from one hospital to another."

 

The work enabled them to gain experience and learn the challenges associated with health care. Cerra said that one facet that makes health care different from commercial construction is that you are sometimes working in environments that are being occupied—where you have to work at night, but the next morning, the facility has to look as if nothing happened because patients are coming in. The firm must also be mindful of AHCA (Agency for Health Care Administration) inspections, along with meeting the hospitals’ deadlines. "Whether it’s a CT Scan renovation or new construction, that’s how the hospital generates revenue, so you’ve got to turn it around quickly."

 

Because of the exceptional work product, Link Construction began to receive recurring business. In fact, Cerra said most of their work comes from repeat clients. "When we work with a client for the first time, we make it a priority to do an exceptional job, while also keeping our focus on the possibility of future jobs with that client. It is important for us to build a lasting relationship based on performance. This provides our company the opportunities for subsequent invitations to bid on other jobs. We take pride in having that owner say, ‘Hey, we want you guys to be involved again.’ That doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll get the job, but it does mean that we’ve established a good relationship and they want to continue working with us."

 

Cerra believes Link Construction’s reputation and work ethic has placed the company in a good position in the current economy. He explained that most of the projects currently going out for bid are what he calls mid-level, those between $2 million and $10 million, and that’s where Link Construction is able to compete. "The bigger companies are having to come down and bid on those jobs at our level, and it’s a little tougher for them to be competitive because they have more expenses. So it’s not necessarily that we’re any better, but we’re a little more competitive in that mid-level range. Timing is everything and we’re taking advantage."

 

Timing is important, but other aspects are equally important. Cerra outlined the factors that he believes are key to Link Construction’s achievements: "I attribute our success to the hard work and perseverance of continuing to plug away day in and day out, the relationships that we’ve established and maintain, and also to our team’s total commitment to the company and organization. Those are the three components to why we’re successful.

 

"I’m so proud of our accomplishments and I thank God every day," he continued. "It’s a great feeling when you work hard and things line up."

 

And why not, when you have grown such a successful company in 10 years.