[title subtitle=”words Dwain Hebda
images courtesy The Meadows Family”][/title]
The Meadows family has been building Fort Smith, as well as a thriving business, for three decades. Do South® sat down with owner Joseph Meadows, the latest in a line of family leadership, to talk about the company’s legacy and the opportunities and challenges of building for a new generation in Arkansas communities.
Officially, Joseph got into the family business, Southwest Resources Group, in 2005. But the fact is the company, which includes a construction component and a property management piece, has been part of his life for as long as he can remember.
“My father started Meadows Construction in 1978. I’m third generation in the company,” Joseph says. “I grew up watching my dad do it when I was little and just grew into the business. It fit for me. “Whenever we’d drive through Fianna Hills, Dad would point out houses he’d built, and he still does. It’s neat to see that.”
The company’s construction portfolio includes primarily multi-family developments, with some projects trending into the mixed-use space. Samples of the company’s work reside in Van Buren, Russellville, Arkadelphia, Beebe, Searcy and multiple locations in Fort Smith. It’s the work the company has done in his hometown that gives Joseph the most satisfaction.
“Seeing something that you’ve built, seeing things that I’ve done when I first started in the business and seeing those structures still standing means you knew what you were doing back then, and you feel good,” Joseph says. “Adding to Fort Smith is great, obviously, because I live here. And I like doing projects locally because it’s easier. I can go check on them when they’re right down the street.”
There are other advantages to building in Fort Smith besides civic pride and proximity. Joseph said in an era when red tape and regulations can slow development considerably, Fort Smith has worked to keep the process as smooth as possible. “Certain cities just accept you more than others,” he says. “Fort Smith is easy to work with. We’ve been dealing with them for a long time, so we don’t have a whole lot of problems here.”
Another mark in the city’s favor is the forward thinking on display in areas such as Chaffee Crossing, where the company has development projects. “Chaffee Crossing reminds me of what you’d find in a bigger city simply because it’s more progressive,” Joseph says. “It’s a progressive spot in Fort Smith with all the biking and all the new stuff coming in. Part of why I wanted to be out there with what we’re doing is that’s where Fort Smith is growing. It’s where everybody wants to be.”
The company’s mixed-use concept is a standout example of new development trends. Retail and restaurant space anchor the ground level with residential living on the upper floors, providing the walkable access to amenities that caters to
There are other advantages to building in Fort Smith besides civic pride and proximity. Joseph said in an era when red tape and regulations can slow development considerably, Fort Smith has worked to keep the process as smooth as possible.
“Certain cities just accept you more than others,” he says. “Fort Smith is easy to work with. We’ve been dealing with them for a long time, so we don’t have a whole lot of problems here.” Another mark in the city’s favor is the forward thinking on display in areas such as Chaffee Crossing, where the company has development projects.
“Chaffee Crossing reminds me of what you’d find in a bigger city simply because it’s more progressive,” Joseph says. “It’s a progressive spot in Fort Smith with all the biking and all the new stuff coming in. Part of why I wanted to be out there with what we’re doing is that’s where Fort Smith is growing. It’s where everybody wants to be.”
The company’s mixed-use concept is a standout example of new development trends. Retail and restaurant space anchor the ground level with residential living on the upper floors, providing the walkable access to amenities that caters to long in this business so Joseph’s longevity attests to a shrewd eye for the right opportunity.
“It’s a long process of stuff that I look at when we start looking at other markets,” he says. “Mostly the growth of the town. That’s key; that’s probably the most important thing.” “Then I start looking at what the competition is in that town. For me to take my product, such as what’s at Chaffee Crossing, to the Dallas market it’s tough to sell that there because the amenities in that market are great. In some of those smaller markets, when we take those amenities to them, the town usually hasn’t seen anything like it.” Joseph says being younger (he’s thirty-six) helps him keep astride of trends in the marketplace.
“We’ve given our older plans a facelift and new amenities and kind of that younger feel to them,” he says. “We’re bringing some better colors and newer feel while keeping the same bones all along.” Those adaptations – including open floor plans, high-end countertops and other appointments – are minor compared to some of the trends the market expects and that set one development apart from another.
“The amenities have changed tremendously since I came into the business,” Joseph says. “Now we have free tanning, a movie theater, resort style pools, gyms.” Like everyone in the construction field, Joseph says the most pressing challenge is finding enough skilled labor. As the economy continues to pick up, the squeeze has only become tighter and as with anything where demand outpaces supply, this makes things more expensive.
“What I’ve seen over the years, as far as subcontractors, is there’s hardly any younger subs. They’re all older generation subcontractors,” he says. “Very few that I deal with, maybe two of my subs, are sons who have taken over their fathers’ businesses or have started their own.
“As far as the labor, that goes through trends as well. Now we’re in a trend where good help is really hard to find, and I mean really hard. Once you find that good help you better keep them. Compare that to a down market, your 2007 and 2008 market, where you could find some good help pretty easily.”
Another cost challenge that is making construction more expensive, often due to factors beyond the builder’s control, is materials. “Tariffs have bitten me on the last two,” Joseph says. “If the tariffs hit my sub, they throw the cost onto me so I’m hoping that we don’t get hit and that we don’t get those passed on.
“But let me just say this. Every project we do is more expensive than the last one as far as cost.” To help level out the peaks and valleys of the development and construction business, diversification is the name of the game. The company has already branched into self management of its properties and Joseph says there are other directions to explore in the years to come. But he’s not in a hurry to reinvent the fifty-employee firm, either.
“As far as the future for our company, we are conservatively growing each year,” he says. “I don’t want to grow too fast. That scares me. “We’ve branched out and done some different things, restaurants and stuff like that. I like staying in my comfort zone of developing and managing our own multi-family projects. That’s what we know and what we’re good at.”
