Another Banner Year
By Ted Reiff
 This
month’s e-letter is a thank-you to our deconstruction
clients, Friends of TRP, and retail/wholesale customers. And
it's a pat on the back for our overworked staff and board
of directors.
This has been a great year for TRP. We are making a name
for ourselves throughout California. Starting with the Eastern
Sierras, I want to thank Mammoth Mountain and especially Lisa
Isaacs, who led the charge that convinced Intrawest Resort
Development to deconstruct rather that demolish. Also doing
the right thing in the Northern Sierras was East West Partners
and their “green conscience,” Aaron Revere, who
worked with the great folks at North Star in Truckee.
Due to the efforts of Lorenz Schilling, TRP Southern California
Regional Manager, our Los Angeles operation is on track for
a great 2005. For those of you who may be interested, Lorenz
is looking for a few good people to serve as area managers
in the southland. (Don't worry, he does not subscribe to my
management style.)
In the Bay Area, this year's total number of deconstruction
projects soared beyond our wildest expectations, thanks largely
to Ezequiel Borquez, who transferred from the Southern California
region to become our deconstruction field manager. Every deconstruction
project Ezequiel managed came in on time and under budget.
We're looking for entreprenurial area managers in Northern
California as well. Two great demolition companies have joined
our network in the Bay Area— Sonrise Construction Services
in Livermore and Marcan Enterprises operating primarily on
the Peninsula. With a new area manager or two, we should be
able to add five or six additional demolition/deconstruction
companies next year.
Our Alameda warehouse exceeded its sales targets this year.
A special thanks to all of you who are customers of that facility.
I am sure you will agree, the warehouse would not be the great
place it is to shop without the devotion and energy of Warehouse
Manager Brandy Sosa. Two-and-a-half years ago this guy was
a walk-on laborer at one of our job sites. It truly amazes
me what talent is out there.
Then there is Geri Creque-Stough, our bookkeeper and office
manager, who has relieved me of the headaches of accounting
and improved our cash flow. Just yesterday, Ray Peterson,
a deconstruction client in Pleasanton remarked that Geri was
so conscientious in getting out our invoices that he received
the same invoice three times on the same day – one each
on his office fax and home fax and one in the mail.
Kudos to the board of directors: David Crellen, our website
designer and a former client from my investment banking days
has hung in there with me for ten long years – how can
I ever thank him? Kirk Hoeffler, board treasurer, is one of
the best tacticians in any business. I have relied on his
guidance and advise so often that I’m almost embarrassed.
Sal Vaccaro, president of Synergy Environmental is board secretary.
No matter how bad a day I'm having, when Sal calls the clouds
part, the sun shines and I start to laugh – whata guy.
Then there is our newest board member, Vern Veness, president
and founder of Swan Pools, a real quiet success story. Vern
was a deconstruction client two years ago and became very
interested in what we are doing. Even before he joined our
board he literally took me by the hand and introduced me to
two people who are on our deconstruction project schedule
for next year.
If I have done one thing right in this business, it was in
forming of an advisory board. This group of diverse and talented
people has given TRP and me more top flight advice than I
ever dreamed possible. Drew Maran, green building contractor
from Palo Alto, is a quiet guy who always asks the toughest
questions. Moe Lastfogel, the ultimate salesman, is truly
on the leading edge of the green movement in Santa Clara County.
If I need to meet someone, I call Moe because he probably
knows the telephone number. Then there’s Carl Hanson.
If you ever want to know the most efficient way to ship material
from Timbuktu to Tallahassee, ask Carl. Not only will he tell
you the routing, he'll describe the best way to load it, where
to transload it, how to combine it with someone else’s
load and get the other guy to pay for it. He is a master at
logistics, in addition to being the calming voice in the crowd.
And lastly, Dianne Schilling. Dianne, like David Crellen and
Carl Hanson, was there from the early days when I was trying
to grind out a reuse business in the Otay Mesa area of San
Diego. Without Dianne encouraging me in lean times and envisioning
fleets of TRP trucks running across the highways of America
in the good times, I probably would have given up. Whenever
I think times are tough, I remember those early days when
after six months of work we started drawing a weekly salary
of $50, then had to stop that exorbitant drain because the
rent was due. Many a night I stood in Dianne’s kitchen
eating olives, drinking wine and listening to her tell me
what a terrific job I was doing. Ain’t life great!
Thanks to all of you—clients, customers, and cheerleaders—2004
has been a banner year.
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