Environmental hazards and employee safety rank as top concerns for construction companies of all sizes. Before a project is approved, hundreds of considerations need to be made regarding compliance issues and potential dangers—and that's where Creative Environment Solutions (CES) Corp. comes in.
CES, a New York City-based family business that specializes in environmental and safety consulting for real estate, commercial and educational building projects, was founded in 1992.
Since its inception, the company has attracted clients based solely on word-of-mouth marketing and is growing like crazy. “Three years ago we were bringing in roughly $7 million in revenue," says Victoria S. Drozdov, who started the company with her husband Mark at their kitchen table. “In 2015, we finished the year at $14 million."
Mark came to the business with background in the industry and worked full time while Victoria, a new mom, worked part time on bookkeeping and backend computer systems (she moved to full time several years ago). The company grew, contracts were signed, relationships were built and today the business has 110 full-time employees—a massive uptick from half that just three years ago.
Early on, competition was one of the company's biggest obstacles, with several small firms in New York City and the surrounding areas also specializing in environmental and safety consulting. Wanting to differentiate themselves, the pair registered CES as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise, or WBE. This certification helped net them early clients, but it wasn't enough to keep the lights on.
Creative Environment Solutions co-founders Mark and Victoria Drozdov
Mark's tenacity as a salesperson helped tremendously. He was (and still is) constantly meeting prospects and taking special care of every client need and concern. Customers came to know the couple personally and developed relationships deeper than the transactions outlined in contracts. Business poured in.
Mark's talent extended beyond sales to training, a necessity for every worker and vendor in the environmental and safety compliance process. He'd been through hundreds of hours of training before launching CES and, as the owner of his own company, would send employees and vendors to off-site locations for their own education. “But then one day I realized that I should offer the training myself," he remembers. “It really came out of frustration. I would go to a training session and come out thinking I could have presented the information in a much better way."
A few years after the launch of CES, Mark and Victoria opened a training center, which soon took on a life of its own and began to serve as a feeder for business. Today, CES offers classes almost every day on topics ranging from OSHA compliance to asbestos handling to fire safety. “This week we probably had 200 students come through our doors," says Mark. “Depending on a person's need, they can come in for a two-hour course, a 40-hour course, even a training program that lasts 124 hours."
—Victoria Drozdov, president, Creative Environment Solutions
While business is buzzing along for Mark and Victoria now, it hasn't always been smooth sailing. The market crash of 2008 hit the company hard. Projects were lost and clients stopped paying on time, creating a serious cash crunch. “Our industry is notorious for taking a long time to pay," says Victoria, adding that they were forced to institute tighter invoice tracking, enlist the help of collection agencies and reach out to banks for increased lines of credit.
CES got through the recession and the couple has yet to accept outside funding (although Victoria says they may consider it in the future). Today, the business's main challenges revolve around personnel management. “We had a flat structure when we were smaller, but now it is impossible to manage everyone so we've hired senior managers," she says. “It has really helped sustain our growth; five heads are better than one."
Looking ahead, Mark and Victoria see a continuation of their positive trajectory—revenues are already up 50 percent from this time last year—and are thinking of replicating their business model outside of New York. For now, though, the couple is thrilled with their success, each easily explaining what they love most about their jobs.
For Victoria, the daily challenges make things exciting. Not one day is the same. “For me, I love learning something today that I didn't know yesterday," says Mark. “If I can solve a client issue, I consider that a successful day."