Article April 12, 2004 Issue

Rescued from financial disaster

By David C. Anderson

My dad was incapable of dishonesty . I remember hearing him say of a contractor he had worked for, "If this man could do as well as he did, just think how well a really honest person could do in this business." Later my dad founded his own commercial masonry repair business—with honesty as its keynote.

He and his brother built a really strong construction company with loyal customers and a reputation for honesty as well as competence. Eventually, I joined it. We had a great crew. Everyone cared about everyone else. It was like a huge family.

My dad and uncle retired when the firm was growing fast, leaving the business to my two cousins and me. In the mid-'90s, we undertook a project in a field we weren't familiar with, and which we were unable to complete. The bonding company that insured the project had to take it over, and our company was eventually forced into bankruptcy.

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