Based in Irwin, PA – some 22 miles southeast of Pittsburgh, Brex Enterprises sets new standards in construction. They provide pipeline maintenance and services; earthwork and development; trucking and hauling; and right-of-way services. A family business with a history of generations of construction experience, it operates mainly in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and New York.
Founded in 2012 as Brentzel Excavation LLC, the company, attributes its growth and success to building upon a solid foundation comprised of five essential components, says Alicia Brentzel, president and co- owner with husband Andrew (A.J.).
The company was begun when A.J. – who had been working for a family member doing excavation – decided to form his own excavation business. Slowly, the company moved into also doing pipeline work for the oil and gas industry. In 2014, Brentzel Excavation LLC changed its name to a DBA (Doing Business As): Brex Enterprises. ‘Br’ for Brentzel and ‘ex’ for excavation.
A.J.’s family construction history spans back four generations and touches upon most aspects of construction.
At the beginning of 2019, Brex Enterprises earned a Women Business Enterprise (WBE) certification from the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council (WBENC). It is a private third-party that certifies women-owned businesses on behalf of U.S. corporations or WBE certification through city, county or state programs.
“The certification gives us another tool in our toolbox to use to go after certain government contracts that require a minimum participation level of spend with small businesses and diverse business enterprises,” she explains.
A Foundation of Safety
One part of the company’s foundation is safety, says Alicia Brentzel. “Our employees are the company’s greatest asset and their health and safety is the company’s number one priority. Our safety record is amazing and we attribute that to truly establishing the priority that safety is first. We do not make any sacrifices to safety, period.”
All employees receive comprehensive annual training from company management on all aspects of work Brex Enterprises does. A company safety committee – made up of employees and managers – meet monthly to monitor and address issues also. The committee also conducts on-site inspections at random.
There is a company-wide commitment to safety on an employee and management level, she adds. This is achieved through initial training and annual training thereafter. The company’s safety training programs comply with all clients’ requests and regulatory agencies, including the U.S. DOT and OSHA.
Being in the oil and gas industry there are already additional safety measures that we must comply with, Brentzel points out. That includes SafeLandUSA training – a standardized orientation training for workers in the U.S. Onshore and Gas Exploration & Production industries.
“Part of our bidding process is to conduct a preliminary safety analysis of the job to determine if we need to add more time and additional safety measures. Things that would add cost or time to a job is accounted for upfront.
Up to 2018, the company had no lost work claims. Since then there has been only minor incidents.
Measuring Customer Satisfaction
“Another part of our solid foundation is customer satisfaction, which we pride ourselves on,” says Brentzel. “One of the things we do to measure customer satisfaction, aside from ongoing checks, is that is after every project we do surveys. These are typically sent to the site supervisor and also essentially everyone we have worked with on that job.
“The survey is just a couple of questions to seek feedback. We ask things like: how was our performance, what could we improve on, do you want to call out anything that was positive or negative? This enables us to continuously monitor and improve the customer experience we provide.”
Innovation Drives Growth
Innovation is another foundation component. The development and application of ideas, improvements and technologies improves processes, productivity, profitability and safety. By and large, this, in turn drives company growth, Brentzel points out.
For example, the company has created a custom attachment for its excavating machines that increase safety and productivity.
Growth Through Vertical Integration
Obviously, growth is good for a business, is vital for future success and must be part of a company’s foundation, says Brentzel. The company is constantly looking to take advantage of new opportunities and attract more customers also.
“We are also developing new ranges of services for our customers by taking a vertical integration strategy. With this, our customers do not have to go to multiple companies to have work done.”
Staying True to Core Values
The remaining component of Brex Enterprises’ foundation is its cores values: accountability, selfless leadership and integrity.
Accountability. The objective here is to have all employees to be accountable and responsible for accomplishing the company’s business goals, explains Brentzel. For this to happen, employees need to understand those goals and the company’s values.
Selfless leadership. “We have what we call selfless leadership,” she says. “As leaders in the company, A.J. and I work alongside those we lead, rather than just work over them. We do not push our company culture down on our employees. We try to build everyone up to be their own leader by encouraging an environment of respect and hard work.”
She adds that she and A.J. want their employees to feel empowered to do their jobs, to take ownership of their work and improve their performance. When employees embrace a company’s vision, everyone wins.
“There is a caring, positive workplace culture at Brex Enterprises and we believe our employees are happy to work here. That has an impact on our success.”
Integrity. Brentzel says everyone in the company is expected to follow the cardinal rule: Treat everyone the way that you want to be treated. That means consistently being honest, ethical and trustworthy.
Employee Recruitment and Retention
Brex Enterprises has 40 employees. In addition to company meetings and emails, they are kept engaged and “in the loop” with goings-on in the company through a company newsletter which is mailed monthly to everyone. A feature of the newsletter is recognition of a Performer of the Month and also a Safety Performer of the Month, chosen by the company’s foremen and leadership staff.
The newsletter also discusses the status of current projects and upcoming projects so that all employees know what is going on within the company, regardless of their position.
Among the things Brex Enterprises does to attract and retain workers is employee development, notes Brentzel. “We pride ourselves on this.”
Employees are also periodically asked if they are happy in their position. They are asked if they want to learn new skills. They are also asked what are their goals and where they want to be in a year or two. “We are always looking to improve on this and that way we know how to develop our employees so that there are happy and are meeting their own personal goals, as well as aligning those goals with the company’s goals. This is helping to retain employees as a happier employee is more inclined to stay.”
Among the questions asked of recent new hires are: What motivates you? Is it money, moving up the ranks, trying new jobs or using new technology? This information helps the company create a personalized development plan for each new hire.
“We are in an extremely competitive environment and can only do so much with monetary incentives,” Brentzel explains. Instead, we want to motivate people with such things as acknowledging they are a valuable member of the company, recognizing their hard work and providing opportunities for improving their skill sets and for growth advancement within the company.”
An employee who feels stagnant in their role is much more likely to get restless and look elsewhere for opportunities, she adds.
Hiring Inexperienced Employees
Brex Enterprises does not mind hiring employees who have little or no experience in the excavation and pipeline maintenance and services industries.
That is to say, by hiring someone who lacks industry experience, we can train them to our way of doing things, notes Brentzel.
“Employers typically do not want to hire inexperienced people and put the money up to train new people,” she maintains. “As an industry, if we do not start doing that, we are going to have a serious problem because the labor shortage is very real. 10 years from now, we are not going to have workers with experience and expertise in anything we do.”
All new employees are paired up with an experienced worker. By doing this, it acclimates them to the job and the company ways quicker. New employees move around to different positions so they are able to perform different duties.
Ramping Up Social Media
The company is ramping up its social media to help attract prospective employees. Their aim is toward younger people because that is how they are researching companies to work for, says Brentzel. In addition, the company has some “big goals” that include using social platforms (web-based technology) to create learning environments. The objective is to help mentor employees and bring new people to the industry as well.
Brex Enterprises is also using social media to thank its employees and recognize their efforts. New to the company’s social media campaign is that every Thursday, they post a brief interview with a different employee. The interview spotlights the employee, talks about who they are, what they like to do at the company and also what they want to learn over the next year.
