The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Marous Construction marks milestone
Marous Brothers Construction marks 40 years
It’s been a “great road” for Adelbert “Chip” Marous Jr. and his brothers Scott and Kenny.
It’s been a “great road” for Adelbert “Chip” Marous Jr. and his brothers Scott and Kenny as Marous Brothers Construction reaches 40 years in business.
“I was 19 and my brother was 22,” Chip Marous, president and CEO, recalled. “These young guys, 1980. Times were not good. Interest rates were like 14%.”
Home remodeling was a part of the brothers’ beginnings in business and since that time, they never looked back, Marous said. After working in residential, an opportunity in commercial came along after just a couple of years in business, he said.
“I thought we’d actually be more of a home builder because that’s what our background was from the guy we used to work for in high school,” Marous said. “Our first big break - commercial work as a carpenter contractor.”
Between 1982 and 1983, the brothers moved into a building in Willoughby and started to rehab buildings and own properties, Marous said. For a while, general contracting was the norm and the company started to expand.
The Marous family was involved in the site business, which was what Marous’ brother Kenny was going to take over, but instead traveled to Phoenix for roughly 15 years, he said. In 1997, he came back to join his brothers. Although the structure is complicated, Marous said, there are four building groups — design, construction management, multi-family and the special projects group.
“We do work from $10,000 to our biggest job to date was $130 million,”
Marous said. “Working with your brothers is awesome. You see them every day. You grew up with them. Family businesses aren’t easy, but we get along really well. We’ve gone through some good times and bad times together, but there’s nothing like family.”
Not only are Marous and his brothers involved in the business, but five of their kids as well — a second generation coming up. Marous’ son, Jeff, runs the special projects group.
“There’s been no silver spoon. They’ve earned what they’ve gotten,” Marous said. “What’s really rewarding about this business is really how many businesses can you build something, and you get done and say look what we’ve built. I think that’s kind of gotten my kids hooked because you go around and say, ‘hey we’ve built that building.’ It’s a neat business to be in.”
Seeing younger generations grow and be provided with opportunities are other aspects of the business Marous enjoys, he said. He still remembers his favorite project when the company’s beginnings started.
“We actually officially weren’t in business yet,” Marous said. “We got laid off and we did this project for somebody who knew somebody who wanted a remodel job on their house.”
An older couple were convinced to move in above their garage so the top of their home could be taken off for a whole, new second story in six weeks, Marous said.
“At the time, OK we can pull it off, but to think back — we, a 19- and a 22-year- old, convinced these people. You’re going to take the top of my house off, I’m going to live in a garage for six weeks and you’re going to have a house back together with an extra story,” he said with a laugh.
“It was right i n Willoughby Hills next to Gates Mills, and it’s amazing how many projects we got because people saw us taking this house apart,” Marous continued. “There’s so many of them, but early on, that was one and really our commitment to Downtown Willoughby.”
Business has changed a lot through the years, but it comes down to experience and taking on challenges, Marous said. Taking care of clients is key, but also taking care of employees, he said. In the office, 130 are employed as well as 200 in the field, he said.
The business will be entering 2021 with their largest backlog yet.
“Our business is very high-risk,” Marous said. “Not every job you make money on, but we have more jobs we make money on than we have lost money. We’re relationship-based. As big as we are, we’ve got clients that we’ve had for 25 to 35 years.”
From day one, the business has been based in Willoughby and after the business was moved out of Marous’ brother’s house, the business moved to Second Street in Downtown Willoughby, Marous said. From there, the business’s headquarters was moved closer to the airport and recently, a new property was claimed at 36933 Vine St. to leave a legacy for the second generation, he said.
“We’re building a new headquarters right around 35,000 square feet and about an 18,000-squarefoot of warehouse,” Marous said. “It really gives an opportunity to re-image the company, attract younger people to a nice working environment. This is very contemporary, very open.”
Current projects include apartment projects in Cleveland, a $42 million Caterpillar campus in Perrysburg, and work in Columbus, Washington D.C. and Memphis. Clients take the business into those cities, which remains a part of the relationship-based business model, Marous said.
“We grew up in the construction business because of our father,” he said. “The sky is the limit and let’s keep growing this as long as we have the right people and structure. I think there’s opportunities for us to grow a lot more and that’s what we’re looking to do.”