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If you want to install an Imax theater inside your house (price: $2 million), give Joe Hieronimus and Dan Robbins a call. They're among a handful of dealers who can handle this task.
Or maybe you need to wire a commercial office building for lighting and security. Paul Caruso can help you with that.
The three entrepreneurs have been installing electronic systems inside commercial buildings and luxury homes for decades, and they've always been successful, even in recent years. “We've grown in the worst of the worst economic times,” says Robbins.
Caruso, 47, Hieronimus, 54, and Robbins, 60, are co-owners of Pittsburgh-based Accent Electronic Systems Integrators and sister company Naples-based Advanced Electronic Systems Integrators. Accent ESI manages commercial customers while Advanced takes care of residential customers; the companies split into two entities last year, but they reported combined revenues of $22.5 million, up 22% from the prior year when they both operated under the Accent banner.
Success came because the trio made timely acquisitions of struggling competitors in 2008 and because they targeted commercial work in Pennsylvania and Ohio, two areas not nearly as impacted by the real estate downturn as Southwest Florida.
“Acquisitions were a part of the strategy, particularly in Southwest Florida,” says Caruso. “Our competitors were hurting a little bit.”
In Naples, for example, Accent acquired Blue Kangaroo, a decade-old firm that installed home-technology systems in high-end homes. These systems included home theaters, temperature control, surveillance systems, and computer networks. “There are some economies to being bigger so you can become more aggressive when there are fewer projects,” Caruso says.
But the trio still plans to grow their business and make more acquisitions, though the challenge now is finding willing sellers. “Our M.O. is to find the right guy,” Hieronimus says.
Meanwhile, as business was slowing in Southwest Florida during the downturn, the partners decided to focus on commercial projects in the Pittsburgh area. The Pittsburgh natives had done business there for years, operating prior companies that they later sold. “We started in Dan's basement in 1978,” chuckles Hieronimus.
Caruso, who oversees the Pittsburgh operations, says Accent has found a growing niche wiring schools and universities. Increasingly, campuses are seeking surveillance and security systems to protect against criminals and violent intruders.
Bootstrapping young companies is what the trio likes to do. “You get to the point that you don't enjoy what you do,” says Robbins. At one point, their prior company had 75 offices, 500 employees and was posting $75 million in annual sales.
Each of the owners has a particular strength. “Joe is more of our strategic guy; he is our planner,” says Caruso, whose expertise is commercial sales. Robbins is the operations man and the one who owns the boat when they get together on the water. “I'm the best golfer,” laughs Caruso.
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