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Jack Pou has spent the last several years building success by building relationships in south LA and beyond.
His company, JR Construction, is a subcontractor that provides wood framing and a turnkey concrete service to general contractors from Lake Charles to the Northshore, as well as Jackson, Miss., and (in the future) southern Alabama. The company recently expanded into the Houma and Covington areas as well.
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Top Executives: Jack Pou, Managing Partner; Ryan Engquist, Partner; Alex Derousselle, Director of Construction; Kelley Matthews, Controller
Address: 17534 Old Jefferson Hwy., Suite A3, Prairieville, LA 70769
Phone: 225.363.0020
Website: jrconstructionsolution.com
“If I have a contractor going into a certain area, I’m going to go with them,” Pou says. “Part of our business model is to grow along with our customers. This is a real partnership.”
Partnership and service are two keys to the company’s success. Pou, who developed an interest in construction as a teenager while working for a builder, got an early start interacting with and learning from subcontractors. He saw that managing a labor force onsite was one of the toughest parts of the business. “You have to learn how to communicate with people and motivate them,” he says.
After graduation, Pou saw an opportunity to start a new business offering a turnkey concrete service that would capitalize on his talent for managing people and simplify a tricky part of the construction process. General contractors quickly saw the value of having JR Construction supervise the concrete work for their projects from A to Z—sourcing materials, bringing in labor, and most importantly, providing an onsite manager to supervise employees.
“The old school was for the general contractors to do everything themselves,” Pou says.
Part of our business model is to grow along with our customers. This is a real partnership.
His expertise and relationships with suppliers allow him to pass along volume discounts to his customers. Contractors often find that JR Construction can handle the entire scope of concrete work for less than they could do it themselves.
This level of efficiency has fueled growth to the tune of 15% each year for the past four years. General contractor volume has picked up, Pou says, with many of his customers moving from building mostly single-family homes into multi-family projects. JR Construction keeps up with that volume, expanding along with its contractor customers.
So what is the company’s next move? Building relationships with commercial contractors, Pou says, bidding on and being awarded more business on the commercial side. “We have customers who want to move into new markets,” he says, “and JR Construction wants to go along with them.”
