Engineering firm nominated for BoY

The urgent, unusual startup of  Trabue, Hansen & Hinshaw Inc. on April Fools’ Day 13 years ago is a story of regular people pulling together and making personal sacrifices to surmount overwhelming odds.
Since then, the engineering firm has performed work on such landmarks as Mizzou Arena, Discovery Ridge, the Virginia Avenue Parking Structure, MU track and training facilities and the Boone Hospital Pedestrian Bridge.

Now, THHinc (pronounced “think”) is one of five finalists for  Columbia’s Small Business of the Year, and partner Tom Trabue said winning the Chamber of Commerce award in May, after following the original business plan toward steady growth, “would be a great credit to our team. We’ve just got a great team.”
THHinc was literally formed within a couple of days when news of the abrupt closure of a local engineering firm forced Trabue, Gene Hinshaw and Paul Hansen, three professional engineers, to act quickly to save clients, employees and themselves from going down with the failing firm. Trabue, Hinshaw and Hansen rented a building and, with nine employees from the previous firm, opened their doors on April 1, 1996.
“We started with about 1,000 square feet, no carpet, no furniture, just a shell to work in,” Trabue said. “The day we opened, the employees showed up with computers and coffeemakers from home. I had lawn furniture for my office furniture.”

Today, the THHinc office in Columbia exceeds 10,000 square feet and houses engineers, surveyors, drafters, construction inspectors and support staff. THHinc also has added locations in Fayette, Blue Springs and Coolidge, Arizona. Of the 42 current employees, who earn an estimated annual payroll of $2.1 million, eight are from the original dozen who started the firm.
“You don’t typically start a business with 12 employees,” Trabue said. “Usually it’s two or three engineers who do all the work, and you grow the business. Our situation was very unusual.”
Despite the improbable beginnings, Trabue says he knew within six months of opening the doors that THHinc was going to survive. “All three of us were familiar with the community, and we had good reputations. Our support team all knew each other, and we all wanted to succeed,” he said. In fact, during that first year of business, Trabue and his partners borrowed money to pay their employees’ year-end bonuses as a reward for their commitment and effort.

Within a few days of opening, Trabue and his partners crafted the comprehensive business plan they needed to acquire a loan. When THHinc was nominated for the Small Business of the Year Award, Trabue looked back at the plan and was pleasantly surprised to see that many of the elements in it had not been significantly affected by time.

“I hadn’t had time to step back and re-evaluate our success. Other than changes in technology and our growth, the original business plan was nearly timeless,” Trabue said, adding that working on the Chamber nomination process allowed Trabue and his partners to refocus on future business and strategic plans.
THHinc is a full-service engineering firm with licenses to operate in more than 20 states and experience in structural, municipal, transportation, water/wastewater, land planning and site development for both commercial and residential land. Trabue estimated that 70 percent of the company’s survey and civil engineering work occurs in Missouri and bordering states, but nearly 50 percent of its structural work is for clients throughout the United States.

“Strategic alliances with architects in other areas (and) contractors from other places are primarily how we get jobs,” Trabue said. THHinc typically signs on 40 to 70 new projects a month.
Trabue said the sharp economic decline has been felt most in the residential side of their business. And, although TTHinc has had to lay off one employee, the entire team is working together to weather the storm as they did nearly 13 years ago when the story of THHinc 
began.