(Reference: The Entrepreneur The magazine for growth leaders)

As Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year – Services category winner, Mark Taylor happily accepts the label “man of steel” – a reference to his business resolve, his focus and his determination to transform the building industry globally through advocating and proving the benefits of light-gauge steel in construction. In everything he does, he is truly a man on a mission.

There’s no question that in the stories Mark Taylor had read to him as a child, the hare always beat the tortoise — hands down. In both business and leisure, Mark likes getting things done quickly and well.

He has represented New Zealand in yachting; has a personal best marathon time of 2hr 42min; has completed five Coast to Coast 260km adventure races; and, of course, has squeezed in enough time to create one of New Zealand’s fastest-growing construction technology companies. A sample of his energy, zeal and drive is demonstrated by his reaction to an invitation he received last year to a Paris trade fair.

This is the programme he set himself:

• Fly non-stop to Paris – 30 hours in economy.
• Arrive at hotel at 08:30 to unpack and meet his team.
• A 30km run around the parks of Paris to acclimatise.
• Eight hours setting up stand at fair.
• Dinner and socialising.
• Early wake-up call to take care of business.

The team at FRAMECAD pride themselves on delivering to their clients effective and efficient completion of rapid design and build contracts. No matter where they are in the world.

Case in point: FRAMECAD’s rapid design and manufacturing technology was the point of difference for a recent hospitality project with an extremely tight deadline in Dubai.

Using FRAMECAD innovation and technology, local staff who had undergone FRAMECAD training were able to design and fabricate the 1,200sq m entertainment facility and have it up and running in just 19 days.

In a building industry somewhat obsessed with timber framing and a culture of 4×2s, Mark has carved out a sizeable niche in steel by wearing two complementary CEO hats. His FRAMECAD business is built around innovative computer-aided design techniques capable of producing clever and complex 3D simulations. This enables plans for entire buildings to be rendered in just hours. The other venture, structured on the success of FRAMECAD’s international achievements, is a building materials trading company, Bon Pacific.

“FRAMECAD really does give us an enormous point of difference with end-to-end integration in the design, detailing and manufacture of steel framing that is suitable for residential and commercial buildings,” Mark says. “We have invested a significant amount of revenue in building intellectual property, technology, repeatable processes and expertise to the point where we are recognised as the world’s leader in cold-formed steelconstruction solutions.”

Because of this capability, it made sense for Mark to focus on the material side of the building development, which he answered with Bon Pacific.

“This venture complements FRAMECAD and is a fast-growing global building materials trading company in its own right. As FRAMECAD has branched out around the globe, Bon Pacific’s fortunes have also grown. The original focus was on steel-based products and distribution but with changing world events and opportunities we see some great potential in providing sustainable building solutions to the world.”

The ability to integrate design, detailing and engineering software with the supply and manufacturing side of the building process has seen the two companies win friends and contracts around the globe. Customer satisfaction and the ability to extract greater value from the overall supply chain have allowed the two entities to build annuity revenue streams and repeat business, with funds put to good use in research and development and investments to continue building a presence in new markets and territories.

Like running marathons, developing both businesses has taken considerable time and effort.

“Both are still private companies and have remained self-funded for the past 20 years, even in periods of rapid growth. In itself this is no small feat as a typical sales cycle needs funding for anything from three months to five years. Also, the thinking behind the substance required looking far and wide to really gain an understanding of how the world of building and technology were evolving.”

Having studied the global market for building systems and software, Mark soon determined that the market was fragmented, presenting many opportunities for FRAMECAD’s end-toend design and build offering.

“Everyone seemed to be focusing on only a small part of a total solution that the market was asking for and needed. They were looking at one part of what computer-aided design technology could achieve rather than the big picture that integrated design, automation technology, innovation, services and being able to include sustainable building techniques.

“Equally, traditional methods and skill availability were certainly never going to be able to solve a growing global housing shortage, let alone improve on housing quality when there was also a global shortage in competent tradespeople.”

Changing mindsets about the desirability of steel versus other building materials was another task Mark identified as requiring attention. While he had all the technical information and passion for the process himself, he ascertained that bringing a global heavyweight into the team would be a wise investment.

“I found out about Mr Nader Elhajj, who is head researcher for the National Association of Home Builders in the US. As well as this, he basically wrote the Bible on industry standards for North America.”

Nader now represents a core ingredient if the FRAMECAD team, travelling the world to educate, and enlighten, global and regional authorities and customers on the benefits and strengths of steel. Mark says: “This strategy has been instrumental in opening new markets for us and lifting FRAMECAD’s profile as one of the most expert providers in this hightech, fast-growing part of the industry.”

Leading by example in critical situations has both proven and scored points for what he can deliver. After the earthquake hit northern part of Pakistan in 8th October 2005, Mark’s team set up a factory within two days and trained staff to design and build relief housing, medical clinics, schools and other much-needed structures. Support staff visited on five trips over 24 months. In the first year, 1,000,000 sq ft of buildings were erected.

A similar strategy kicked into action in Indonesia after the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami.

Both Mark’s companies operate and have offices across the globe with local presence and support in the US, UAE, Australia and outsourced manufacturing in New Zealand, Korea, the US and Taiwan. To further shore up its reach and nimbleness, the company has developed a distribution network that allows coverage in evolving markets where it has no direct presence.

“The programme is a good one for all in that it provides a complete structure based on reward for investment by our partners. There is a strong focus on enablement and support to make sure our distributors are contractually aligned, and locked into, our business methodologies and customer centric values.” One such venture in South Africa has already delivered 12 major contracts.

With this outward and forward-looking philosophy, Mark’s creations have become two of New Zealand’s fastest-growing, most innovative and forward-thinking export companies, recognised by the Auckland Export Awards.

“Our eyes have always been on the future and our history has been in selling and supporting cold-formed steel manufacturing plants around the world. Now we’re moving to the next level with complete deployments of high-volume, rapidly enabled turn-key factories for our customers who have large building contracts.

“Though we have an invaluable group of oversees experts on our team, we are at heart a bunch of Kiwis brought up on the No.8 wire/bailing twine mentality. We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved and what we will achieve over the next few years.

“We have great products and some very smart people and if we think something is a great idea we just get on and do it.”

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