‘Getting it right’ helps FR Cos. build on success

Quality, flexibility and persistence have been the foundation directives FR Cos. Limited has followed to keep expanding its locations, its team and its clients.

“Situations don’t always go as expected but we stay steady on the goal,” said vice president Andrew Rauch. “We pride ourselves on offering more for less and on getting it right.”

Knowing the company’s goal has helped keep it on track and grow in a market that continues to look like a roller coaster ride on graph paper.

“Since Andrew and I started, we’ve had a two-pronged approach of developing and redeveloping property and making money to reinvest,” said president Devin Ferrey. “Our tagline is ‘higher standards on product delivery, initiatives and quality features,’ and we hold ourselves to that standard internally, too.

“We take integrity and quality seriously. People are hired, fired, promoted and demoted on their quality of work.”

When Ferrey and Rauch started the company, they bought properties, fixed them up and sold them for a profit. They then reinvested those profits into rental properties they planned to retain. “We built a diversified and sustainable market that wouldn’t be affected with a boom or a bust economy,” Ferrey said.

Their clarity of purpose, as well as business diversity and high standards, continue to build the value of FR Cos. through owning properties and building homes.

“We have to be selective, meaning properties need to be the right price and the right location,” Ferrey said. The standard has to work across the board for projects that range from $200,000 buildings to custom home lots that start at $300,000 with homes kicking the price up to $1 million.

As business owners, Ferrey and Rauch work side-by-side with their team — a value in which they believe.

“We’re active and involved and here every day,” Rauch said. “We keep our hands in all aspects of the business.”

“There’s no task that’s too small or menial,” Ferrey added.

Both men credit their team as the backbone of the company’s success. “It took us four years to build such a great team,” Ferrey said.

Challenges confronting FR Cos. predominantly boil down to the housing situation Colorado has been juggling for a while now: supply, demand and the increasing costs that bridge the two.

“Finding projects with both good land and good water are a challenge on the home-building side of the business,” Ferrey said, “and some prices are up 40 percent for buyers.”

Sticker shock for homebuyers carries over into how they often interact with companies such as FR. Expectations are high, and margins are low. Continuing to build a respected reputation with customers still gets top billing, however, in how the owners move forward.

“We’ll sometimes spend what it takes,” Ferrey said, “and end up losing money to make sure we get it right.”

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