Meet the head of Louisiana's fastest growing company
BY TIMOTHY BOONE | Business editor , The Advocate | Aug 29, 2024
Omega Foundation Services might have gotten off to a slow start when Andrew Bennett launched the business in January 2020, but the Slaughter-based heavy civil construction firm has rallied to become the fastest-growing company in Louisiana.
The company recently ranked 136th on the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing businesses. Omega posted 2,520% revenue growth from 2020 to 2023. Omega specializes in pile driving and heavy civil construction for government and private sector clients. The company does work across Louisiana, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Virginia. One of its biggest projects is doing dirt excavation at the Golden Pass liquefied natural gas terminal in Port Arthur, Texas, a contract that Bennett said could end up worth more than $60 million.
“I had some relationships whenever I started the business in the government world and a few government projects that we had lined up,” Bennett said, sitting back in a sparsely decorated upstairs office. “COVID hit and the government shut down, so we weren't able to start those projects until I think April 2020. So it kind of halted us a little bit for the first part of the year. I think we did a few million dollars in sales that first year.”
Bennett said he was encouraged by officials with Genesis 360 to submit financial information for possible inclusion in the Inc. 5000. Genesis 360, a Baton Rouge-based maintenance and construction firm, made the list in 2022 and 2023.
Bennett, 32, said Omega is on track to bring in between $75 million and $80 million this year. Next year, based on work the company already has lined up, revenue should top $100 million. The company has about 200 employees and could have between 300 to 500 on the payroll by 2026, based on the backlog of work and the opportunities that exist.
"We try to stick to what we're good at, and we're really good at heavy civil construction," he said.
In this week’s Talking Business, Bennett discusses how he started the company and what's on the horizon for Omega.
Interview has been edited for length and clarity.
What led you to go out and start your own company?
I've been in the construction industry since I was a child. My dad had me running excavators and dozer since I was about 3, 4 years old. Since I could get in a machine. And so he owned a construction company and I ended up dropping out of high school in ninth grade and just going to work for him until I was 18. When I turned 18, I just went to work for whoever gave me the best opportunity, and I worked for a lot of companies in the Gulf South, a lot of the larger construction companies. I moved up in the ranks and ended up just, I didn't really like the way they did things at those companies, the way they treated people. Because I was a field guy, not having the opportunity to grow with those companies was a big opportunity lost. So I ended up getting fired for the first time in my life from Group Contractors, and I told my wife, "That's it. I'm done. I'm going to do whatever it takes to go on my own." I took all the knowledge I had and I went to work. I ended up taking everything out of my 401(k) and savings and took a small loan from my uncle, and that's how we started.
Was it scary doing that?
It was definitely scary. I mean, it was me and my wife. We got married Dec. 7, 2019. Started my business January 2020, ended up finding out she was pregnant in February, so she ended up getting pregnant on her honeymoon. We lived in Thibodaux. She was going to Nichols and I was working over there. My roots are from Zachary, and I told her, I said, "Hey, if we're going to build this company, I'm going to build it where the majority of my relationships are, back in the Baton Rouge area."
What’s the breakdown between public and private business?
It's a little bit of both. About half and half. We do about 50% with government agencies. We do about 50% in the private sector. So the government agencies, East Baton Rouge Parish, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the municipalities, local municipalities. We do a lot of work with Louisiana Department of Transportation and Development. And then, obviously, we do a lot of private work, industrial private work. So the Exxons, the Air Products. We do a lot of work with Nutrien.
What's the advice you'd give to other people that are looking at starting a business?
You need to know your business in all aspects. From the lowest-paid guy to the highest-paid guy to every operation that goes on in this company. You need to know it forward and backward. And if you don't know it, you better find somebody good who does, and you better learn from them.
How difficult is it to find employees?
It hasn't been as difficult as I thought it would be, because of the relationships that I've had in the previous companies that I've worked for. I feel like I'm pretty respected in the industry and I treat people well, and there's a lot of people that want to come work for us. On the craftsman side of things, the management and upper management side has been a little more difficult. So what we've been doing there is just moving people up in the field and helping them build and working with them. This Inc. 5000 deal, just what it's put out there on the market has brought a lot of opportunities to us. There's a lot of people that want to work for Omega now because of the growth that we've had.
Omega Foundation Services, Inc. certifies that we do not, and will not, maintain or provide for our employees any facilities that are segregated on a basis of race, color, creed, or national origin. Omega Foundation Services, Inc. is an equal opportunity employer.
Site by Wild Horse Creative