Dispatch Issue #3 - Construction
Throughout rural East Texas, in small towns like Gun Barrel City, Daingerfield, & Quinlan, heaping piles of aluminum wire, copper pipes, car batteries, and other metal waste form monuments to a history of utility. Stare at one of these mountains of scrap metal and you’d surely conclude there’s no longer any use left in the jagged metal landscape set before you.
Opportunity Isn’t Always Obvious
But Nate Ungarean has a different perspective. A perspective formed through capitalizing on opportunities most owners and operators can’t see. And having a clear-eyed vision for compounding those opportunities into a transformative business. He’s building a thriving company transforming scrap metal into material solutions for businesses of all kinds. His company, AIM Recycling, has grown to 8 locations (with a 9th on the way) in just over a decade, and today, it plays a vital role in international commerce.
On any given day, AIM trades over a million pounds of raw material across major global markets. Those mountains of scrap metal dotting the landscape of East Texas? AIM sees Mt. Everest-sized opportunities in each of them.
For owners and operators like Nate in the construction industry, opportunities to grow, invest, and scale have been in short supply over the last several years. And for good reason. Here are just a few macro challenges construction-related companies face:
Skilled labor shortages
Material and supply chain volatility
Technological disruption
Wage & material cost increases
There are plenty of others. Recent developments surrounding on-again, off-again tariff policies and trade tensions increase uncertainty for construction businesses like AIM. Metal-related businesses in particular are trading at steep discounts, off from their highs when tariffs and protectionism were seemingly impossible threats.
Long-Term Thinking & Action
In a climate marked by varying degrees of fear and uncertainty, how should owners and operators like Nate proceed? His actions are instructive.
“Right now, we’re focused on two things: navigating fear in the market and turning it into opportunity. We’re working hard to develop strong operators internally so we can confidently scale - both organically and through acquisition. Our priority is building the leadership capacity needed to capitalize on this moment and grow through smart, disciplined expansion.”
This is difficult work. When small and medium-sized businesses face headwinds, an operator’s reflex is to solve a company’s most pressing issues. Solutions to those problems are often short-term fixes and rarely propel businesses forward in any meaningful way.
Investing time and capital into developing strong operators and building leadership capacity, like Nate and AIM are doing, take a backseat when revenue slows and market uncertainty prevails.
But that’s precisely the kind of action and long-term thinking it takes to lead any business through inevitable challenges. Once market conditions improve, it’s easier to grow and capitalize on opportunities in plain sight because the gears of real progress were already in motion long before the tides turned in your favor.
Like piles of scrap metal, it’s difficult to spot opportunities when business conditions are unfavorable. But look closer.
Ask yourself, what are the actions I can take today that will help build the company I want in the future?
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