Peter Loyola and CLA Site

Category: Business
Published: November 2007

CLA Site's Peter Loyola reveals how he plans to continue to grow his landscape architecture and engineering business.

Success Magazine: What does success mean to you?
Peter Loyola: Success is the ability to relate well with your clients and build long-term relationships that go beyond a client relationship and become a personal one.

SM: And how do you define personal success?
PL: A balanced quality of life. Being able to work hard, play hard, and enjoy time with my family.

SM: That's easier said than done. You made a decision to open your own firm. Why did you do that?
PL: I just felt that the hard work and the fruits of my labor would be better met by being able to go on my own, rather than being dependent on someone else to sort of lead me up the corporate ladder. I felt that I needed to climb it myself.

SM: Climbing the corporate ladder isn't easy, is it?
PL: It's more like a rock climbing wall in that you can go up, you can go sideways, and you might have to go back down to try a different route. It's not a straight ladder by any means.

SM: You started up in 1989-90, which was a time when the industry was in a slowdown. In response, you diversified. Did you have a specific business or market plan at the time?
PL: No, it began much more random than that. I was still fairly young when I left my employment to start out on my own. The first couple of years during the early 90's we focused strictly on landscape design and construction for typical commercial and residential-type developments. One of our big projects was Wolfert's Roost Country Club. We got a contract to design and install all of the planting and irrigation around the new club house and signature holes. I'm proud to say that after 17 years, it's growing nicely. As work continued, I was certain that the company would evolve into a multi-faceted professional office and I was sure that I needed to understand the technical components of construction and design in order to be successful. One of the stigmas of landscape architecture as a profession, is that sometimes, we're not looked at as being very technically sound. We do the pretty picture, and we're great when it comes to concepts and graphics, but I've always prided myself in continuing to learn the technical side of the business. Solving technical stormwater issues for example has always been a passion and continues to be a major component of all our projects.

SM: When you made the decision to go out on your own, you said, "Okay, I have an idea and a vision of what I want to achieve." But, if you fail, everything around you fails. How do you deal with corporate pressure, being an entrepreneur and a leader, and the sense that it's all on your shoulders?
PL: I have always realized that through hard work and faith that I can do whatever I need to do. But I've also had a lot of help along the way. My family brings me great joy and a great sense of stability. While there is pressure on my shoulders, I make it a point to interact and surround myself with good people who can help carry the burden. Scott Miller is a senior project manager that has been with the company since the start. Without his integrity and technical capabilities we'd only be half a company. We certainly didn't have an extensive resume or portfolio when we first started, and it took perseverance to prove our knowledge and technical abilities. The fact that we've made it to ten years gives me a great sense of pride.

SM: How do you attract and keep those good people?
PL: The attraction of working for a small office is that you're going to wear a lot of hats. I hear so many stories of professionals being pigeon-holed into just one aspect of work. At a small office, you will absolutely be learning aspects of the profession from top to bottom. Also, keeping the projects diverse and the work interesting goes a long way towards keeping people. It certainly helps that Saratoga Springs is so attractive to many people, and that's one of the benefits we have in being located here.

SM: With everything that you're doing, how do you insure that there is continuity in the workflow within your company?
PL: Again, it's staying diverse and trying to hit all cylinders at the same time. Housing most recently has taken a hit, however we've seen more subdivision development and condominium related work within the last couple of years than we had in the first seven or eight years. I think that this is the result of more mixed-use projects not only locally but regionally. Locally, we really focused on some of the metropolitan areas in the Capital District. Schenectady, for example, has always been a favorite city of mine, and the work there helped grow my business. In addition to housing, we're winning municipal and institutional contracts throughout New York State and continue to work for our industrial clients in the construction aggregate industry.

SM: Now that you've had your business for 10 years, what are you looking to do with your firm?
PL: I'd like to grow it to double the size it is now. Right now, we have the equivalent of six people. Five are professionals, and two are part-time. The goal is to really become a very efficient office of 10-15 people.

SM: How will you do that?
PL: We're trying to market on several different fronts however, I think just by continuing to refine our marketing strategy. After ten years we're becoming more and more well-known for good quality work. We've really established ourselves in some market areas and some niche areas that I feel will only grow and become solidified. Once we begin to work in a community, I love to stay and continue to form relationships; it opens up the doors to other work. Chamber events are also really important.

SM: As far as a market niche for the future, is there any specific market you're going to target?
PL: I expect to continue to service our local and regional markets. I love working in the Adirondacks, including the Lake Placid and the Lake George regions. There are a lot of issues with affordable housing, development and smart growth. The Adirondack communities are trying to establish an economic base and a turn-around in order to become viable, and there are a lot of planning issues that are at the forefront of those communities. I think we could be of service.

SM: The planning process is critical in growing your business. Ten years ago in Saratoga, only a few people had a million-dollar house. Now, most developments start at $600,000! Are you now looking to target some of those residential people who have the cash flow? What percentage of the business will you have with regards to them in the future?
PL: Residential is typically 10-15% of my business, and I think, as a result of the demand, we could probably go up as high as 20% comfortably. The reason that I even include residential in our work is that it's good creative work. It's about as pure of a situation in our profession as you can get with regard to landscape architecture and engineering. It's always important to maintain a certain level of residential work for young, up-and-coming landscape architects. They can see an immediate result in a residential project much more quickly than a multi-use commercial development that may take 2-3 years to get into the ground. People are seeing that there is a need for landscape architecture services in order to pull a design together.

SM: When you're going through a transition or tough time, how do you persevere?
PL: I just open up the doors a little bit more, rather than wallowing in the tough times on my own. What I try to do is reach out to others who are in that same position, or who have been in that same position in the past. I have a really good network of friends and family that I can talk with to get different points of view and perspectives on how to handle certain aspects of some issues. They help me to persevere. I have great friends who I look to as mentors and they all have a different perspective, so it really helps to ground or isolate some of the tough issues for me.

SM: You said you have mentors. We've been writing about how critical a mentor is in personal, spiritual, physical, and family matters. How did you and your mentors form that relationship?
PL: Probably my closest mentors are at our church in Ballston Spa. Being able to spend time with these people is one thing that reassures me that I'm not alone. I consider the people that I've met and known for years as resources. Some of the people I speak of are friends more than anything, and they don't really understand my business very well, but it helps just being able to talk about different strategies of dealing with personal or business relationships.

SM: What makes you different than everybody else?
PL: I think our outstanding professional capabilities for such a small office sets us apart. After being in the profession for 21 years, I feel at this point, somewhat of a veteran. We're working on some very large multi-modal work right now in Cooperstown. We're the lead on the project and we're handling all of the design and environmental issues in conjunction with Creighton Manning. Another thing that separates us is that we're going to provide very personal service that, combined with good quality technical people, makes us capable of handling any level of project effectively.

SM: Your office is in Saratoga Springs. Are you thinking of expanding to another office?
PL: We certainly want to maintain our presence in Saratoga and I think having it all under one roof in Saratoga is really where I'd like to stay. A branch office would mean double the trouble with regard to controlling costs and remaining efficient. Plus, I'm enjoying the fact that our office is around the corner from where I live. My son will frequently come into the office with me in the morning, and I'm able to walk him to school at Lake Avenue Elementary. The bus from the middle school gets dropped off right here, so my daughter can come into the office as well. My dad was a barber, and our family lived over the barber shop. I always took it for granted, but now I understand that it's so much easier raising a family when work and home are close.

SM: In one word, how would you describe yourself?
PL: Tireless. My ultimate goal is to be able to look back when I'm 100 years old and know that for the last 55 years good people are continuing to carry on the integrity of CLA SITE. I know how important it is to set that level of integrity up, and I think that's why I have this vision of CLA SITE continuing to transcend into something that stays viable for the long-term.