Who’s Who Magazine Article (page 2)
CORE STRENGTHS
Linda says construction is in her blood. The California transplant, originally from Massachusetts, had family members in construction on the East Coast. Various circumstances caused her to switch careers and enter the building industry.
“I came from the executive side of the beauty industry, but after our teenage son, Gage, passed away, I decided I needed a change,” she says. “I was having a problem coping with the loss, struggling to leave the house and talk to people.”
Her husband, Erick, told her he would create a job for her. Together, they started Six Star Framing in 2018. She spent a year researching the field and implementing a strong business foundation, legal structures and various necessary insurance policies. She immediately saw the joy and feeling of accomplishment in developing the future of Southern California’s housing, as well as seeing home-ownership opportunities extended to people who normally would be shut out of the market.
The framing business was nothing new for Erick. He had racked up nearly a lifetime as a framing construction tradesman. He got into the business as a 15-year-old, working mostly in the nonstop production framing side of the business. He began as a pieceworker, stacking roofs. Next, he was promoted to the role of foreman. After
13 years, he obtained a contractor license. When he left his foreman job, he met a multifamily contractor who gave him the opportunity to bid on all the projects. The launch of Six Star Framing Concepts would come next.
Meeting the major player in the multifamily builder segment proved to be an opportunity that would change the future of Six Star’s business. That contractor saw that the business
was prepared for real contracts and ready for launch, and he gave Six Star the opportunity to bid on all of their upcoming projects after completing a few smaller projects under budget and ahead of schedule. Because Erick has skills in budgeting and closing jobs under budget success- fully back then, Six Star uses a competitive formula that calculates every aspect of preparation needed before the first nail is driven.
Linda Raymond-Donahoe,
Business Manager,
Six Star Framing Concepts
As her husband had promised, Linda was exposed to the many aspects of the framing business. She went with him to multiple sites and even grabbed a hammer or a nail gun occasionally. She also sought and found support from a business mentor through the San Diego District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration.
“I’ve always known a lot about his job, but I wanted the experience. And then I coupled that with lots of research,” she says. “That’s how my mind works.”
measures, job site supervision, and fast and comprehensive completion standards.
Six Star serves the areas of Los Angeles, San Bernadino, San Diego, and Orange, Riverside and Imperial counties.
Hiring and retaining quality employees is vital to their success, Linda says. “We need a large, skilled pool of dedicated labor to do what we do, and we’ve been fortunate to find and keep good workers. Everybody works very hard, and they believe in what they are doing while dealing with the chaos and rush of the market.”
After six months of that approach, she decided that her gifts should be applied to the administrative operations side of the business instead of in the field.
“I’m the executive; he covers the job site work,” she says. As for titles, he is the Principal Owner and she is the Business Manager in charge of operations. Read More…