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In 2006, ABI Corp. was enjoying a busy residential market. With the five-county Kansas City, Mo., area seeing 13,000 housing starts that year, the ABI Corp. crews were installing six basements a day and the company was offering commercial work solely on request to existing clients. Fast forward two years and the story changes dramatically - 3,200 housing starts in 2008 and the ABI Corp. crews down to one basement a day. The game had changed, and ABI Corp. knew it had to change, too.

"The economy pushed us to put a focus on commercial and look at the future," says Dan Bromley, ABI Corp. president. The company recognized the experience it gained in the residential realm, its employee talent and the benefits that come with a diversified company. "I really think our technology puts us a step ahead," says Dan Bromley. "A lot of projects we've performed on the residential side are more difficult than the commercial projects we see. We have the experience, and we're flexible and faster than a lot of commercial crews."

Bromley says the company set a goal to have a 60 percent residential/40 percent commercial mix in a healthy economy. With residential down, it gave the company the time it needed to foster relationships with area GCs and market ABI Corp. as a player in the commercial market. After a year of personal visits to show GCs ABI Corp.'s capabilities and working together on bid proposals, ABI Corp. feels it changed its reputation from a residential contractor to a concrete company that can work both the residential and commercial markets.

Building the company
Dan's father, Gary Bromley, started ABI Corp. as Action Basements Inc. in 1968. Then it was a one-crew residential basement contractor. Dan came to work for his father in 1982, and together the two set a goal to build the company. "I pushed my dad toward more technology, and that year we got our first computer," Dan says.

In the mid-1980s, ABI Corp. made a move that helped guide the company through its growth - it joined the Concrete Foundations Association (CFA). "A tip we learned through the CFA was instead of just pouring walls, a good way to grow a business is to add services," Gary Bromley says.