Until recently, roughly 90% of The Lykos Group's work was done on condominiums, according to company president Tom Lykos. That changed, he says, when the condo market — like new homes — started its sharp decline. So he began focusing on marketing to the single-family segment.
In many ways, the downturn in its core market was a positive development for The Lykos Group. The company is located in Naples, Fla., and most of its clients live in the area only in the winter. As a result, the company sold the entire year by April, and completed those jobs during the summer and fall. “[The cyclical nature] of the business created a lot of stress in the company,” Lykos says. “We sold everything in the first quarter, and then it all had to be designed, estimated, and punched out at the same time.”
With the balance comes uncertainty. Lykos says things can get a bit anxious when September rolls around and there are still sales to be made. Ultimately, though, he says his company is better off for it, and when the condo market rebounds, he expects those jobs to account for half of his business, at most.
