Richard Leff, who helped create dittos jeans in the 1970s, now runs builtrite a lincoln heights company that makes walls for cubicles and other varieties of office furniture
Back in 1970, Richard Leff and his partner Alan Kane created Dittos, one of the first lines of jeans designed for women, with the sexy advertising slogan, “Feel the fit.”
Today, Leff is about as far from the fashion industry as one can possibly get, having started a fast-growing business for custom-made office furniture and partitions in Lincoln Heights called BuiltRite. But finding the proper fit is still his company’s key to success.
Leff’s made-to-order work stations permit companies to make full use of their space, whether it’s an odd-shaped room or one intersected by posts.
“Whatever obstacles there are, we can work around,” said Leff, sitting behind the double-tiered, P-shaped desk on the second floor of his factory. “What’s so exciting is that the company is free to be creative to do what’s needed to be done.”
BuiltRite has built a name for itself not only by making creative work spaces, but by doing it faster than most of its competitors.
On a tour of his site, Leff passes the near-empty staging area, which the day before had been full of furniture that since has been delivered. “We’re in an industry where everyone takes forever to make up their minds and (once they decide), they want it (delivered) yesterday,” said Leff over the whir of a power saw.
Quick turnaround
Leff and his staff of 25 deliver custom-made dividers in three days, and custom-made office furniture can sometimes be delivered in as little as 10 days.
Most of BuiltRite’s larger competitors may take months to deliver, he said.
Indeed, “responsive” is the first word a couple of his customers use to describe the company.
“When I call up, they answer our questions right away or they’re out here to give us a quote,” said Tamara Saatzer, a purchasing agent for Bertelsmann Industries, a book manufacturer in Valencia. “Their lead times are short, so they respond to our needs quickly.”
While the usual lead time for getting standard office pieces is six to eight weeks, BuiltRite created and delivered custom-made dividers, desks and chairs for Bertelsmann’s purchasing office within four weeks, she said.
“I’ve dealt with other furniture companies and that’s not always the case,” Saatzer said. “We’re not dealing with some of them anymore.”
BuiltRite has grown rapidly since Leff bought the company in 1991, when yearly revenues stood at $260,000. Last year, BuiltRite took in $2 million, and the company is projecting $3 million in revenues this year.
Office furniture and partitions account for about 55 percent of the company’s business, with the rest coming from by toilet stalls and office improvements like new ceilings, floors and electrical systems. A Web site, created by Leff’s son, brings in 2 percent to 3 percent of the company’s total revenues.
BuiltRite’s customers range from law firms to airports to factories. (It has built partitions to create clean rooms for electronics manufacturers). The company designed the lavender-hued partitions and TV monitor towers for McCarran International Airport’s Terminal D in Las Vegas, which features graduated dividers with glass panes. It also created bathroom stalls for Wal-Mart and Disneyland, working as a subcontractor.
Leff didn’t set out to divide and conquer. After he sold Dittos in 1977 for several million dollars, he served as a business consultant but found the work unsatisfying. He was hunting around for a business opportunity when he discovered BuiltRite, a small company with an absentee owner that was nonetheless showing a profit. He knew it had lots of potential.
“There’s not an office you can go into that doesn’t have office furniture,” Leff said.
While he had to invest more than he anticipated when he took over BuiltRite, since that time, “I never had to put money into the company. The company has carried itself from day one,” Leff said.
That’s not to say that he knew what he was doing when he purchased the company. He first attempted to build the business by approaching wholesale distributors as a potential supplier. However, “that never got off the ground,” said Leff. He then began to advertise in business trade publications and in the Yellow Pages, and that did the trick.
Now much of his business comes through word of mouth. And repeat business accounts for up to 60 percent of his sales.
Inside the partitions
BuiltRite’s partitions start with a base of what Leff calls “honeycomb,” corrugated box-like material that has been soaked in fire retardant. The honeycomb is laminated with either carpet, fabric, or vinyl, then inserted into an aluminum frame. The panels are locked together in a snap system that doesn’t require tools, so they are easily assembled. “It’s so easy, even the boss can do it,” Leff said.
While he acknowledges that some workers are adamantly opposed to office cubicles, he maintains that these people probably work in a poorly designed space, with inadequate storage or desk surface. “Cubicles are a productive way to create a comfortable environment for employees,” Leff said.
When Leff purchased the business, he kept three of the four key employees the superintendent and the furniture and partition makers. Two of those people still work for the company. Today, he says he has very low turnover, and his employees enjoy a profit-sharing program.
The company started out in a 3,000-square-foot space and two years ago moved into its current 14,000-square-foot building in Lincoln Heights.
But Leff’s sights are set higher still. He plans to spend the next decade increasing sales outside California, before finally selling the company.
“If we disappeared tomorrow, how much a void would we create in a multibillion-dollar business?” Leff asks. “If we continue to do what we do, we hope to become the Dittos of furniture.”
SPOTLIGHT
BuiltRite
Year Founded: 1970; taken over by Richard Leff in 1991
Core Business: Custom-made office furniture and partitions, toilet stalls and tenant improvements
Revenues in 1991: $260,000
Revenues in 1999: $2 million
Revenues in 2000: $3 million (projected)
Employees in 1991: 4
Employees in 2000: 25
Goal: Within 10 years, to have the company established as a national leader in custom-made office furniture and partitions
Driving Force: Demand for creative office space delivered with fast turnaround times
