Boat-Building Kit Manufacturer Honored By State
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) -- John Harris knows exactly how quirky his company is.
Businesses that sell boats are all over the place, especially around the Chesapeake Bay. But a business that sells build-your-own-boat kits to crafty people all over the world? That's a bit harder to find.
"We are the nichiest of niche-y businesses," said Harris, the owner of Chesapeake Light Craft since 1999.
State Comptroller Peter Franchot awarded Chesapeake Light Craft this week with its Better with Less award, which recognizes companies that have thrived during the economic downturn while streamlining resources.
The Annapolis company is the world's largest manufacturer of boat-building kits. It sells kits and plans for wooden kayaks, canoes, row boats and small sailboats. The smallest kit is an 8-foot, 22-pound children's kayak; the largest is an 850-pound sailboat.
The company also offers boat-building classes, which draw students from all over the country, and recently added another 2,000 square feet of classroom space to its offices on George Avenue.
Harris teamed up with the business' original owner back in 1991, when Chesapeake Light Craft was selling about 100 kits each year. Last year, he sold 2,000 kits, and shipped his 20,000th one to a customer in California just before Christmas.
For Harris, who's been building boats since high school, it's a true labor of love.
"I'm excited about this as I was 15 years ago," said the Queenstown man, surrounded by designs and drawings of boats.
"We're lucky that people come to us for something they're doing for fun, and because they're passionate about it."
Franchot honored one business in each county, and he chose Chesapeake Light Craft from a pool of 22 nominees in Anne Arundel County.
"We're trying to learn from the private sector at the public sector level," Franchot said. "I really feel we can provide public services more efficiently and still stay within our budget."
Harris learned the company was receiving the award a few weeks ago. His team of 15 employees immediately asked him what the award meant.
"I said basically, it means I've been taking it out of your hides," he said, joking.
Turning more serious, he explained that it was really all a matter of prioritizing expenses rather than simply cutting back.
"I was terrified in 2005, 2006," Harris said. "I won't say I predicted the recession, but I'd already lived through a few of them, and I didn't want to do that again."
The recession that immediately followed the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks crippled the business. Retail sales plunged, and Harris had to lay off a few workers.
"So I decided that the next time around, I was going to do some things (differently)," Harris said. "I diversified the business, going from 20 boat models to 70 boat models, so our customers had a bunch more choices."
He also bought out two other smaller boat-building businesses, and started selling $100 plans and manuals for boat building, a cheaper alternative to the boat-building kits.
"Instead of buying a $1,000 kit, people save on materials," Harris said. "And 60 percent of the items we sell are in the $100 to $300 range."
But the biggest change he made was one that might seem especially risky. While other companies cut back on their marketing and advertising expenses, Harris poured money into that part of his business, advertising in industry publications around the country.
"We figured that even if people weren't buying, they'd remember us when times got better," Harris said. "And it certainly hasn't hurt."
Business volume has increased 11 percent every year since 2005, and now brings in about $3 million in annual revenues. Harris said he plans to spend between $400,000 and $500,000 on advertising this year.
"I just think that you can't stop marketing," he said. "It seems like common sense to me."
About 10 percent of Chesapeake Light Craft's business comes from the boat-building classes it holds about eight times a year. Instructor Geoff Kerr, a teacher at the Wooden Boat School in Vermont, was there this week to guide students constructing row boats.
"This is a unique industry, and part of the success is that John came at this from his love of boats, rather than his love of business," Kerr said.
He called his longtime colleague "one of the two or three Renaissance men I know," noting he's an accomplished trombone player as well as a boat builder and businessman. Harris usually looks to hire similar well-rounded people at Chesapeake Light Craft, emphasizing real world smarts as much as technical skills,
Kerr said.
Harris said one of his favorite parts of the business is seeing his customers enjoy his products. He held up a thank you brochure he received this week from a customer in South Carolina, who had bought a kit to build a kayak to auction off for a fundraiser.
The brochure was filled with pictures of the finished vessel and the people who built it.
"How many businesses do you get to go to work and get this in the mail?" Harris said. "It's a rewarding business to be in."
Information from: The Capital of Annapolis, Md., http://www.hometownannapolis.com/
(Copyright 2011 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
