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From left: Silvana Lemos, Hal Collums, Lawrence Falencki, Bryon Cornelison and Leah Collums Glade peek through a window pane produced by Hal Collums Construction and Crescent City Millworks.
Photo by Frank Aymami
Hal Collums Construction/
Central City Millworks
Employees of joint firms Hal Collums
Construction and Central City Millworks
don’t have a problem with the struggles associated
with working for a small business, which is
often synonymous with more work and fewer
benefits. To the contrary, many of them say they
are happier there than they have ever been.
Owner Hal Collums is a cancer survivor
whose experience has given him a new appreciation
for life and everyone’s contributions,
employees said. Each day, he shakes each
employee’s hand and thanks them for doing a
great job and being part of the team.
“People ask me, ‘Do you ever get tired of
working at the same place?’ and I say, ‘No, it’s
great! Do you ever get tired of your family?’”
said Yeni Salinas, administrative assistant.
Salinas said she walked out of the office with
tears of joy in her eyes the day she was hired
after moving from New York to New Orleans
with few skills or connections.
“I would always be grateful for that,” she
said. “I was broke, and I had no family here.
That just shows what a good person Hal is and
what kind of a company he runs.”
Salinas is not the only person who refers to
the joint companies as her family.
“As you grow, the company grows. And as
the company grows, you grow,” said Johnathan
Anselmo, operations manager. “It’s like babysitting
someone’s child or raising your own.”
Anselmo compared working at a small business
to a profit-sharing venture.
“The more you put in, the more you get back.”
That also means his co-workers pick up the
slack when he’s dealing with a lot, and vice
versa.
“That’s good stability for me,” he said.
Nairne Frazar, project estimator, said what
the construction industry lacks in security, it
makes up for in work satisfaction.
“New Orleans has a great housing stock,”
she said. “The housing stock has been here for
100 years, but we get to put it together for the
next 100 years.”
Frazar said it’s exciting to come to a office full
Nature of business: residential renovations/millwork
Where based: New Orleans
Employees: 45
Average starting salary: $22,000
Median salary: $50,000
Average employment time: eight years
Benefits: health care with 75 percent coverage, dental, vision
and prescription plans, paid maternity leave, flexible hours
Wait time for benefits: none
Paid days off: 17
Web site: www.centralcitymillworks.com
of “young, talented and driven” people and be a
part of restoring parts of New Orleans’ history.
“This is the first office I’ve ever worked in
where everyone wants to help each other,” she
said. “Because it’s a small office, we all do so
much more than our job descriptions. But you
don’t do it because you have to, you do it
because you enjoy it. You learn from everyone
and you’re always learning new things.”
Frazar said not to overlook one of the best
perks of working for Hal Collums: Employees
are allowed, and encouraged, to bring their
dogs to work. Frazar has two basset hounds she
brings to work every Friday, and on any given
day they may have five to eight dogs roaming
the office and mill shop.
“Contractors sometimes get a bad reputation,
but everyone here really does care,” Frazar
said.•
— Katie Urbaszewski
60 2009 Best Places to Work