Inspirational Start-up is awarded to owners of companies that are in existence for no longer than three years. In this way we want to publicly praise the courage, determination and consistence of young entrepreneurs who build their companies from scratch, who have a chance of success and who can be a paragon for other enterprising young people.

 

Szczecinbiznes.pl: What is the object of your undertaking?

 

Erwin Urbaniak: Our main focus is construction of buildings using glued laminated wood technology. We also make wooden elevations and terraces, and we assemble various structures – mainly from glued laminated wood.

 

How long have you been in business and when did you start obtaining satisfactory financial results?

 

BSHaus was established two years ago. The company has never been in a loss position, although it was much harder at first than it is now.

 

What is your recipe for success?

 

For the time being we have attained a success on the local scale.  The recipe for success? I do what I like doing,  what I am good at, what I believe in and what gives me satisfaction.  I value high standards of services. I cooperate with many great people who are good at their work and who – like me – enjoy it. So, if I were to devise a one-sentence recipe for success, I would say: do what you do the best way you can and with the support of trustworthy people.

 

What is your greatest success so far?

 

The fact that I have managed to gather a team of reliable individuals it is a pleasure to work with.  The greatest success is that we have combined our competencies and now our customers recognize us as qualified specialists.  We are happy with their happiness - when they come to the construction site every few days and are impressed with the progress, when they seem pleased to be building their house with us. We are also touched when at the end our customers tell us that they are sorry the construction is completed and that they will miss us.

 

How many similar companies are there in Poland?

 

There is a number of similar companies and there should soon be more and more of them, because the Poles are increasingly coming round to the idea of glued laminated wood construction technology.

 

How did you obtain the funds necessary to start your business activity and what did you spend them on?

 

I took out a loan in the amount of PLN 50 thousand under the Klon project of the Polish Entrepreneurs Foundation.   I spent half of that amount on a minibus and I used up the remainder to buy the basic power tools and have the website prepared.   When filling my first orders I had to finance the purchase of further tools from my own pocket.

 

How is your company organized? Who do you cooperate with?

 

Full-time employees who are responsible for prefabrication and assembly of glued laminated wood structures and all the woodwork constitute the essence of the company.

 

Joinery, roofing, sanitary and electrical installations, elevations, drywall fitting are performed by competent and trustworthy subcontractors I have been cooperating with for years. Everyone knows what to do and for which construction stage they are accountable. In BSHaus we do not choose our partners randomly; we know one another and have been working together for years now.

 

Customer support and winning is my responsibility. I also coordinate the works, order materials, take care of the logistics, designs, etc.

 

How many houses have you built so far? How many customers a year do you have?

 

Until now we have managed to complete the entire building process of four houses in Poland.  At the beginning we did some work abroad – we assembled structures, prepared elevations and drywall fitting.

 

We have recently started on our fifth house in Dobra Szczecińska, and in two weeks we will be constructing a house in Binowo. This year we are going to build six or even seven houses in total.

 

What is the hardest part of running your own business?

 

Lack of time. My day begins at 4:00 in the morning, and I come back home at around 6:00 p.m. During those hours I need to take care of the transportation, logistics, procurement, orders, valuations, designs, administrative matters, invoices, payments… Sometimes it is hard to predict the exact daily schedule in advance.  And the worst thing is that I spend too little time with my baby daughter.

 

What are your business plans for the future?

 

I would like to develop the company – buy a CNC centre, increase and extend the production. In the near future I also intend to add large-size glued laminated wood structures to the scope of my business. I would like to build on a larger scale, but never at the cost of quality of my services – I intend to maintain the current level of high quality.

 

Interviewed by: Alicja Kowalska