Michael Feldman entered surveying business despite father's warnings
Photo | Brad Kane
Michael Feldman, President & CEO, Feldman Surveyors, Boston & Worcester
- Founded: 1946
- Total employees: 72 (between 3-12 will be based in Worcester)
- Feldman’s age: 49
- Residence: Newton
- Birthplace: Boston
- Education: Bachelor’s degree in business administration, George Washington University in D.C.
More Information
In July, Michael Feldman will open up his surveying firm’s second location, on Mechanic Street in Worcester.
Why are you expanding into Worcester?
We can attract more talented surveyors because a lot live out here and don’t want to commute to Boston.
Will you be in Worcester a lot?
At first, I plan on being in Worcester one day per week. It is a great place to work, and I want to meet people. Yet, I want to give my staff out here a chance to grow and do their own thing.
Will your Central Mass. revenue grow?
Over all of these years, we’ve done a decent amount of work in the Worcester area. We are working on the redevelopment of the former Worcester County Courthouse, for example. There is always room for improvement. The first motivation to opening an office out here was talent, and secondarily was all the excitement around the city.
When I came out here to look for office spaces, I met up with various people and went to events. I heard all the positive feedback about how the city government works so well with private developers, and that is a very good formula for strong development.
What does Feldman Surveyors do?
Basic survey work. We do 3D laser scanning and building information modeling. We are the ones the architects and developers call to turn their concepts into built reality. We give them all the data so they can design and execute their plans. We will work for the general contractors to lay out buildings, steel column lines and everything else to get them built in the right place. Afterward, we can do survey work to show they were built as expected.
We are a survey firm, but we are there for the whole project life cycle. It is a little different from our competitors, who will only do bits and pieces.
What are some Worcester projects have you done?
We’re working on the Mission Chapel. We’ve done work at the College of the Holy Cross, at Worcester State University, for railroad CSX and the utility Eversource Energy.
Feldman must be a family business.
It was started by my grandfather. I came into it when I was in my late 20s. I always thought it was cool. I used to sketch my bedrooms and draw the furniture to scale. But my father discouraged it since all the recessions he went through took a toll on him. He didn’t want that for his kids.
My father wanted me to do my own thing first. I worked for EF Travel Tours, which is a big international company in Cambridge. I was designing European tours for music students and traveling to Europe a couple of times per year. It was a great job for someone in their 20s. I learned a lot of organizational skills there, but the survey business was always more meaningful to me.
I came to my father when he was not quite 60, saying the business was something I wanted to try. He put me in the field. I wanted to perform all the functions we do technically before I stepped into the business side.
What happened when you took over?
I was able to mold a corporate culture here around what was important to me. It has been amazing to see how all those cliches about how you treat your staff came true in growing the business. It is at a point now where I am not busy managing people. People are very accountable for their actions, and we have a great management team. Everyone is so laser-focused on making sure the clients are treated well.
We are excited to bring that model to Worcester. There are other firms out here already, and they do good work. But we want to be more than a full-service survey firm; we want to be good people to work with, and we want to hire people locally. We want to get more women and minorities into engineering, and be part of the community.
Is it as tough as your father warned?
Since 1998, we’ve had a pretty good run. 2009 was horrific. We went from $3.8 million in revenue to $2.2 million. But when we were so low in 2009, we did it with 22 people. Last year, we had 70 people and made $13 million in revenue. Yes, the Great Recession was a tough time, but whoever came out of it came out pretty strong.
So, no, my father wasn’t right, because I love my job.
This interview was conducted and edited for length and clarity by WBJ Editor Brad Kane.
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