Marois Construction Completes a Transition at the Top

Chairman of the Boards

Joe Marois, left, and Carl Mercieri.

When asked why he left work as an insurance adjuster to start his own construction business, Joe Marois gave an answer as direct as it was insightful.

“It was a conscious decision to do something on my own so I wouldn’t have anyone to blame if I was a failure,” he told BusinessWest. “In the corporate world … I played that game for a while, but I wasn’t going to try to rely on someone when I was older, waiting for that promotion; I couldn’t deal with that.”

A half-century of change and economic ups and downs later, ‘failure’ is certainly not a word that comes to mind when assessing not only Marois Construction, but also his other ventures, the Orion Farm equestrian centers — there are two, one in South Hadley and the other in Wellington, Fla. — and what could be called his commercial real-estate subsidiary as a self-storage business. Indeed, they are all success stories.

And now, 52 years after he got his start in his mother’s garage, Marois will be spending maybe a little more time with those latter two ventures.

Indeed, he is passing the torch of management at Marois Construction to Carl Mercieri, a 35-year employee of the company who, like Marois, got his start as a field carpenter and then worked his way up to estimating and eventually project management.

Mercieri will take the title of president, while Marois will serve as chairman of the board. Together, they plan to continue following the blueprint drafted in 1972, one of seizing opportunities as they emerge and following what has become the company’s marketing tagline: “Building What Others Envision.”

They also plan to continue a course of expansion and diversity, one that has seen the company take on more public-sector work and broaden its geographic reach up and down the I-91 corridor, into Berkshire County and beyond.

“It’s simple … we want to keep growing and building on what we’ve been able to accomplish,” said Mercieri, adding that, aside from some titles and responsibilities, little else will change at this company that can borrow a term from the horse farm and say it has a great track record.

Building on the Foundation

Marois, who copied Morse code while serving in the Air Force in Alaska before landing work as an insurance adjuster, said he started his construction venture with a tool belt and a used Royal typewriter to type invoices.

He also had the requisite entrepreneurial energy, that aforementioned desire to control his own fate, and confidence in his own abilities born from experience — as well as lessons and encouragement from mentors.

“I always had a proclivity for carpentry,” he explained. “I worked in high school for some contractors, framing houses and so forth. I liked it, and I had some good mentors in those days; they recognized that I had some ability, and they took the time to teach me stuff.”

“It was a conscious decision to do something on my own so I wouldn’t have anyone to blame if I was a failure. In the corporate world … I played that game for a while, but I wasn’t going to try to rely on someone when I was older, waiting for that promotion; I couldn’t deal with that.”

Marois also had a few contacts, and one of them helped him land a job rehabbing the lower floors of a block of buildings in Holyoke into apartments.

“I did the drawings at my house on the kitchen table,” he said, adding that the project eventually led to others in the Paper City, and soon he had a foundation on which to build his company.

Over the years, the firm has handled a good mix of public and private work, with clients ranging from most of the area’s colleges and universities to municipalities (public-safety facilities are one of the firm’s niches) to several area banks and other businesses.

Recent projects have included everything from extensive renovation of a former computer-assembly facility into the new home of Veritas Preparatory Charter School to an emergency-systems upgrade at the John Adams high-rise dorm at UMass Amherst; from a LEED-rated PeoplesBank branch in Northampton to conversion of the former HUB Insurance building in Agawam into a new public-safety facility.

Such diversity, crucial to success in this sector, is what has developed over the years, said Mercieri, who, as noted, also started out as a carpenter.

“I was a millwright, and I worked at a mill; a friend of mine’s father was a VP at this company, and he got me a job,” he recalled. “I was young, so I was the guy carrying everyone’s tools, and I worked for plumbers, electricians, masons … I learned all the different trades. I spent 10 years there earning my ribbons, and then I went out on my own and did residential work for four or five years before landing here.

“Going back to my millwright days, that was quite the experience, learning all those different trades,” he went on. “I go to a job site, and I see electricians and plumbers … I’m no expert at it, but we can speak the same language.”

“I was young, so I was the guy carrying everyone’s tools, and I worked for plumbers, electricians, masons … I learned all the different trades.”

Building on the company’s portfolio of diverse projects and keeping a steady flow of projects in the pipeline are the primary goals as Mercieri and Marois complete this transition of leadership, something that has been in the works for several years now.

“Succession planning is important, and it’s unique to each company that does it,” Marois said. “It’s been a smooth, amicable process on our side … it was just about the bells and whistles.”

What emerged is a plan whereby Mercieri will manage the construction company and Marois will maintain ownership of — and remain active in — the various businesses under what could be called the Marois umbrella.

That includes a portfolio of commercial real-estate properties, as well as Orion Farms North and South, with the former sitting on 40 rolling acres in South Hadley, an old dairy farm that Marois acquired decades ago, and the latter an equestrian facility in Wellington, Fla., where Evans trains during the cold months and competes at the Winter Equestrian Festival.

“I wasn’t sure what I was going to do with it, but the more I got into it, the more I fell in love with the prospect of having some type of farm there,” he said, noting that the acreage is now home to a multi-faceted business. He and partner Linda Evans, an accomplished rider and trainer who has competed in shows resulting in many national champions, have a riding school catering to beginners and experts alike, with a stable of 40 horses (Warmblood show jumpers for the most part), as well as boarding and other services.

Like the construction company, the horse farms are a labor of love for Marois, who grew up near the South Hadley farm and developed a passion for riding himself, although he’s mostly retired from that activity.

Bottom Line

He has no plans to retire from his various businesses, though.

He joked that the announced transition plans are designed to “let people know that they don’t have to call me; they can call Carl — although they can call me if they want.

“And I can focus on getting old,” he continued with a laugh, adding quickly that his focus will actually be on his businesses, people, horses, and the continuation of what he started 52 years ago.

That would be a success story on every level imaginable.