Jones & Cnossen Engineering

Local Business Interview Project

By Andrew Marcum (10.25.15)

About The Business

• Partnership - Stuart Jones & Peter Cnossen
• Profit business
• Service business
• Civil engineering: Residential design; land planning; road design; infrastructure
• Over 200 projects in Apex in last 30 years

His Story

• Worked at 3 different engineering firms throughout college
• Saw lots of things he didn't like, but couldn't change them
• Decided to start his own company to provide better services at a better price
• Company was founded 28 years ago, became a partnership about 20 years ago

Company Layout

• Total employees: 5
• Stuart Jones: Majority partner, original founder
• Peter Cnossen: Partner, joined 20 years ago
• Patrick: Engineering student, intern, joined 2.5 years ago
• Kathy Jones: Financial manager, accounting
• My mother: Office assistant, part-time

Profitability

• Took four years to become seriously profitable
• Now usually profitable but varies yearly
• If there's a lot of work, then there's more money coming in
• Flip side is if it's a slow year & not much work, less money
• Did not share specific profit or salary info

Pros

• Able to choose what you want to do (what type of business, what field, etc.)
• Able to make business-related decisions yourself
• You are your own boss
• If you do things right and are successful, you can potentially make lots of money

Cons

• Able to make business-related decisions yourself
• Can be very stressful (decisions biggest day-to-day challenge)
• Very time consuming if you're the only one
• Lots of risks involved - success/failure can be 50-50 chance

UPS & DOWNS OF BUSINESS OWNERSHIP