.bodytext {float: left; } .floatimg-left-hort { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right: 10px; width:300px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-caption-hort { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:300px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatimg-left-vert { float:left; margin-top:10px; margin-right:15px; width:200px;} .floatimg-left-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; font-size: 10px; width:200px;} .floatimg-right-hort { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px;} .floatimg-right-caption-hort { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 300px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimg-right-vert { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px;} .floatimg-right-caption-vert { float:left; margin-right:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; font-size: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 200px; border-top-style: double; border-top-color: black; border-bottom-style: double; border-bottom-color: black;} .floatimgright-sidebar p { line-height: 115%; text-indent: 10px; } .floatimgright-sidebar h4 { font-variant:small-caps; } .pullquote { float:right; margin-top:10px; margin-left:10px; margin-bottom:10px; width: 150px; background: url(http://www.dmbusinessdaily.com/DAILY/editorial/extras/closequote.gif) no-repeat bottom right !important ; line-height: 150%; font-size: 125%; border-top: 1px solid; border-bottom: 1px solid;} .floatvidleft { float:left; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} .floatvidright { float:right; margin-bottom:10px; width:325px; margin-right:10px; clear:left;} Michael Kammerer can still remember the day Shive-Hattery Inc. moved into its West Des Moines office.

“It’s kind of hard to forget,” said Kammerer, the company’s vice president and local office director. “It was in 1993, the same day the flood started.”

What was supposed to be a simple one-day move turned into a weeklong ordeal, with Kammerer and his fellow employees pitching in to help get the architectural and engineering firm moved.

“The movers we hired were, of course, called away somewhere much more urgent to help someone get moved out of the way of the rising waters,” he said. “Compared to what other businesses were going through, we got off lucky. It wasn’t that bad at all; it just took a little longer than we had originally planned for.”

Now, more than a decade later, Shive-Hattery has experienced tremendous growth, nearly tripling in size from the 20 employees who made that move.

“We’ve expanded our offices four times since we moved here,” Kammerer said. “We just added 3,000 square feet two months ago. That brings us to 16,000 square feet in this office with almost 60 employees.”

Groups like the (Greater Des Moines) Partnership make getting people to come to Iowa easier. This area continues to improve. – Mike Kammerer vice president and Des Moines office manager, Shive-Hattery, Inc.

The company decided a few years ago to expand its expertise in the hope of becoming a full-service firm, a strategy that has helped fuel its growth, Kammerer said.

“It’s unusual in Des Moines to have a company that provides architectural services along with several different schools of engineering,” he said. “No one has the full, broad spectrum.”

Shive-Hattery focuses on five areas: hospital, education, industrial, commercial and governmental. In the past year, the company has added expertise in the education and governmental fields, Kammerer said.

“It has helped open new doors to us and really expanded our reach,” he said.

A good economy in Central Iowa has also made expansion possible, he said, causing the company to have a largest backlog of projects in its history.

“I’ve been with the company 32 years, and we’re getting more and bigger projects than ever before,” Kammerer said.

Shive-Hattery focuses on five areas of design work: hospital, education, industrial, commercial and governmental.

The company’s revenues grew 9 percent from 2005 to 2006, from $5.72 million to $6.25 million. Twelve new employees have been added so far this year, and six positions are still vacant.

One of the issues Shive-Hattery is facing, along with many businesses in Iowa, is recruiting.

“It is harder to recruit good people,” Kammerer said. “But that is one of the benefits of being a larger company; we can look for people all over the country. Most of our staff is from Iowa, but we have people from Michigan, Texas, Georgia, Illinois and Nebraska.”

The West Des Moines office is one of eight Shive-Hattery has in Iowa and Illinois, and a satellite office was recently opened in Omaha.

Kammerer said local initiatives that improve the quality of life in Central Iowa have also made recruiting a little easier.

“Groups like the (Greater Des Moines) Partnership make getting people to come to Iowa easier,” he said. “This area continues to improve.”

Kammerer said that though the company continues to grow and add employees, the most satisfying thing is that a large portion of the staff has long tenures with the company.

“There are a lot of people who have been here for a long time,” he said. “The industry average for turnover is about 20 percent a year. Last year, our turnover rate was 10 percent. We’re very proud of that.”

Kammerer said that like many workers, every three years or so he has began to grow bored with the daily grind and wished for something new to get him excited again.

“But whenever I’ve reached that level, the company has presented me with a challenge that makes coming to work everyday rewarding,” he said. “That’s how we keep people for as long as we do.”

Being an employee-owned company gives every member on the staff a chance to work toward gaining a piece of the Shive-Hattery pie, he said.

“You don’t have to wait for a partner to die,” Kammerer said. “We have a tremendous ownership transition program. When I turn 65, I will have to sell my stock to some up-and-comer in the company, which is a great incentive.”

The company also encourages employees to get involved in the community through organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central Iowa.

“We give them the time to participate, and in many instances, we’ll pay any dues involved,” Kammerer said. “Our philosophy is that we get a lot from this community, so we have to give back where we can.”

Several of the Shive Hattery’s past projects stick out in his mind, Kammerer said, such as the expansion of Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, the landscaping at Jordan Creek Town Center and the plans for The Des Moines Register’s printing plant.

“But we still have some really great projects on the horizon,” he said. “It’s an exciting time to be in this business. But my favorite is probably the work we did at Prairie Meadows. That has just been a great relationship.”

While he couldn’t speak specifically about projects that haven’t been made public, Kammerer said the company will be doing the landscaping for another mall in Springfield, Ill., that is “twice the size of Jordan Creek.”

“It should be a lot of fun,” he said.