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“We sell only to the federal government,” McDevitt says. Eagle Six offers “GSA contract office and conference room furniture, interior design services, office furniture installation services and project management services,” according to its web site. “We do tons [of projects] at Langley [Air Force Base], Fort Eustis [and] Fort Monroe,” he says. Other notable clients are the Virginia Air National Guard and Naval Station Norfolk. McDevitt says “attention to detail is the key to the whole thing,” and advises his buyers to focus first on upgrading reception areas, boss’s offices and conference rooms - these rooms are the most important to decorate well because they are usually the first rooms a new client sees when visiting a government agency. Eagle Six is committed to customer service and productivity. “The biggest thing the customer looks at is getting [a project] done completely and on time and on budget. I personally select the manufacturers. I’ll go up to the factory” and meet the corporate heads and the factory workers, inspecting the quality of a company’s furniture products before he will buy from them, he says. McDevitt has been in the furniture business for about 30 years. He says the industry has gotten “more competitive from the contracting standpoint,” especially since government budgets allow less money for furniture expenses than they did when he began. To stay competitive, McDevitt focuses on the personal angle. “Our customers are our friends,” he says. “We’re just honest and we give good advice.” Delaine Botelho, senior project designer, enjoys the “creativity and client interaction” aspects of her job. She says McDevitt will find out what a customer needs and formulate the project basics and she will “draft the plan if needed,” as well as help the customer with interior finish selection, cost estimation and site supervision. “We all work together to prevent a lot of problems,” Botelho says. Brenda Haag, senior project manager, has worked with McDevitt for about 15 years. She tries to make each project “easy for [clients]...as painless as possible,” she says. It feels really good “when you can help improve their work environment,” she says. Eagle Six’s commitment to customer satisfaction seems to be working. “Most of our projects come from referrals,” Haag says. “I would never have imagined [it],” McDevitt says, reflecting on his career in furniture. His adventurous spirit might have led him elsewhere, but in some ways it laid the groundwork for his business. “I was a military guy, so I got to know the federal government fairly well,” he says. In addition to founding his own business, McDevitt founded the Virginia Adventure Club, which takes members on “hiking, kayaking, biking, rafting, climbing, hang gliding, camping, skiing, canoeing, touring, polar plunging, bungee jumping, parasailing and skydiving” trips here and abroad, according to the club’s web site. McDevitt’s next adventure? He’s currently planning a trip to Antarctica for 2010. Eagle Six, LLC |
Eagle Six, LLC: Army veteran and adventure traveler sells to federal government