The ongoing war conflict in Ukraine, rigid legislation, slow introduction of new technologies and sometimes conflicting procurement criteria of investors are the topics Czech construction companies have to deal with in the current year. We asked the representative of the leading domestic company SYNER, Robert Špott, how it is in practice.
The SYNER brand has been on the market for over 32 years, and you yourself have been the head of the company for more than half of that time. Although the market is reporting a noticeable decline, you announced record results last year… How did the year 2023 end?
RŠ: Our fiscal year starts in April, so we won’t really have the final numbers for the previous period until after March. Nevertheless, I can already talk about record figures today. Thanks to the maximum commitment of our people, we are approaching the CZK 6 billion turnover mark. This is above-average productivity for an average of 400 employees. Thanks to private projects, we are going up against a declining market.
Four hundred people can generate such volumes?
RS: This is a base of in-house people who, of course, generate work for another two to three thousand or so technical and blue-collar professions through subcontracting. We have teams in our offices in Prague, Brno and Liberec, from where we manage construction sites all over the country. It is not only the financial scale and number of projects, but also their spread across the country that, despite the gradual strengthening of our teams, the capacity of our people is at full capacity. And it’s no secret that the war conflict in Ukraine has affected a number of subcontractors in terms of personnel. So far, even at the cost of higher costs, we have managed to adequately secure projects with human capital, which is still irreplaceable for construction.
Where and on which construction sites is the SYNER logo currently visible?
RŠ: More than twelve years ago we reoriented our business policy and concentrated mainly on private investors, who in turn concentrate mainly on the territory of Prague and its surroundings. This is simply a fact and the reason why we have set up a new, larger facility in Dejvice. We have projects in various parts of the country, in South Moravia, Karlovy Vary, Pilsen, Liberec and Hradec Králové, but Prague dominates everything. Here we are currently working on more than ten projects, such as the extension of a wing of the polyclinic in Vysočany, the construction of the Hagibor and Parková čtvrt’ residential complexes, the Letnian apartment building, or the reconstruction of the Industrial Palace, the Savarin Palace or the historic building in Pařížská Street.
How is Liberec, where the SYNER brand originated, doing?
RŠ: Prague is the location that attracts private investors, and this is also reflected in our construction activities in Liberec. For a long time they were almost zero, so we had to prepare our own projects where we act as a builder and developer at the same time. This is how the Masarykova Park or the first phase of the Nový Perštýn residential project came into being. Ironically, the only contract in Liberec that we are currently executing as a construction contractor is the construction of the Emergency Medicine Centre for the Regional Hospital. Here, we are also in an association of three companies, due to the fulfilment of qualification criteria.
Price has long been the only coin of the realm. So what does a company have to meet in order to be successful in tenders?
RŠ: Various certifications and standardisations are nowadays basically common conditions. Multi-criteria evaluation focuses, for example, on the guarantee provided, own capacities, expertise, length of implementation or qualification requirements for people. Unfortunately, however, it often happens that some of the conditions put forward are unfulfillable or even contradictory – this then leads to disputes and delays or even cancellation of contracts.
Can you give a specific example?
RŠ: Several. In Český Brod, we participated in a tender for the construction of a school, where the qualification requirement for authorization and the combination of different secondary and higher education degrees was nonsensical. In Liberec, we did not compete for the reconstruction of the Uran building due to the impossibility of meeting the set criteria, and we are not competing for the billion-dollar contract for the construction of a swimming pool. Also, this public contract was announced in such a way that we do not meet the qualification requirements. Ironically, we are the largest company in the region and we have a number of sports buildings to our credit. Fortunately, however, we are in a position where the company can choose which contracts it goes into.
What type of projects are you attracted to?
RŠ: We work really well with private investors who think about projects a little differently. They tend not to be so bound by the initial project requirements, which need to be responded to flexibly over time. They are also more inclined towards alternative solutions and technologies. Compared to public procurement, there is more work with the BIM model, which brings construction into the digital sphere. And I believe that it will again be private investors for whom we will implement combined buildings or modular timber buildings instead of conventional designs.
Source: SYNER and CTK
