The article below appeared in the June 24th edition of the Livonia Observer:
There are two things that get John Hiltz really excited. One is his beloved and beleaguered University of Michigan football team. The other is the word opportunity. Especially the opportunity he sees for his nearly 50-year-old namesake company, Orchard, Hiltz McCliment Inc. of Livonia.
Known as OHM, Orchard, Hiltz McCliment Inc. was founded by former city engineers John E. Hiltz and Melvin “Ernie” Orchard as a municipal engineering firm.
When the company opened its doors in 1962, it had one client, the city of Livonia. OHM's staff of 20 worked on a landmark project for the city: designing 40 miles of sanitary sewer to bring municipal sewer systems to homes originally on septic tanks. This was the foundation of Livonia's urbanization and OHM's growth.
Fast forward 48 years and today OHM has offices in three states and works for clients across the country. And the services have expanded, too. Nearly 170 employees are on staff, including architects, civil, electrical and mechanical engineers, planners, urban designers, surveyors, grant writers, LEED-accredited professionals and information technology experts.
But it wasn't always an upward climb. Founder and former company president Ernie Orchard recently commented about the current economic recession: “What's happening now? This is kid's play. In 1980, there were companies that had to cut every employee and just the owners were left. OHM went from 45 people to 20.”
As the country recovered, OHM prospered. Orchard said: “We were lucky. We came out of the recession debt-free and were able to land a lot of new accounts. There was big growth after that.”
The new millennium's recession was already hitting Michigan hard when John Hiltz became president in 2009. At the same time, OHM's board of directors approved a strategic plan to double the economic value of this Michigan-based firm over the next five years. John looked hard for opportunity.
He found it in an unlikely place for a die-hard Wolverine: Columbus, Ohio. In the summer of 2009, OHM opened a Columbus office with a former staff member who had relocated to the city. Within a few months, leaders from OHM were in negotiations to expand operations by merging with a new company — one that Hiltz believed would bring that much-desired “opportunity.”
That new company was Bird Houk Collaborative, a 20-person firm offers architecture, urban planning and real estate economic analysis. Company owners had aspirations to expand the mid-Ohio firm's geographic reach with its urban planning expertise, but that effort grew difficult amid a decline in construction projects.
OHM's mission is Advancing Communities. Bird Houk billed themselves as The Placemakers, committed to making places better for people. Knowing that the challenge of integrating company cultures is where most mergers fail, Hiltz recognizes his good fortune in such a close match.
“I feel totally blessed to have come across Bird Houk, which has so many of the same values and vision,” he said.
In May, the two firms celebrated the merger with a tailgate-style party at Bird Houk's metropolitan Columbus office. Because most of Bird Houk (now renamed Bird Houk, a division of OHM) staff members attended Ohio State University, the party's theme poked fun at the U-M and OSU football rivalry with the tagline, “A House Divided? Services United!”
“I know there'll be one day each year when we're bitter enemies,” said Hiltz, laughing. “Fortunately, during the other 364 days, we're totally united in our focus to help communities redevelop because of shifting economic bases.”
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