How IGA Has Changed RAWSO’s Business

While the story of RAWSO was rather unspectacular at first, we’ve been fortunate enough to enjoy strong growth over the past few years, especially in 2020. Despite what many may believe, I can’t claim nearly any of the credit for myself. Beyond our people, the credit goes to those behind the scenes, like Jamie Noe, who make “build better” a reality.

Insurance Group of America (IGA), Jamie’s business, is a commercial insurance bond and surety company that serves 250-300 contractors. They work with one-man GC operations to businesses netting hundreds of millions. Jamie has built his business by helping smaller companies like RAWSO grow, so our success is his success.

He cold-called me years ago because he saw my name on a bid list and hadn’t heard of RAWSO.

I’d been through several agents at that point. I had people promise they could get me bonds but drop the ball at the last minute. Thanks to so many negative experiences, I had zero interest in being sweet-talked by another insurance salesman.

However, Jamie mentioned how he learned from his father to only do business with people he’d met face-to-face. That struck a chord, so I agreed to let him buy me a steak lunch (who doesn’t love a free steak?).

The rest is history. Not only has Jamie helped RAWSO save so much money on insurance and help us get our first bonded public jobs, but he’s helped make our business better in every regard.

One of the first things he told me was to get our books, which weren’t more than a bunch of chicken scratch at the time, cleaned up, and hire a CPA. I choked when I saw the fees, but it was one of the best business decisions I’ve ever made. This is only one of the countless examples of Jamie helping me and RAWSO out. He goes far out of the way to lift those around him.

For RAWSO, taking Jamie’s advice has changed the way I operate our business. Seeing the cleaned-up financial numbers each quarter allowed me to take calculated risks that grew RAWSO from a small grading company to a technology company. It also gave me the confidence to hire better for the field and office, knowing what resources I had to offer.

Beyond business, Jamie has also become one of my best friends. He’s the kind of guy who will give you the shirt off his back. He came along at a time when I needed sound counsel and not only provided it but gave his whole heart to helping RAWSO.

We didn’t get to where we are alone. I’m grateful for Jamie Noe, and he’s a big reason why RAWSO stands where it does today.

Thank you!

We sincerely appreciate you following along on our RAWSO journey, and since we have grand plans for our business and team, we’re only getting started!

To learn more about our team, capabilities, and projects, check out our website at RAWSO.com or see what’s happening on our job sites day to day via @rawsoconstructors on social media.