history
K4: Client satisfaction creating growth and momentum
After serving as corporate architect for a large financial institution
and working with a commercial developer, Jeff Klump founded
ADCM, Inc. (Architecture Design Construction Management) and
Klump & Associates Architects with construction expert David Noell in 1999. They
set up an office, and architect John Schaefer soon joined as
partner.
The six-employee group moved to Longworth Hall near Cincinnati’s riverfront in September 1999. They worked with a large financial institution, designed and rolled-out seven stores for a national retail auto parts chain, and partnered with other architects, developers, and construction companies.
In 2001, Klump reconnected with two additional professionals with whom he had ties through the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design, Architecture, Art & Planning: architects Rick Posey and Larry Hatfield. They were now known as K4 Architecture (Klump + four other principals: Hatfield, Noell, Posey, and Schaefer) and ADCM.
The firms’ revenues grew to over $5 million in 2002 through repeat work with financial institutions, retail and commercial developers, healthcare entities, and other corporate and nonprofit clients. When they reached 58 employees in 2004, they began searching for a new corporate home.
In 2005, with 70 employees and revenues over $15 million, they completed
their first self-developed signature project: Their new headquarters facility
on Gest Street in Cincinnati’s Queensgate area. They remade a former
light industrial building into a 24,000-square-foot complex that visually
advertises—exterior and interior—the broad spectrum of services
they offer.
Sensing the need in early 2006 to address the marketplace as one integrated, multidisciplinary entity, the companies began operating as K4, implementing the innovative “Customer-Driven Branded Places” philosophy. The firm provides planning, development, architecture, design, and construction services from its Cincinnati headquarters and four branch offices: Southfield and Troy, Michigan; Boca Raton and Tampa, Florida. Additionally, K4 has added an interior design division that also acts as a furniture dealership to provide clients with the best possible value.
Today, K4 is a successful, client-focused regional firm that is rapidly going national. Its growth has been recognized by many, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce (“Blue Ribbon”—top 60 U.S. businesses), Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce (“Emerging 30”), and Business Courier (“Fast 50”).
The momentum continues…