July 25, 2024 | By: Heather Holland
Bethel, Maine — Jesper Kruse, an experienced carpenter and the founder of Maine Passive House, had many reasons why he decided to transition his 15-year-old company to an employee-owned cooperative.
For one, he wanted to retain his experienced staff, and two, Kruse, who is 55 years old, wanted to plan early for his retirement and the future of his company. Three years ago, Kruse learned about employee ownership through a webinar presentation from Rob Brown, director of CDI’s Business Ownership Solutions (BOS) Program. The presentation made an impression, Kruse said.
“I have employees who are really smart, ambitious, and driven individuals,” said Kruse. “I knew that if I tried to keep this company going with just me as the owner, they would eventually leave. They’re going to want a piece of the pie to stick around at the company. I also wanted to get everything set up so when it was time for me to retire, everything is already in place.”
That’s why, beginning last year, with the help of CDI, Kruse embarked on a thoughtful process of selling the business to his employees. Kruse and the company’s production manager Anna Heath and operation manager Katrina Belle formed a transition committee. The longest part of the process was thinking through the company’s values, the company’s direction, and getting everyone on the same page, Kruse said.
“I’m the type of person that sees an opportunity and just rolls with it,” said Kruse. “I go with my gut feeling. But my colleagues are much more thorough. They really do their homework and make sure they fully understand it. I’m happy we had these conversations. We went through everything thoroughly so that we wouldn’t have any regrets in hindsight.”
Maine Passive House, based in Bethel, Maine, builds airtight, super-insulated homes, designed to be highly energy efficient. Passive homes cost about 5 to 10% more to build than a traditional home, but the cost is made up by reducing overall monthly energy and maintenance costs, Kruse said.
The company has 15 employees: five people in the office and ten carpenters in the field. About half of the employees are women and two of the women, Heath and Belle, are now co-owners along with Kruse. The company officially became an employee-owned cooperative on June 30.
“The whole idea behind the co-op is you get your employees to hopefully buy in and care more about the business,” Kruse said. “They bring in more thoughts, ideas, innovations, and the company becomes stronger.”
One of the biggest themes that came out of conversations during Maine Passive House’s transition process was about social enterprising, or the idea of using the business as a force for good, Kruse said. One idea that they are working on now is creating an apprenticeship program. The state of Maine does not require carpenters to be licensed, so the quality of work from one carpenter to another ranges widely, Kruse said. With an apprenticeship program, the company hopes to create a more standard system for training carpenters in the state.
“We’re really focused on developing and strengthening the trades,” said Kruse. “We want the carpentry trade to be more formalized, more legit. Early on, when I asked carpenters what they do for a living, they would say, ‘I pound nails’. I would say, ‘you don’t just pound nails. You’re a carpenter!’ You might not study as much, but you know a lot of other things that are really important.”
Maine Passive House currently takes on projects that are within 45 minutes of their Bethel office, but they’re hoping to expand the company so they can take jobs that are further away.
Some of their recent projects include refurbishing a building in Bethel that used to be an old bank and converting it into an all-electric café and bakery. They also built the Oxbow Brewery location in Oxford. Other projects include building new passive homes from scratch or building additions to existing homes.
“After going through this process, I would say to business owners who are considering a similar path: Plan it well in advance,” said Kruse. “Take a couple of years to plan it out and you’ll be better off. Do it well ahead of when you want it to happen.”
CDI is proud to have had the opportunity to support Maine Passive House in transitioning to an employee-owned cooperative.
If you are a business owner who is interested in learning more about employee ownership as an exit or growth strategy, reach out to Rob Brown, director of CDI’s Business Ownership Solutions: rbrown@cdi.coop.
For press inquiries, please contact Heather Holland: hholland@cdi.coop
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