1975-1980: Moderate growth - good times

Moderate growth - good times
Moderate growth - good times

Organization

Moderate growth - good times
For some employees - not long graduated - it is clear that the size of the office should be limited to a maximum of sixteen employees. This works at first - until the idea of offering cost planning and control thwarts that plan. Because together with schedule planning, research and consulting contracts, the office develops an impetus of its own. By the end of the 1970s the office already has 30 employees. Organization works well without any great intervention: groups form based on tasks and competencies. The company's effectiveness remains high as it is not burdened by any organizational overhead.
In the meantime, the engineering team is working with electric typewriters - later even with storage and correction tapes -  as well as copiers, calculators and dictating machines. These aids allow a substantial increase in efficiency which is counteracted by the start of a decline in fees. The engineers are then fascinated by developments in mid-range data processing. It allows the company to install its own computer, ending the dependency on computer centers.

  • 1978 The major project Airport Munich leads to the opening of a branch office in Munich
  • Düsseldorf office moves to Cologne
  • Increased number of office seminars to promote professional exchange between employees
  • 1980 30 employees manage contracts with a volume of DM 2.8 million

Focuses

Optimizing and monitoring investment
At Drees & Sommer one soon realizes that keeping major building projects on schedule is only one aspect. Reports of construction cost blowouts are becoming more and more common - a result of poor costing and a lack of cost monitoring. A new role is emerging: cost and budget planning. And the so-called mid-range computer systems. From 1978, Drees & Sommer develops a program for estimating, calculating and monitoring of costs. This is one of the first programs on the German market - the principles of which are still in use today and has become the basis for many subsequent programs. Drees & Sommer has evolved from schedule planner to project controller, keeping costs and schedules under control for clients.
Even at this early stage, Drees & Sommer makes first forays into the international market with projects in Saudi Arabia.

  • 1976 Schwanenmarkt Krefeld
  • 1977 Heilbronn district hospital, headquarters of State Central Bank, Ludwigshafen
  • 1978 Göppingen district hospital, personnel quarters, Qatar Housing project, SSF Riyadh in Saudi Arabia
  • 1979 Clinic "am Eichert" in Göppingen, Ballei Community Center in Neckarsulm, SNEO headquarters in Riyadh