Chris Mathews & Sons Turn Steel Door Business into Multi-Million-Dollar Success

Shea, Evan and Chris Mathews bought National Custom Hollow Metal in 2007 to run as a family. (Jason Burt)

In 2007, the opportunity that Chris Mathews worked his whole life for presented itself.

Mathews, then 58, had spent decades as a business executive, working for other people across the country, but what he really wanted to do was own a business and run it with his sons Eric, Evan and Shea. His friend Mark Babbitt called him in 2007 and told him he was willing to sell his company, National Custom Hollow Metal, which produces steel doors and frames in Little Rock.

The timing was perfect as all three of his boys had graduated or were about to graduate college. He and his wife, Christine, took out a second mortgage on their home and took the plunge.

“It is the best thing we ever did for our family,” said Mathews, 75. “I personally had this goal to break the chain of always in my family working for others and trying to create my own path.”

In addition to the $100,000 home mortgage for 10% of the purchase price, Mathews got a Small Business Administration loan as a Vietnam veteran.

Chris and Evan and Shea — the two sons who took active roles in the business — jumped in and started to learn about the steel door business. Chris Mathews had worked in manufacturing and came to Little Rock in 1996 to open a factory for Vinyl Building Products at the Little Rock Port.

“It wasn’t necessarily that we knew anything about hollow metal, but my dad knew enough about manufacturing because he had built a manufacturing plant here,” Evan Mathews said. “That was the basis, but, boy, did we underestimate it because it was way more complicated than that. It wasn’t necessarily that we picked the industry. It was that we picked a healthy business.”

NCHM makes stainless steel doors and frames for commercial use in facilities such as schools and government buildings, food processing plants and water treatment plants. Products for tall commercial buildings can resist fire for three hours, while hurricane-rated products can be used in coastal areas.

They generated approximately $1.2 million in revenue the first year before the Great Recession struck.

Learning Curve

The recession didn’t actually hurt NCHM at the onset because there was a waiting list of orders for steel doors and frames for construction projects that were already underway.

Times were good that first year. It was a year or two later when delayed effects from canceled or delayed projects hit that NCHM noticed a dropoff in orders.

“When we first bought the business and the financial crisis hit, we actually thought that we were like super business people,” Evan Mathews said. “We were like, ‘Holy cow, we’re so good at this.’ Until 2010 hit, and we were like, ‘Oh, my gosh, what happened? Where’d all the business go?’

“That was when it was even tougher, right after we felt like, oh, well, we were geniuses.”

Fortunately, by then the family members had a good handle on the business. Evan, then 26 and now 43, handled the operations side of the business, while Shea, two years younger, hit the road to meet clients and potential clients to drum up business.

“I think that actually provided a healthy distraction slash motivation,” Shea Mathews said of the recession. “We just took on all this responsibility and financial debt, and … we had to find a way to make this business grow during it and have it be financially successful.

“We looked at everything as opportunities. My main responsibility was actually to go out and introduce myself and get to know our current customer base and then develop a new customer base. That’s what I was focusing on.”

It helped that National Custom Hollow Metal was a well-respected company. It was founded by Wayne Babbitt in 1974 before his son, Mark, took control in 1992.

When Mark Babbitt decided to sell, he found a willing buyer in Chris Mathews, who was managing a warehouse that Babbitt owned. Babbitt wanted a local buyer who would keep the company’s 15 employees.

“He wanted to keep it in Little Rock and he wanted all his employees to stay employed,” Evan said. “Mark Babbitt announced to the members of his company at the 9:15 break that he had sold the business. They asked when will the new owners start, and he said they will be here in 15 minutes.”

Growth Curve

While NCHM was a well-run business, it was not a modern one. Equipment was nearly obsolete, and major upgrades were needed across the board.

“I do know that walking in and really getting to get intimate with the business, once we took ownership over it, it was older than we expected it to be, a little less organized than we expected it to be,” Shea Mathews said. “But we also saw that as an opportunity for us to squeeze as much lemon juice out of the lemon.”

Chris Mathews’ business principle was to reinvest at least 20% revenue in the business annually. Steadily, the equipment was improved, efficiency increased and sales grew.

The company now employs 48 and has nearly outgrown its two facilities in the airport industrial park. NCHM recently installed a second fiber laser to help with the manufacturing process.

“The other thing about this business that was attractive is that there’s nothing replacing it,” Evan Mathews said. “There are no new technologies making doors and frames out of Nvidia chips or Apple phones. So if you can get your team focused in the right direction, and you can get the right equipment in place and you can produce the highest quality product in the quickest fashion, you’re going to win.”

National Custom Hollow Metal advertises its quick-ship abilities. Evan Mathews said the company can fill and ship a custom order in 10 days; it ships to all 50 states and does 97% of its business with non-Arkansas customers.

“Most hollow metal companies are mass manufacturers that are building stuff in eight to 12 weeks,” Evan Mathews said. “We fill a need where, if someone forgets to order something, or something gets damaged or they need something special, they call us because they know we’re going to be their hero.

“We’re going to be their hero of hollow metal and get their problem solved.”

‘Built This Together’

Evan Mathews said the company’s goal is to hit $10 million in annual revenue and the projections are good.

The success of its first business has helped the family expand its portfolio. In 2012, the family purchased the awning company Maple Leaf Canvas of Sherwood, for which Shea Mathews briefly ran day-to-day operations before a manager was hired.

The family also makes real estate investments in central Arkansas, which the sons said has become their home after a life traveling from state to state following their father. NCHM is still a family-run business with Evan and Shea as co-presidents after Chris’ retirement in 2021.

The sons each handle their areas of control and, for companywide decisions, they consult each other as well as their parents. Eric Mathews, the oldest son and an entrepreneur in Memphis, has a financial stake in the company.

“These things have knitted our family together,” Chris Mathews said. “From the very beginning, Evan and Shea have been partners, and Eric in a smaller way, and we have built this together.”