Former employee here. I was on the shop floor with the rest of the office workers and employees when it was announced.
They were struggling with cash flow for a couple of years. The private equity group that bought them in 2015 kept promising larger infusions to help but there was always some banking crisis or crypto turn down and we only ever got little investments that kept the water without fixing the leak.
The cash flow issues compounded. Vendors required pre-payments.
Signs were late from lack of ready materials, so temp
signs at our cost were common. We used all materials from stock and started buying for each job which made things more late.
Finally the last thing I'd heard was that they were going to change banks. The bank must have gotten wind, because they used a good week of collections to justify lowering the credit line and seized our funds at the end of March. We were told not to come in to work for three days because they weren't sure if they would make payroll.
The private investment group put in payroll. They tried to work out a deal with the bank, who (rumor was) took in an infusion meant for payroll, then seized that too, then seized the company, and put it in receivership.
The next month was awful. The bank would hardly approve any expenditures. We had to sell scrap aluminum just to have cash for gas for installers' tanks. We were constantly working out joint checks and direct pays with GCs and clients for materials. We were told the bank was looking for buyers. Rumors were the Poblocki family and others were going to put in offers and my understanding was that offers were coming in.
Regardless the bank decided on 5/8 to shut all four branches down and liquidate. A few employees were retained to try and sell
signs that were close to finished or awaiting install to the clients, ostensibly to make payroll for the previous weeks. I did get paid for the previous week and three days for the week of the shutdown.
I started there as an entry level office worker 13 years ago and worked my way up to a Senior PM. Company was 92 years old.
