On solid ground

Slowly and steadily, Opas Sripayak helps LPN grow

One won't find the pensive Opas Sripayak, managing director of LPN Development Plc, at the centre of a raucous party.

Rather, the architect-turned-executive is more likely to be in the corner thinking about how the budget condominium developer can provide better products and services to its customers.

"I'm not a socialising person," he says. "If I can choose, I'll separate myself to review what happened in the past, think how to fix them or how to deal with the same problems in the future."

Mr Opas, 44, began his career at LPN in 1995 as a deputy manager in the research and development department. He was the first architect to join the company, and looked after the design of LPN's high-rise projects.

The Silpakorn University alumnus worked in the back-office until the crisis period in 1997, when the company was forced to lay off many workers and relocate others to Lumpini Property Management Co Ltd, a subsidiary.

"I was among one-third of the staff who were kept with LPN," he says. "As we dissolved many business units, I had to move to the front office, taking on sales, becoming directly involved with customers and also handling many other chores."

The diverse work at that time gave him a chance to develop a skill set that propelled his career.

"It was one of the best periods in my life as there was variety in the tastes of life," Mr Opas says. "Sometimes, customers were angry at me while I knew nothing about their reasons. One customer was kind of insulting me, but I tried to understand her problems so she trusted me and now she is still our client."

Since Mr Opas is a "speak-less, do-more" person, he needed time to adjust to the managing-director position. The new job requires him to represent the company and speak to many different groups, such as stock analysts, investors, employees and customers.

"In the past, I was shaking when speaking at a microphone, even among friends," he says. "Now it's okay, as I comfort myself that no one notices my mistakes and no one is perfect. Nervous people usually think other people will know their mistakes, but it's not true."

LPN is developing eight to 10 budget city condominium projects, with an average of about 700 units per project each year. This year, it will sell about 40,000 units.

The financial crisis prompted LPN to start offering budget city condominiums starting at around one million baht a unit. After the crisis, LPN tried to complete its projects and deliver them to its customers to maintain its credibility. At that time, the company sold pre-built units because customers wanted to see units before paying their money.

"The turning point was in 2001, when we started selling units on paper again," he says. "We planned four buildings with 150 units each and we sold 300 units at a price a bit over 30,000 baht per square metre within one week. Then the pressure was on for the construction to be fast _ within one year."

LPN's employees are now groomed in the corporate culture of doing things quickly to reduce risks from factors such as rising construction and financial costs. Fast construction also reduces risk for the buyer.

"That's why LPN has been able to grow fast in the past five years," he says with determined eyes. "We try to be more than a profit-oriented organisation. All customer complaints will reach the management and we will try to solve problems for them."

Although each LPN project is large with over 1,000 residents, Mr Opas says the buildings will never become high-rise slum dwellings. It pays attention to quality of life by maintaining common areas to add value to the properties.

Despite his appearance as a peaceful man, Mr Opas actually loves to learn new things. He searches for new ways of doing some routine things, travels to new places locally and abroad, and reads piles of different books _ including mystery writing and Chinese novels.

"I am a man with different personalities depending on the situation," he says. "For example, I'm a good driver, but if there's something urgent, I will zigzag to my destination. It's the same with work."

Source : Bangkok Post by Somporn Thapanachai, Monday November 06, 2006