Expertise and experience have made the Szabadics a success on the Romanian market

Szabadics Építőipari Zrt has a history spanning more than 30 years., whose legal predecessor was founded in 1989 by József Szabadics with a total of eight employees. The scope of activities of the public utility and civil engineering company, which was established in 1996 from a sole proprietorship, has been expanding steadily and dynamically ever since. However, after analysing the KEHOP operational programme for the 2014-2020 European Union budget cycle, the company recognised that traditional municipal utility construction (sewage, drinking water) tasks and resources would decline. The company saw the reason for this in the increase in infrastructure provision on the one hand and the challenges facing the European Union on the other.

The civil engineering company, which has now grown to dominate the building construction business, started looking for opportunities where they could make use of the knowledge and experience available. After analysing the markets, they saw real opportunities in Croatia and Romania.

The company has been continuously bidding for Romanian construction tenders since 2018, Tamás Kovács, president of Szabadics Zrt., told Tomás Kovács. "Finally, the year 2020 brought success: we managed to submit a winning bid in a consortium with two Romanian companies. It was then that we founded Szabadics Romania S.R.L., which we entrusted the management to our enthusiastic colleague Christian Felföldi, who, in addition to the work in Eastern Hungary, is currently managing our activities in Romania. He has put together the team that was able to deliver the project we won in 2020 and is working on the five other public works projects that have been contracted since then."

Adapted to Romanian specificities

The last three years have been an important and positive experience. President Tamás Kovács listed some of the aspects that are essential for the success of your company in Romania. One of them is the large territory of Romania. It is crucial that the company's activities are territorially determined, because, as he said, the transport infrastructure in Romania does not allow the supervision of two geographically distant projects at the same time.

"The other is that Romania suffers from a similar outflow of labour as our country, so it is difficult and expensive to find resources and Romanian wages are higher than in Hungary. This is somewhat compensated for by the fact that it is easier to find colleagues who speak Hungarian than, say, in Croatia. Public procurement processes there can also be very drawn out, but indexation is built into the contracts.

If someone can articulate what their strengths are and build a business model based on that, then I think they can be successful."

Experienced engineer with local ties at the head of the cross-border team

Christian Felföldi, who is not only the director of the Szabadics Építőipari Zrt. region in Eastern Hungary, but also of Szabadics Romania S.R.L., was born in Romania and lived there until 2012. He studied at the Technical University of Timisoara. The development of municipalities is important to him. His references include almost all forms of public works, road construction, solar power plant construction, energy modernisation, space construction, hall and structure construction. Precision is important in his work to ensure that projects are completed on time and to a high quality standard.

The expert considers a proactive approach, adaptability and dedication to be the cornerstones of the Hungarian company and Szabadics Romania S.R.L..

"In 2020, the year we were founded, we thought that the knowledge, experience and references we already had were sufficient to enter new markets. Now, after three years, we can say that we have learned a lot about the peculiarities of foreign markets and we are much better prepared to tackle the obstacles that come our way."

Precise work and expertise delivered results

The Director considers the integration of the knowledge and experience of local professionals into their organisation a success. He stressed that the hard work invested, the perseverance and the engineering skills of the Romanian colleagues supporting and participating in the operation have brought the expected results.

"Setting up Szabadics Romania S.R.L. and getting the organisation up and running is a very exciting task. We are building on three generations of continuous development, knowledge and dedication to quality at Szabadics Építőipari Zrt., which can only be done responsibly. It is important that we achieve stability and success in Romania by inheriting and localising the values of the parent company."

The aim is to integrate local values into their operations, creating the environment and business infrastructure needed for long-term operations in Romania. "It is important for us that the name SZABADICS is recognized in Romania, among the contracting and construction industry professionals. We believe that a job well done creates value, that there was, is and will be a demand for work done on time, according to contract and with good quality", added Cristian Felföldi.

"At Szabadics Romania S.R.L., we place a strong focus on continuous improvement, development and learning. Our own expectation is that our activities should fully serve the satisfaction of our customers and the needs of the population, and for this, continuous self-reflection is essential", further emphasised Cristian Felföldi.

The first awarded project has been successfully completed

To date, Szabadics has successfully completed one project and four more are under construction.

The first project, "CL20 Extension of the water supply system in the areas of Hidalmás - Zutor and Romlott - Kásapatak", awarded in 2020, will cost 4.962.086.The company started the construction in a consortium with two Romanian companies, S.C. ACSA S.A and S.C. SMZ IMPEX S.R.L. In time, the third company was delivered, so they completed the project commissioned by the Compania de Apa Somes water utility together with the first company mentioned.

The project will also affect the settlements of Felsőegregy, Drág, Almásszentmihály, Magyarzsombor, Vármező, Alsóegregy, Vajdaháza. Construction started in March 2021 and has been completed:

• 175 km of KPE pipeline of different diameters
• 10 reservoirs of 100m3 and 200m3
• water treatment (chlorinators) and pressure boosting equipment

Mutual adherence to schedules and to what was agreed in the ongoing cooperation meetings was important for implementation. Cristian Felföldi stressed that the CL20 project was a very fair and cooperative project with a customer and engineering organisation that was focused on solving problems. The project was completed on time, with the technical handover completed in May 2023. Unfortunately, however, the water supply to the network is not yet in place, so end-users will not be able to enjoy the benefits of a functioning network as a result of the works for the time being.