Building Our Future
Brasfield & Gorrie was founded in Birmingham, Alabama, affectionately known as the Magic City. The company has been instrumental in revitalizing and adding to the city’s magnificent skyline over the years.
Building Our Future
BRASFIELD
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Right: Truist Park, Atlanta, Georgia.
A Big Thank You
As we celebrate our sixtieth anniversary, we wanted to say a collective big thank you to Betsy Shearron who wrote our book for us. Betsy did an incredible job under a very tight deadline and the final version captures our story well.
As many of you know, Betsy was the writer of our fiftieth anniversary book and her first challenge for this volume was to reduce the entire historic section of our story into one or two chapters. She did a great job capturing the most important parts of our history before focusing on our last ten years.
Much has happened since 2014, and we appreciate Betsy working with a large group to help tell our story in a thoughtful and organized way. I also want to thank the many Brasfield & Gorrie team members who contributed information and photographs that helped us chronicle the last decade. Additionally, I wish to thank my father, Tracey Sibley, Filipp Zyryanov, Sheri Cain, Meg Burton, and Carla Jean Whitley from the marketing communications team, as well as Jeff Stone, Jill Deer, and Chris Kramer, who helped edit and fact-check the manuscript along the way.
As with any large undertaking, there were too many stories to include everything. For the new team members, we hope you will enjoy reading our history and that it will give you a better feel for our company and culture. I could not be more excited about the future of our company as our opportunities seem endless. I can’t wait to see how our next chapters unfold.
M. James Gorrie
Pictured here are Jim and Miller Gorrie at the dedication of the lathhouse at the family’s Blackjack Farms on June 24, 2021. The Gorries have long understood that Brasfield & Gorrie owes its success to its people and, for sixty years, the company has committed to building exceptional people as well as great projects. A visible sign of that commitment is this lathhouse, where seedlings from acorns planted in honor of new employees are cultivated until they can be planted on Blackjack Farms or in other Birmingham locations.
To my fellow founders―Imogene Powell, who through their natural abilities molded
Jim Anthony, John Darnall, and James Harbison― the company culture that still exists today.
―Miller Gorrie
Birmingham’s Twentieth Street looking north in the 1960s. In the decades to come, Brasfield & Gorrie structures would dramatically change the city’s skyline.
The First Fifty Years
At an age when most boys were still dreaming of being cowboys or professional athletes, Miller Gorrie knew he wanted to have a career in construction. Born on October 20, 1935, in Birmingham, Alabama, Miller was introduced to the joys of building and construction at age twelve when he and his father, M.J., began building a small cabin on the 240-acre farm M.J. and his neighbor, W.E. Armstrong, bought near Trussville, Alabama. CHAPTER ONE
For more than a year, Miller and his father spent almost every weekend working on the cabin, camping out by a creek on the property M.J. named “Back Acres” because it was “way back in the woods” and his back always hurt when he left because of all the work he’d done when he was there.
Committed to a career in construction, Miller worked at Daniel Construction in Birmingham during high-school summers and majored in civil engineering at Auburn University. There, he met Frances Ellen Greene on a blind date, an event that would lead to the couple’s
engagement and marriage in 1957. After graduating from Auburn and fulfilling a three-year obligation to the U.S. Navy, Miller went to work at Daniel Construction as a quantity surveyor and entry-level estimator in 1960.
By 1964, after taking jobs of different responsibilities at Rust Engineering and J.H. Holley, Miller was ready to step out on his own. The IBM stock he had wisely invested in as a young man at his father’s suggestion had skyrocketed in value, providing him with $80,000 to fund his new venture. After debating with M.J. the pros and cons of starting his own business versus buying an existing business, Miller learned that Thomas Brasfield, a general contractor in Birmingham, might be interested in retiring.
Wise Investments Pay Off
In addition to helping Miller Gorrie identify his future career of choice, his father, M.J., also introduced him to a method to finance it. M.J. had enjoyed a successful career in sales and sales management with International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
Miller Gorrie
In the 1950s, IBM became a rapidly rising growth stock and M.J., having invested in the company, suggested Miller do the same. As a grade-school student during World War II, Miller began filling his war-bond stamp books with 25-cent stamps, excited that his initial investment of $18.75 would turn into $25 in ten years. After taking on a paper route when he was in the sixth grade, Miller began investing his entire $5 weekly profit in savings bonds. ■ His investment strategy paid off and, in 1951, fifteen-year-old Miller proudly cashed in his savings bonds and bought one share of IBM stock for $203. Then, while a student at Auburn, around 1955, Miller negotiated a $5,000 loan to buy more IBM stock—and its profits ultimately funded the creation of Brasfield & Gorrie.
When established in 1921, the Thos. C. Brasfield Company initially focused on building houses before taking on light commercial work. Over the years, Brasfield developed a reputation for quality work and built a number of churches, schools, theaters, banks, and small office buildings. Brasfield himself was described as “straightforward, honest as the day is long, and a straight shooter.” But, by 1964, at age seventy-one, Brasfield was ready to retire. With his two daughters uninterested in construction, he had two options: close his business or sell it to someone who would maintain his good name and his company’s solid reputation.
At the time, Brasfield’s business consisted of three projects under construction as well as several very small remodeling jobs. “I didn’t buy the company,” remembered Miller, who agreed to a purchase price of $45,000,
“I bought its name, goodwill, reputation, and about $5,000 worth of construction equipment.” Keeping the Brasfield name would give Miller’s new business name recognition in the community as he sought jobs for his new company, an established office, and a place on bidder’s lists, which might not have been available to him otherwise.
Mr. Brasfield remained in the office for about six months in order to finish his final projects. In 1967, Miller relocated the office to 729 S. 30th Street and changed the company name to Brasfield & Gorrie. This was a sign
of respect and consideration to Mr. Brasfield and an example of the culture Miller was trying to create.
When established in 1921, the Thos. C. Brasfield Company initially focused on building houses before taking on light commercial work. Over the years, Brasfield developed a reputation for quality work and built a number of churches, schools, theaters, banks, and small office buildings. Brasfield himself was described as “straightforward, honest as the day is long, and a straight shooter.”
While his father’s encouragement to invest at a young age provided Miller with seed money for his company, M.J. also taught his son that investing in people paid even greater dividends. M.J. advised Miller to “seek out and hire the very best people,” noting that IBM might not have always had the best products, but it always
Miller Gorrie (far left) circa 1942. From a young age, he was known for his quiet demeanor, listening more than he talked and never missing a thing. “No one ever learned anything by talking,” he explained.
had the best people who could satisfy the customer in almost any situation.
Miller gained one of “the very best people” in Imogene Powell. Miss Imogene, as she was affectionately known in later years, was hired as secretary and assistant to the bookkeeper by Mr. Brasfield in the late 1950s while she was still a teenager. She soon became the sole bookkeeper, receptionist, and office manager for Miller and would make key contributions to the company’s culture. At a time when women struggled for opportunities in the workplace, Imogene was a respected, vital, and valued part of the team. The relationship between Imogene and Miller established how women would be viewed at Brasfield & Gorrie in the years to come. “Everyone respected Imogene and knew what an important role she played in the success of the company,” observed Cindy Maze, an executive legal assistant who joined Brasfield & Gorrie in 1985. “When she spoke, everybody— men and women—listened.”
Powell,
Three months after the purchase, Miller brought Jim Anthony, his former co-worker at Daniel Construction and J.H. Holley, to his new company. With two young children, it was a leap of faith for Jim to leave a sure paycheck and join a start-up company with an unknown future. But Jim had confidence in Miller, as well as a firm belief in his own abilities. Sharing the same work ethic, values, and business philosophy, Jim and Miller spent their days working as project managers and nights and weekends estimating new work. “We were determined that we were not going to let anyone else outwork us,” Jim recalled. Constantly looking for a competitive advantage, the two men elected to self-perform as much work as possible rather than relying on subcontractors—a practice that continues today. Self-performing enabled the company
Miller gained one of “the very best people” in Imogene Powell.
Miss Imogene, as she was affectionately known in later years, was hired as secretary and assistant to the bookkeeper by Mr. Brasfield in the late 1950s while she was still a teenager. She soon became the sole bookkeeper, receptionist, and office manager for Miller and would make key contributions to the company’s culture.
Imogene
a native of Clay County, Alabama—where she grew up on a farm—came to Birmingham in 1957 at age seventeen to attend business school, taking secretarial and bookkeeping courses before beginning work for Thomas Brasfield.
to bid lower, have more control over scheduling, ensure job quality, and eliminate unnecessary job markups for clients.
John Darnall joined Miller and Jim in 1967. A childhood friend of Miller’s, John had studied business construction at Auburn and spent seven years at Richardson Construction as an estimator and project manager before joining Brasfield & Gorrie. John brought extensive experience in healthcare construction, enabling the stillyoung company to expand into that growing market. Diversification and expansion would continue to fuel Brasfield & Gorrie’s growth in the decades to follow.
Completing Miller’s original core team was Superintendent James Harbison. Described by Miller as “the most exciting hire I ever made,” James, then thirty-four, had worked in construction for half his life. Miller and James first met at Daniel Construction, where he was working on a housing project in Fairfield as a carpenter. They were later brought together by a mutual friend, James Arthur Stewart, who was a masonry subcontractor. “James Harbison exuded confidence in a pleasant and controlled sort of way that let me know we had to get together, and we did,” Miller observed. James was named Brasfield & Gorrie’s first general superintendent in 1977 and “had an influence on more people than anyone else at Brasfield & Gorrie,” according to Jim Anthony. James’ work ethic and personal integrity were well known throughout the company. He inspired his crews, instilled confidence in his clients, and built a field organization that was second to none. As he once told Jim Anthony, “I won’t lie to you, and I won’t lie for you.”
“That core of three men and one woman [Jim Anthony, John Darnall, James Harbison, and Imogene Powell] was exceptionally strong for a small company,
An early company advertisement photographed at the Bellsouth Services Headquarters in the Colonnade in Birmingham in 1989. (L–R) Connie Boone, Jeff Stone, Miller Gorrie, James Harbison, Tim Dwyer, and Sheila Tarr.
Founders Jim Anthony, Miller Gorrie, and John Darnall in the company’s early days.
and it gave him [Miller] a position of strength from which to operate,” observed Henry Hagood, longtime leader of the Alabama chapter of Associated General Contractors of America.
Despite an unforeseen setback in 1970, when an apartment-complex project ran over budget and threatened the financial viability of the young company, Brasfield & Gorrie’s annual revenues rebounded and
A Lesson in Due Diligence
Early in the young company’s history, Brasfield & Gorrie faced a crisis that would test its strength as it faced the threat of bankruptcy. ■ In early 1970, Miller Gorrie made, in his words, “a poor business decision.” Brasfield & Gorrie had built office buildings in Mountain Brook Office Park for clients who were also developing apartments. The clients’ architects talked to Miller about building some apartments—even though Brasfield & Gorrie had no experience in apartment construction—and convinced him they could be constructed for ten dollars per square foot. To Miller, it “seemed relatively simple construction,” and he agreed to build five projects. ■ The job started off routinely enough, but serious problems were ahead. The ten-dollar-per-square-foot cost estimate turned out to actually be twelve dollars per square foot. As Jim Anthony observed, Brasfield & Gorrie had “relied on information given to us about costs [that] was not adequately checked out.” Miller had a company estimator run a cost estimate, and his figures indicated a $150,000 to $200,000 loss on each of the five projects. The team rallied to minimize the losses but, in the end, all of the reserves that the company had accumulated since 1964 were depleted. ■ “We were left with nothing except our people, our goodwill, and our banking and surety relationships. They didn’t run out on us,” Miller recalled. “There was a time in that period where a couple more kicks and it would have been over. We stood as much as we could stand, but not more than we could stand. We were tested to the limit. Financially, we had to start all over, but it only took us two years to get back to where we’d been.” ■ While the apartment fiasco stands as one of the grim periods in the history of Brasfield & Gorrie, it provided valuable lessons. Miller described the apartment failure as “a
reflection of my personality, which is frequently to charge off into new areas that are not thoroughly checked out. It was a somber time, but it enhanced my sense of caution.” Later, Miller adopted a more thoughtful approach toward entering new markets. The crisis also provided insight into the company culture that was emerging. In looking back at that time, Jim Anthony observed, “If there was anything to come out of those apartments to be proud of, it is the fact that we didn’t have any lawsuits and we didn’t throw the subcontractors and suppliers to the wolves—none of them were forced into bankruptcy.”
James Harbison (far left) brought valuable field experience to the team and made significant contributions to the growth of the young company.
The first Founders Awards, presented in 2006. (L–R) Miller Gorrie, Imogene Powell, awardwinner Paige Taylor, Jim Anthony, award-winner Jerry McCulley, James Harbison, award-winner Jim Lott, award-winner Charlie Morris, and John Darnall.
grew from $800,000 to $565.9 million between 1964 and 1998 as the company opened additional offices in Atlanta, Orlando, Raleigh, and Nashville. But the influence of the core group, now recognized as the founders of Brasfield & Gorrie, could not be measured merely by profit-and-loss sheets and project lists. In addition to guiding the company through early setbacks and crises that might have crippled a lesser company, the founders established a culture that would ensure lasting success and stability. It was a culture based on trust, teamwork, integrity, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a commitment to excellence. In 2006, the Founders Award was created to honor a handful of employees each year who continue to exemplify those values.
That culture was embraced and built upon by the second generation of company leaders who emerged in the mid-1990s. The group included the sons of three of the founders—Jim Gorrie, Alan Anthony, and Jack Darnall— and other leaders who grew up at the company after going to work there early in their careers. At that point, Miller faced a new challenge: in addition to hiring the very best people, he needed to retain them. “We were getting so many good young people, and I could see the opportunities they’d have within the next five or ten years. They’d be able to go anywhere or run businesses of their own,” Miller recalled. In 1997, Miller made the decision to prioritize investing in his emerging leaders over adding to his personal bank account.
As the company grew, Miller became interested in taking on new stockholders as a means to encourage them to stay with the company. In the mid-1990s, the company formed a Sub S Corporation and invited a group of key young leaders to become stockholders. Because the young leaders were required to pay book
value for their shares—a prohibitive cost that would require them to borrow money—the program was only marginally successful. By law, the Sub S Corporation was also limited to thirty-five shareholders.
In 1997, Limited Liability Company (LLC) legislation was approved in the state of Alabama as a form of corporate structure. An LLC is taxed like a Sub S Corporation, at the person’s individual tax rate, but there is no limitation on the number of members and no requirement as to what individuals paid for their interest. In other words, it was possible to eliminate an expensive buy-in. It was then that Miller decided to let 99 percent of the future earnings of the company accrue to the accounts of young company leaders of the LLC at no cost to them.
Three generations of Gorries—Miller, M.J., and Jim—attend a celebration.
Miller kept a 1 percent controlling interest in the LLC.
“That system has worked successfully for the past twenty-six years and is largely responsible for our dramatic growth, caused by retaining and creating opportunities for people across the company, while keeping together a talented, young leadership team,”
Miller observed in 2023. “Our new structure made it possible for our ownership to make a very good living in construction without taking on the type of risk I had to take on, starting at ground zero. Some people in my position might want to maximize their profits, sell their company, and go into retirement with a sack full of money,” he noted. “But sitting at home counting my money didn’t seem like fun to me. I thought it would be more fun to keep coming into the office and being around happy, talented people who are enjoying themselves and thriving financially.”
In addition to helping retain company leaders, Miller’s actions fostered an entrepreneurial spirit throughout the organization that led to unprecedented success. Under the leadership of the “second generation,” when Brasfield & Gorrie celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 2014, the now-$2 billion company had added offices in Jacksonville, Florida; Dallas, Texas; Charlotte, North Carolina; Columbus, Georgia; Huntsville, Alabama; and Greenville, South Carolina.
While proud of Brasfield & Gorrie’s past, Miller and Jim Gorrie were more focused on the future. As Miller approached age eighty and the “second generation” of company leaders neared retirement age, both Miller and Jim were determined to set plans in motion that would ensure Brasfield & Gorrie’s success for the next fifty years.
Since relocating the business to Birmingham’s Lakeview District in 1967, Brasfield & Gorrie has expanded several times. In 2024, the company announced plans to add an additional 28,000-square-foot, three-story building on the campus.
Miller Gorrie (left) and his brother, John
The Gorrie’s cabin at Back Acres
Miller and Frances Gorrie on their wedding day, November 27, 1957
Thomas C. Brasfield
Jack Darnall (left) with his father, John
(L–R) Jim Anthony, Clay Bright, and Alan Anthony
