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CONSTRUCTION NEWS The Industry’s Newspaper
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www.constructionnews.net H (210) 308-5800 H Volume 23 H Number 10 H OCTOBER 2020
Family legacy continues
A new store in town
L-R: CGC General Contractors’ Paul Gambill, Ben Cleary and William Cleary.
The Lone Star Decorative Concrete Supply team L-R: Chase Valadez, Treymane Williams, Hector Peralta and Felipe Carstens.
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e loved construction. He loved building. He loved architecture and engineering. He worked for large construction companies, both local and national, before Charles G. Cleary started his own. He started the company to build his way with honesty and to build relationships with his customers. High quality was important to him and that is why he started Charlie & Company. “Maintaining those missions continue to be our driving force. My father started CGC General Contractors as Charlie & Company in 1992. He passed away in 2011. It was no longer Charlie & Company, so I changed the company to his initials, CGC,” says Cleary’s oldest son, Vice President and Project Manager William “Bill” Cleary. Charles started the company working out of his garage. He started with
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his past July marked Brenda Romano’s 41st year in the plans room business. What’s even more impressive is, 2020 marks the 120th anniversary of the Virtual Builders Exchange, formerly known as The Builders Exchange of Texas, and formerly known as The Builders Exchange of San Antonio, which is now ran by Brenda Romano, Chief Operating Officer and Michael Tollette, Chief Executive Officer. “Builders Exchange was just that, exchanging information among themselves in a very informal way,” says Romano. Builders Exchange started in 1900 with 28 members. Most of them were masonry contractors. It started out in San Antonio and it was a classic builders exchange. Builders Exchanges, themselves, started back around the end of civil war. They were designed to help contractors organize themselves to bid on projects. They would gather at a central loca-
himself and his wife and president of CGC, Janet Cleary. Soon after starting the small mom and pop construction company, Cleary hired a superintendent and estimator. The company began to grow and was able to move into another facility before moving into their current location, which they have been in for just a over a year. Today, the company has 10 employees that includes four superintendents, estimator, office personnel, project managers and controller. Bill, younger brother Benjamin Cleary and Paul Gambill oversee the operations of the company. CGC specializes primarily in commercial and government construction. “We have a pretty consistent school work base. Once a school knows and trusts continued on Page 18
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n Aug. 7, Felipe Carstens held a grand opening for his new store for decorative concrete supplies, Lone Star Decorative Concrete Supply. “This is the third decorative concrete store in San Antonio. We are a source in San Antonio for decorative concrete materials, equipment, sales, rentals and overall technical support and expertise for concrete polishing, staining, stamping and epoxy flooring for commercial and residential needs,” says Carstens. This vision started 15 years ago when it became apparent that materials and tools were not readily available in the San Antonio area. As the owner of an installation company himself, Carstens realized over time he had been purchasing materials and tools from different places all over the country. He decided it was time
that San Antonio was equipped with a supplier of products, tools and equipment needed specifically for the decorative concrete industry. “San Antonio is a very tight knit community especially when it comes to the flooring industry. Particularly this type of flooring. There are probably at least 200300 tile and carpet floor companies in town. We really started thinking about the need for something, a distribution facility that is specifically tailored to what we do, especially on the industrial and commercial side. “Because we are installers, we understand time, and how important it is. We know what it takes to get the job done efficiently and in a timely manner. We understand how hard it is to run around continued on Page 18
Physical to virtual
Michael Tollette, VBX CEO, stands in front of a little of The Builders Exchange’s 120-year history.
tion or building, write on the black board what kinds of projects they had and what trades were going to be needed. Tradesmen came in and physically looked at the black board to see what trades were needed and who they needed to talk to in order to get a bid. The Exchange today, has several members that are still active and have been active as far back as 1904. American Roofing & Metal, Albert Sterling, Samuel Dean Sheet Metal, Redondo Manufacturing, Samuels Glass and F.A. Nunnelly, to name a few. Around the 1920s, Builders Exchanges got a little more organized implementing the use of post office boxes. One would come in and from your construction company’s postal box, you would physically take out notices from people that were looking for bids from you. “Builders Exchange of San Antonio published its first bulletin in 1920,” adds Tollette. continued on Page 18
