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Hathaway Construction
COMMITTED TO SUCCESS Committed to success and passionate about their service, the family-run business of Hathaway Construction has been taking the South by storm for over two decades.
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Committed to success and passionate about their service, the familyrun business of Hathaway Construction has been taking the South by storm for over two decades and currently ranks as one of the top twenty multi-family builders in the nation. by Johanna Gretschel
For the Hathaways, the construction business is a family affair. In 1990, David Hathaway founded Hathaway Development Company (HDC) Inc. in Atlanta, Georgia. The firm specialized in building single-family homes and constructed over 500 such homes. The firm also developed lot infrastructures for sale to other single-family home builders. In 1997, the company evolved to include Hathaway Properties, Inc. to facilitate the tasks of HDC as well as those of related companies. 1997 also marked HDC’s expansion into multi-housing projects as the firm developed Northridge subdivision in Macon, Georgia. Hathaway’s son, Daniel, and Mike Muggridge joined the HDC team in 1998 to later become the President of Construction and President of operations. With the addition of the younger Hathaway and Muggridge, HDC began pursuing general contracting work. The
company’s specialty remains multifamily home construction but apartments and senior living facilities are their next areas of expertise. HDC changed its name to Hathaway Construction Company (HCC) in 2009 to reflect its burgeoning status as a top construction company in the southeast region. Its area of operation expanded from Georgia to include Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, truly marking HCC as a company on the rise. The younger Hathaway attributed the continued success of HCC through its lengthy evolution to the dedication and passion of its employees. “We’ve had very little turnover ; it’s been really stable,” said Hathaway. “We have people who want to make each project successful for the owner. We really put the emphasis on them and
their project as opposed to worrying about our bottom line or our issues.” The result of these industrious employees was a mention in Builder Magazine, ranking HCC as one of the top twenty multi-family builders in the nation. Besides employing a loyal, hardworking staff, HCC delivers to clients through its emphasis of four major factors: budget, quality, schedule and safety. Hathaway demonstrated how HCC’s business practices in relation to each of these factors are entirely customer-focused. Hathaway said that HCC not just focuses on staying within the boundaries of clients’ budget expectations, but strives to actually return some money to clients’ pockets by completing projects below the projected budget. HCC also prides itself in its highquality production values. “My dad came from the home building world where every little thing is Fall 2010 3
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We’ll always be in the housing business because that’s what we’re good at. We’re trying to keep it simple and do the best for our clients. scrutinized,” said Hathaway. “We won’t turn a building over to an owner until it’s ready and has the quality to be sold or be rented that day.” HCC places high importance on meeting project deadlines, regardless of extenuating circumstances. “If we give an owner a date, there’s no excuse not to make it,” Hathaway said. “If it’s something we can’t control like a power issue, we make it our problem. We want to make it on time no matter what.” The company makes sure to take an active, hands-on approach to such problem-shooting. “We never stand back and say, ‘you need to fix this problem,’” Hathaway said. “We say, ‘what can we do to help.’”
4 Construction Leaders Today
The company also strives to complete the most challenging portions of a project first in order to make sure the toughest demands are met right away. “A lot of people say the last five percent of a project is the hardest part and we focus on that last five percent first,” Hathaway said in regard to HCC’s work ethic. Of HCC’s four primary objectives, safety is perhaps the most highly lauded. Hathaway said that the first topic up for discussion every Monday at HCC’s weekly meetings is safety. “We feel like we’ve been ahead of the safety curve for a long time in the industry,” Hathaway said. Their stringent safety system insures that owners are protected from negligent law suits as a result of workers
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getting hurt. The program also lowers projects’ insurance costs. “Each year we try to implement one thing that will help everybody be safe on the project,” said Hathaway. “At the end of the day, no one wants to get hurt on the job site.” Hathaway’s goal is to have every HCC employee complete ten hours of Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA) by the end of the year. HCC offers classes at their Knoxville, Tennessee and Charlotte, North Carolina locations and in both English and Spanish to accommodate all workers. Whether they are electricians or jani-
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living on a low-income budget. Hathaway said the company is becoming more active in attaining LEED certifications for buildings and encouraging employees to pursue certification as well. In HCC’s 30 years, the firm has completed more than 50 projects and built over 11,000 multifamily units. Though figures fluctuate from year to year, Hathaway estimates that the firm completes around six to nine projects each year. He said six to nine is a perfect number because it allows them to hone in on individual projects. The firm is currently working on five different projects. They include multifamily
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ultimately raised around 500 to 1,000 dollars, according to Hathaway. “Mike, to his credit, said, ‘hey we can do better than this, let’s work on it,’” said Hathaway. “He took a very active role in it.” HCC took over coordinating the tournament in 2002 and the next year, hosted the first annual “Swing a Club” for CASA Charity Golf Tournament. The inaugural year boasted a solid turnout, raising 12,000 dollars. Hathaway said each consecutive year has yielded a more impressive turnout, with the past few years’ tournaments each raising about 50,000 dollars. In total, HCC has
Green buildings are really unique in rural Georgia, in areas where affordable housing is needed. There aren’t a lot of energy efficient houses in that area. tors, “if someone’s been trained in safety, they’re going to be better at what they do,” Hathaway said. HCC has garnered numerous safety awards for its efforts to employ the most effective safety practices. This year, the firm received the 2010 Platinum Safety Training and Evaluation Process (STEP) Award from Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) Inc. HCC also earned the Georgia 2010 Safety Award of Excellence from the Georgia chapter of ABC. C has also made a foray into architecture and construction’s future: the design of eco-friendly, “green buildings.” The company currently has several ongoing EarthCraft certified, energy efficient residential projects. “Green buildings are really unique in rural Georgia, in areas where affordable housing is needed,” Hathaway explained. “There aren’t a lot of energy efficient houses in that area.” But HCC has made it its business to make green housing available to those
apartment projects in Charlotte, North Carolina and Knoxville, Tennessee and Columbus, Ohio as well as two singlefamily projects in the Georgia cities of Dublin and Cordele. Upcoming projects include two 100-unit assisted living facilities in Atlanta and an apartment project in Asheville, North Carolina. HCC is actively involved with the community far beyond simply creating the buildings that populate the southeastern United States. HCC has been involved with Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) since taking over organizing their golf tournament fundraiser eight years ago. Founded in 1977, CASA is a national non-profit organization that assigns volunteers to represent children in foster homes. Tripp’s wife works for the Georgia division of CASA and Hathaway accompanied the Tripps to the CASA chapter’s golf fundraiser near Lake Oconee. At the time, the tournament was a lowkey affair with four teams present and
helped CASA raise over 150,000 dollars since 2003. “Our subcontractors and vendors have really gotten behind it and play every year,” said Hathaway. Hathaway and the HCC’s donation of time and sweat to the “Swing a Club” for CASA Charity Golf Tournament is indicative of the giving spirit that seems to permeate the firm. One of HCC’s more unique projects was the construction of an outdoor classroom project at Peachtree Presbyterian Pre-School. Hathaway’s son actually attends the preschool, which emphasizes a handson curriculum. The preschool received a $10,000 grant from the Dimensions Foundation and solicited donations to help build what would be an 8,000 square foot outdoor classroom. “I said I’d rather actually help do the work than give money,” said Hathaway. “What they wanted to do was build an outdoor classroom with all natural
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materials,” Hathaway said. “They had different stations like dirt digging and climbing.” Hathaway, along with some of his staff and a slew of eager volunteers, helped organize the creation of walls, a potting shed and a performance stage. Hathaway recalled one of the HCC project managers, Mike Tripp, hacking into 500 pound logs with a chainsaw and maneuvering them into the ground the ensure they would not roll onto a child. Even Hathaway’s four-year-old helped out. “He helped us with the benches one day; he’s got a lot of ownership in that,” Hathaway said. “Now, of course, he wants to go build buildings.” The Peachtree project concluded construction in May. The pre-school children, including Hathaway’s son, will experience the outdoor classroom for the first time this fall. The outdoor classroom project was a nice shift from HCC’s standard projects, but as for purely business projects, Hathaway said that HCC will be sticking to housing for the foreseeable future. “We’ll always be in the housing business because that’s what we’re good at.” Hathaway said. “We’re trying to keep it simple and do the best for our clients.” CLT
8 Construction Leaders Today
1. Daniel Hathaway, Hathaway Construction President. 2. Ansley at Princeton Lakes, Atlanta, GA. 306 Multi-Family units completed in October 2009. Hathaway was the developer and general contractor on this project. Architect was Pucciano & English, Inc. 3. Walden at Oakwood, Oakwood, GA. 300 Multifamily units completed February 2010 for Walden Capital Group, LLC. Architect was Pucciano & English, Inc. 4. David Hathaway, Chief Executive Officer, Owner of Hathaway Construction. All photos courtesy of Hathaway Construction
HB TRAINING & CONSULTING For over a decade, HB Training & Consulting has been providing companies such as Hathaway Construction comprehensive training and consulting services. From site inspections to safety meetings, professional development to workforce development, HBTC offers a full suite of services to meet the growing needs of the construction industry. At HBTC, their success is your success.
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