Going Up With Auchter

Jacksonville-Based Firm is on a Hot Streak

By Scott Judy

The Auchter Co., one of Jacksonville's oldest contractors and one that has built many of that city's downtown landmark structures, is on a noticeable hot streak lately.

Riding the wave of residential condo projects that's recently hit this Northeast Florida town, the company - which performs the vast majority of its work in metro Jacksonville - is achieving new heights in volume. From the beaches to downtown, the 76-year-old general contractor's name is in abundant evidence around the Jacksonville area, on projects such as The Strand, the Peninsula, First National Financial, Riverside Avenue Partners and 1661 Riverside.

Officials say the company's volume has grown by more than 300 percent, from about $65 million four or five years ago, to an expected roughly $250 million for 2006.

Dave Auchter, vice president of corporate development, credited the latest growth to the acquisition by the Glass family several years and the succession and management strategies that have been put in place since then. Plus, he said, "We've been fortunate. There hasn't been significant slowdown in the market. North Florida's been a good place to be."

Chuck Diebel, company president, said the growth in volume reflects an increase in average project size and not so much the number of projects.

"Our number of jobs hasn't changed that much," he added. "Three years ago our average-sized job was about $5 million. Now it's about $20 million."

Ownership and Other Changes

William H. Glass Jr., who joined the firm in 1957, bought out the company's stockholders in 1993. At the time, Glass had worked for the company for 36 years.

He currently serves as CEO. Son Brad Glass succeeded his father as company president in 2002, a position he still holds. Jeff Glass, Brad's brother, serves as senior vice president/equipment.

And, Dave Auchter, vice president of corporate development and the grandson of company founder George D. Auchter Sr., joined the company in 2000, well after the ownership had converted to the Glass family and when no Auchters remained with the company. He previously worked as public relations director for the Jacksonville Jaguars and calls it a "total coincidence" that he now works for the company his grandfather founded.

So, there's still a family feel.

"People are proud to put Auchter stickers on their private vehicles and wear their Auchter shirts," Auchter said. "We've got people in the field who have been with Auchter for 35 years."

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Also, even though the company expects to achieve nearly $250 million in revenue in '06, it expects to do the vast majority of that on Jacksonville-area projects. That's notable for a contractor achieving that volume in a market of this size.

"We're not going to send somebody to Kalamazoo," Auchter said. "People who work here pretty much expect to be working in and around Jacksonville. And that's been great for retention, which is just as challenging and important as hiring the right people."

The volatility in the prices of construction materials and subcontractor availability is more demanding to manage at the higher volume, he added.

"There are more material issues, more volatility that you have to manage in terms of owner expectations," Auchter said. As this growth has occurred, the company has concurrently invested in itself, with a new headquarters building; significant technology advances; creation of an in-house creative services department that assists with preconstruction and other value-added duties for clients; and also the hiring of additional staff, both at the project manager and corporate management positions.

"The level of sophistication in the industry today has forced us to become better and to identify new services for owners," Auchter said. "We try to think of those needs that developers have before they ask us to fill them."

One such investment is the company's Selection Master Integrated system, a computer program that enables Auchter to manage an individual homeowner's interior finish choices for its condominium projects.

"It walks the purchaser through his or her selections and makes it painless" for both the unit owner and the developer, Diebel said. For a contractor based in Jacksonville, where the high-rise condo market has only recently emerged, it's a notable achievement - and one that has helped attract developers coming into the local market.

"We've never invested in anything (else) that brought us more work," company president Brad Glass said in a video on the company's Web site. "When … developers see it, they know they want to have this on their projects. It's the best money we've ever spent."

Local Pride

As might be expected of a firm like Auchter, there's considerable pride within the company. The firm has had great recent growth, almost all of which was attained by helping to build the town it has called home for 76 years.

"Jacksonville is our legacy," Diebel said.

Dave Auchter, who embodies the company's connection to its past, put it this way: "I think we're establishing a new legacy, with a wonderful history. We cherish that (history), but yet we welcome the opportunity to establish our own new identity."

There's also respect for Auchter from outside. The firm recently joint ventured with one of its biggest competitors, Elkins Constructors, to build one of the main pieces of the Better Jacksonville Plan, a $55 million new Main Library located downtown.

It was the only one of the four biggest vertical structures included in the BJP to be awarded to a local firm as majority partner.

Gordon Steadman, director of development with Elkins - one of the next-oldest general contractors in Jacksonville - said it was relatively easy for the two competitors to work together.

"We are competition, and our cultures are somewhat different, but the professionalism of their executives and our management staff were very cohesive," he said. "The firm is well respected.

"It really boded well for us - two established firms in the marketplace, consolidating for this one project, as opposed to a national firm that doesn't have a local presence. I'm fourth-generation Jacksonville, and that project meant a lot to me, as well as to Brad Glass and Dave Auchter."

Steadman added that he has as much respect for Auchter as for any of his other competitors - and he considers it a good sign if he finds out that Elkins is competing against Auchter.

"When we hear it's the Auchter Co., we feel we're on a level playing field because of their professionalism and the way they handle themselves throughout the process," he said. "If it's not the classification of an Auchter, then more than likely we're going to pass on the opportunity."

One owner that sought out Auchter for a recent project, the 1661 Riverside mixed-use building, was Midland Development Group. A relatively new Jacksonville-based firm that works nationally on retail developments, Midland was seeking to build its first mixed-use project, featuring 90 residential units, 13,000 sq. ft. of retail and a 250-space parking garage.

Auchter called the project - which takes up 93 percent of a two-acre lot in a heavily residential neighborhood along Riverside Avenue - extremely complex, and more complicated than the 30-plus-story Strand apartment building the firm is constructing on the Southbank. That's because of the confined space but also multiple structural systems being utilized and unique unit layouts.

Tripp Gulliford, a partner with Midland Development Group, said the decision to go with Auchter on this project was not difficult.

"We knew them very well," he said. "They have an outstanding reputation. They're good people. The vast majority of their executives and their senior construction people have been there for a long time. So it was an easy choice."