Treating Clients Like Family
Commercial Construction Group LLC offers individual attention to clients
Family comes first, and the team at Commercial Construction Group LLC (CCG) engages with its clients by treating them just like family. Owner-operators Bill and Kathleen (Kit) Taylor have been committed to this principle since opening CCG in 2000 in their hometown, just outside of Cincinnati.
Although technically a general contractor, CCG largely functions as a construction management firm that performs 90 percent tenant finish work. The company boasts it can design and construct anything inside a building shell—and directs clients through each project as a trusted, personal adviser.
Encouraged by the Local Community
Bill originally started working for a large, national developer in the greater Cincinnati area in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Then he went to work for a smaller company that only performed tenant finish work. There, he discovered he had a passion for the work, and it showed to his clients and subcontractors. They encouraged him to start his own business, even offering to invest in the company once he started it. And, that’s exactly what Bill and Kit did in 2000.
With a background in design from Miami University of Ohio, it was a natural fit for Kit to join her husband at CCG. Kit’s expertise became one of the company’s competitive advantages—if a client hired CCG, the client received design help for its tenant build-out as part of the total service package. Now, 19 years later, this personalized service offering still has many clients asking Kit to come to their offices and select the carpet and paint schemes.
CCG’s legacy doesn’t end with Bill and Kit. The couple has two sons—one of whom is following in their “construction” footsteps. When this son, Dan, was a small boy, he had dreams of one day building a skyscraper. Dan says, “When I was 14, I started working for my folks in the summer, and they made it clear I wouldn’t walk in and be the boss. I started entry-level, working with different subcontractors and cleaning up after everybody. I then learned each of the individual trades that we manage. Little did I know that this experience would prove invaluable once I joined the company as an adult.”
One day in October 2015, Dan had lunch with his father, who told him, “If you are interested in joining CCG, now is the time to do it. I’m looking to either sell or have someone assume responsibility for the company when I retire in the next 5-10 years.” And with that, Dan put in his notice at the company he was working for at the time. He officially joined CCG on Jan. 4, 2016, and currently serves as Vice President of Construction.
The Blue Book Network to the Rescue
Although CCG specializes in tenant finish contracting, it branched out in 2017 to also perform new construction work. In fact, the company is currently completing its first new facility for StandardAero in Hillsboro, located about 60 miles east of Cincinnati.
StandardAero has been a CCG client for more than 15 years. Dan says, “We did a large tenant finish project for StandardAero in October 2017—a three-phase, $5 million project. It was very successful.” After the project was complete, StandardAero purchased a company called PAS Technologies in Hillsboro. PAS was doing an expansion project and had another general contractor already lined up. “But, after the purchase, my contact at StandardAero called and asked if we would submit a proposal for the general contracting work,” Dan says. “We were interested, but were behind the eight ball because it was something we’d never done before.”
CCG bid on the PAS expansion project and was selected. But then the company needed to employ subcontractors that it had never worked with. As luck would have it, CCG had just signed up with The Blue Book Building & Construction Network. Dan says, “We were so fortunate to have The Blue Book Network as a resource—we used thebluebook.com to find the subcontractors we needed, and the process was so easy and convenient.”
Because CCG is locally focused and family-owned, it was important that these subcontractors be part of the Hillsboro area, a rural and close-knit community. The company wanted those living and working in Hillsboro to have an opportunity to participate in one of the largest projects to ever happen in their town.
The new PAS facility is a pre-engineered steel building. “We found a smaller company in town that specializes in erecting steel buildings in the size we are creating. And, his price was a lot better than other larger, out-of-town competitors,” says Dan, whose company also hired other area subs to handle electrical work, painting and more. Staying local proved to be a benefit to all involved in the project.
That Personal Touch
In August 2017, CCG added another key employee, Tim McElroy, who became the full-time supervisor for the PAS project. Since it is CCG’s commitment to make clients feel like family, it was necessary to assign one person to lead the project and see it through to completion. Dan says, “This makes clients feel a lot better that they are dealing with one person the entire time, knowing they can count on them to safeguard their best interests.”
Bill and Kit are starting to put together a succession plan that will probably be initiated within four to six years. In Dan’s mind, the future of the company “will always be tenant finish work.” He adds, “It’s something that we’ve always done, and it’s what we do really well. But the goal also is to incorporate four to five small, new general construction projects a year.”
Dan continues, “There are some competitors that do exactly what we do, and they’ve been around for decades as well. But we provide that intimate, one-on-one service our clients have come to expect. And, it’s not just about how we treat our clients. We’ve developed such strong relationships with our subcontractors that we often engage in work without a signed contract. It’s the theory that a man’s word and reputation is his contract.”
Dan asked his mom recently why she felt so committed to her clients and her community. She said, “We build a client’s office environment as if we were going to work there.” And, for Dan, it is that passion that he intends to make sure is underscored and highlighted in the upcoming succession plan.