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OYSTER POINTER is a monthly publication about business in the Oyster Pointer area of Newport News, VA. More About the Oyster Pointer Publication Submit Your Ideas and Thoughts “Oyster Pointer Salutes:” Archives Request
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“We have been successful doing the same thing every day,” says Goggins, who took the reigns from Tommy Glasgow in the spring of 2007. “It’s about having the best people and attitude. We are very persistent and we don’t give up.” Clancy and Theys’ Virginia division opened on Fishing Point Drive in 1989. Since then, the firm, which employs more than 200 people, has proven itself as a major player in commercial construction. Clancy & Theys can take credit for some of the area’s biggest and most visible buildings in Newport News, such as One City Center, Fountain Plaza II and Fountain Plaza III in City Center. Throughout Hampton Roads, Clancy and Theys has built Dollar Tree’s distribution and corporate office in Chespeake, GEICO’s 250,000-square-foot facility in Virginia Beach, Sara Lee’s Coffee Processing Plant in Suffolk and the highly acclaimed Sandler Center for the Performing Arts in Virginia Beach. The company is currently in the throes of starting the high-rise Wachovia Building in downtown Norfolk. The firm’s target market is Hampton Roads, but it does work as far away as Charlottesville and Richmond. Word spreads quickly when a construction company does a remarkable job. Clancy & Theys works incredibly hard, Goggins says, to approach its projects and customers with open minds and a large amount of flexibility. “We listen to the customer. We want to make our customers successful. That’s what we have been doing for the last 18 or 19 years. If you can make them successful, you do a better job getting repeat business,” he says. “We establish what their needs and goals are and then work with our team to meet the goals in a timely fashion. Building a building fast is not the answer. You really need to get in there and see what the endgame is.” Dean Conklin, vice president, construction, says simply,” we do what we say we are going to do.” That is exactly the philosophy that has carried Clancy & Theys to its success over the years with companies throughout the region. “We selected Clancy & Theys Construction Company for our Marriott Courtyard at 37th Street and have been more impressed with them than any other contractor we have seen in our 30-year experience. Their organizational skills are unparalleled; the quality of their field management is extraordinary,” says Thomas J. Lyons, president of Tidewater Hotels & Resorts. Repeat business is the biggest compliment a construction company can get, Conklin says. Much of the firm’s work now comes from businesses it started doing work for years ago, like Canon Virginia and Dollar Tree. Canon first hired Clancy & Theys in 1989. Since then, the firm has completed 18 projects for Canon. “We want our clients to come back to us,” Conklin says. “That’s everything. That tells you if you are successful.” Clancy & Theys handles all aspects of the building process, from planning to hammering in the final nail. The company has a loyal staff who have been with the company for years. Jamie Tollenaere, vice president, marketing, says the firm prides itself on hiring “the best people.” “We feel like we have the most superb people in the industry,” he says. “They are the nucleus of our organization. They are our assets.” Among Goggins, Conklin and Tollenaere, they have almost 50 years of experience at Clancy & Theys. The men have worked their way up the organization’s management ladder and feel strongly about the firm’s mission. That attitude resonates from the top of the company to the people in the field. The firm makes it very clear that everyone at the company is “empowered to make customers happy,” Goggins says. If overtime is necessary, or a technical decision needs to be made on site, it is known that they don’t have to go above their heads to get an OK. “Everyone understands they are able to do what they need to do,” Goggins says. “Much of the success of our team is attributable to your group of professionals who build and manage our work on a daily basis. Your staff is some of the best in the industry. In addition to being well-trained professionals, their consistent can-do attitude is a benchmark for your industry and our area,” wrote Hank Robertson, Highwood’s director of development, to Clancy & Theys. While Goggins has no intention of changing the firm’s underlying principles, he is keenly aware that times are changing and that Clancy & Theys needs to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to technology, safety, training and environmental concerns. He has continued the company’s constant training and emphasis on safety. The firm, he says, is also on “the front line” when it comes to using technology in the building process and the flow of information.“Twenty years ago, we depended on fax machines. To get changes used to take two days,” Conklin says. “Now it’s instantaneous.” The trend these days is to go green, to become environmentally friendly. Clancy & Theys is embarking on the much lauded federal program of creating buildings that are certified to be environmentally sound. Doing so, Goggins says, requires that the firm build the buildings to certain environmental specifications, such as reducing the building’s carbon footprint and incorporating certain features that save a significant amount of energy. “This is a big deal for the industry,” he says. “This is going to be the standard in a couple of years. We understand it and we are on the cutting edge. It makes sense for all sorts of reasons.” The Newport News office is one of five Clancy & Theys offices throughout the country, but it operates autonomously, Goggins says. The firm, he says, will continue to grow and expand the region’s skyline with unique buildings that showcase the special Clancy & Theys’ touch. Never will the firm get so large though, that it loses touch with its roots of personal service and focus on high quality. “We haven’t tried to be the biggest,” Tollenaere says. “It’s more important to be the best.” Clancy & Theys Construction Company |
Clancy & Theys looks to build on its success 