DooleyMack Constructors says its ultimate goal is to be the preferred construction provider in its core markets.

DooleyMack Constructors Inc., based in Sarasota, Fla., gets to know its clients by learning and understanding their needs and valuing what is best for their operations, says Bill Vicary, director of business development. “People in the business buy from whom they like and trust, so we try to foster existing relationships or build new ones,” he says.

The company – which is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year – provides services in construction management, pre-construction, general contracting, program management, design/
build, master planning and development. The size of its projects ranges from $2 million to $50 million, and the company has worked in 47 states. “We’ll follow a client to wherever they want to take us,” Vicary says.

Because the company is so diverse and is involved in different markets, each employee specializes in specific markets. When its clients contact the company, “We match them up with the right people that understand the clients’ business,” Vicary says. “They understand the different nuisances of the industry and how they work.”

Award-Winning
The company has completed several award-winning projects. In April, DooleyMack received the Excellence in Construction Award from the Florida Gulf Coast Chapter of Associated Builders and Contractors for its $6 million Charlotte County Schools hurricane recovery project. “We were in the county the morning after the hurricane [Charley] devastated the area [in 2004],” Vicary says.

For the project, the company constructed two modular campuses for Charlotte High School and Punta Gorda Middle School. The 30-acre portable city served 3,346 students and included 1.2 million square feet of elevated walkways connected with fabric canopies. Punta Gorda resumed classes six months after the hurricane, and Charlotte began classes eight months after the hurricane.

“After Hurricane Charley, children were forced to occupy rival schools during multiple shifts,” Vicary says. “It was imperative that the new, temporary classrooms were put into operation as quickly as possible.”

The company also won the 2007 Community Advancement Award from the Developers & Builders Alliance for its WWII U.S. Naval Housing Building project in Jupiter, Fla. The $1 million project, which took less than a year to complete, involved rebuilding the interior and exterior of the two-story, wood-framed building.

Plans For Growth
DooleyMack Constructors was founded in 1977. In 2006, its founders created a holding company and transformed its four Florida branches in Sarasota, Ft. Lauderdale, Key West and Panama City, as well as its offices in Atlanta, Dallas and North Carolina into limited liability companies. Each of those locations has its own president and management team, and own profit and loss center.

Vicary says the three founders, Bill Dooley, Ken Smith and Wendy Mack, wanted to implement their succession plan before they retired. “We are in the midst of strategic planning and we do have plans for growth,” he says. The five-year plans are “ambitious,” he adds, and the company could see double-digit growth in that time. “Sales will increase and we want profits to go with that,” he says. “We’ll need additional resources [such as people] and cascades of other resources such as equipment and facilities.”

The company’s ultimate goal is to be the preferred construction provider in its core markets. “We want to really recognize that we have a wonderful history and successes, and take that and utilize that for the future,” Vicary says. “We want to go into viable markets and be profitable, and just be one of those companies that will be around for a long time.”