by Michele Newbern Gillis
Staff Writer
Working in the trenches of the building construction industry has given Will Pitts, president and CEO of W.G. Pitts Company, a unique perspective on his employees, subcontractors and customers.
“I started working construction while in high school and continued in college,” he said. “I remember working on the Orange Park Mall when it was renovated. I started at a real young age in the construction trade. I think having an understanding of what it takes to actually coordinate the manpower, the crews and getting the work done helps from our standpoint to set realistic expectations between vendors, subcontractors and what we can achieve.
“From that standpoint, it gives me a real understanding of how to relate to the superintendents and the guys that are actually on the job site. I also have first-hand knowledge of how the work gets done.”
Pitts leads all of the company’s leadership and teamwork seminars himself. He feels it is important for the employees to know he is behind them and supports them in building the company for the future.
“We are a general contracting company that provides construction services and development management services,” said Pitts. “On the construction side, we do general contracting and construction management, and on the development management we work with primarily national development companies and coordinate development work on their behalf.”
His wife, Susan, is the company’s comptroller and CFO.
“She always has a different inside perspective on the pulse of the business and a very good feel for the financial side business and has done an outstanding job,” he said.
“Sometimes husbands and wives working together can be pretty hairy if you spend all day together, but that’s not the case here.
“It’s pretty remarkable how she’s doing work and I’m doing work and we don’t even see each other all day long. It’s been a very good working relationship.”
As the CEO, Pitts is very hands-on with his company and does everything from washing the coffee pot to overseeing the various department heads to make sure the company is running smoothly.
As the youngest of 12 children in a blended family, he grew up in Jacksonville’s Arlington area. After dropping out of high school, he lived with siblings for a while in Texas and South Carolina. They insisted that he complete his education so after getting a high school degree and a bachelor’s degree in building construction management form University of North Florida, he became a Merchant Marine for a time.
He then went to work with Whalen and Goodrich, which built primarily sports and recreation facilities.
He and George Goodrich formed their own company, Florida Sports Group, which built sports and recreation complexes. Eventually Goodrich left to pursue other ventures, so Pitts took the company over and changed the name to W.G. Pitts Company in 1999.
“The focus that I have always have is to try to understand the needs that our clients have and in doing that it has really opened up a niche for us,” he said. “Originally, we worked with just large residential land developers who had to provide amenities of services for their end user. Their primary focus was getting water and sewage, utilities, entitlements, permits and selling the lots to the builders.
“There was this one component of their development or a few different components that wasn’t what they did every day. It was a real service that if we managed these portions of the project for them, then it would make their job easier. Let you do what you do best and let us do what we do best. From there we just expanded to different project types.”
Pitts’ goal for the future of the company is to continue to diversity in projects and keep plugging away.
“Primarily we are a developer’s builder,” he said. “That is much different than doing institutional or government work. For the most part our work is centered around those developers that are developing office and commercial complexes and residential developments.”
Headquartered in Jacksonville, the company has extensive experience in general contracting, design build development, construction management, sports and recreational complexes, commercial construction, condominium construction and golf facilities.
The company’s clients include LandMar, St. Joe, Taylor Woodrow Communities, Pulte Home Corp., Centex Homes, D.R. Horton, Montgomery Land Company, Flagler College, The Collins Group, Jacksonville University and many more.
W.G. Pitts is also the developer of the $150 million Steamboat City theme park to be built near Brunswick.
A list of current projects W.G. Pitts Company is working on include St. John’s Forest, Heritage Landing, Marsh Harbor, Eagles Hammock, Natures Hideaway, Villa Beauclerc, Merrill Pines, IM Sulzbacher Children’s Center, Lake Ridge, Mira Vista, Kensington, Greenland Chase, Palm Coast Plantation, Grand Haven, The Shoppes at Johns Creek, Portico and Pottsburg Crossing.
“It’s a very dynamic business,” said Pitts. “Every project has a beginning and an end. It is not the type of business where you do the same thing every day. You build so many relationships and work with so many different people every day. We are a company that is constantly seeking new challenges to work in different areas.”
The 35-40 employee company builds about 15-20 various sized projects a year ranging from $1.5 million projects to $5 or $6 million dollar projects. The company celebrated its 10 year anniversary in June at the groundbreaking of its new building located at Hampton Professional Park, off 9A and Gate Parkway.