Duke University, which just hired BE&K Building Group for the Medical Pavilion and Cancer Center project, is an example of a repeat client. The contractor completed a renovation of Duke’s Law Commons and Library in 2008.

“BE&K provided excellent preconstruction services and value engineering to get the project scope within the budget while maintaining high quality,” Paul O. Manning, Duke’s director of project management, told Southeast Construction in a statement. “They ran a safe project. They introduced new subcontractors into the marketplace to increase competition.”

In addition to the Boeing project and those health-care contracts, BE&K’s list of 2009 new awards is diverse in size, market and geography. There’s a $24.5-million county courthouse in Lancaster, S.C.; two projects for Honda Aircraft Co., including a production facility, of undisclosed value in Greensboro, N.C.; a $12-million project for Duke Energy in Kings Mountain, N.C.; a $5.7-million Energy and Sustainability Center for Florida State University; a $44-million University of Florida research and academic center at Lake Nona in Orlando; a $15-million high school in Sanford, Fla.; and a $26.7-million regional laboratory for the Drug Enforcement Agency in Miami.

Carpenter—a 23-year veteran of Suitt Construction who was a group manager with the company before it was bought by BE&K—says he appreciates management’s common-sense approach to business.

“I give Luther (Cochrane) a lot of credit for taking Suitt Construction Co., FN Thompson and a new health-care group and meshing them all together, making us work together and be successful,” he says.

“Their (management) style is a common-sense kind of approach,” Carpenter adds. “They let us do our job. They’re not all in your business. It’s brought about great results across the entire company.”

Future: Bright? Or ‘Frightening’? The bottom-line for Cochrane seems to be one of, well, keeping it real. Contractors, like anyone, should stay true to their character, no matter the times, he says.

“You have to remember that this (recession) will pass, and how you treat people is largely going to determine how you succeed, both now and in the future,” Cochrane says. “You don’t have to take a gun and a knife to every meeting. You have to remember how you operate best.

“We know who we are, and we’re trying to be ourselves.”

Of course, what BE&K is is a highly successful contractor that’s backed by a well-funded organization. Is BE&K looking to grow via acquisition?

Cochrane says: “I would never say never. We have no current acquisition plans. But we would look at a strategic acquisition if it gave us access to people who’ve got credentials in growing market sectors or if it gave us opportunity in a geographic area that we want to be in.”?

Acquisition or not, Cochrane and Carpenter know that the construction industry, BE&K included, is still in for some rough weather in the next year or so.

“There’s just not nearly as much commercial construction work to compete for as there was two years ago,” Cochrane says. “That’s the most frightening thing that we see.

“We’ve been through competitive markets before. What we’re seeing in addition to that is a dramatic reduction in the number of opportunities to chase.

“This recession in construction is different from any one I’ve seen. It’s deeper. It’s wider. It’s going to touch more people, and it’s going to take longer for us to work through.”

Cochrane cites overbuilding in the retail, office and residential markets, and lack of future funding in many public sectors, as the causes for his concern.

Despite his own company’s relative successes, Cochrane still feels the industry’s pain.

“I hate it for the people who are going to have to live and work through it,” he says. “But, like every other industry and every other part of business in this country, we’ve probably been living off of some excesses in this country. It’s a darn shame.”

In fact, Cochrane thinks the current downturn continues to reveal itself as worse than expected, even to him.

�We now think 2010 will be the year that we once thought 2009 was going to be�the last of the worst. 2010�s going to be a tough year for winning new work. You�re going to live off your backlog.�

Carpenter adds: �It�s been a tremendous year for us. But the past is the past. What we�ve got to do now is continue to deliver. And we�ll see where this crazy market takes us.�?