With the Southeast construction economy continuing to generate considerable business opportunities for contractors, many firms are finding success right now. As we reported earlier this month, ENR Southeast's recent Top Contractors survey showed solid revenue growth for many of this year's respondents.

During our research for potential Contractor of the Year nominees, though, Atlanta-based Choate Construction Co. stood out in several ways. First, the company reported a roughly 35% year-over-year gain in 2016 Southeast revenue from the previous year. (It should be noted that part, but certainly not all, of that increase was due to ENR Southeast's geographic expansion to now include Alabama and Tennessee.)

Based on our annual rankings, Choate has been steadily growing over the year. Likewise, the contractor has racked up numerous Southeast Best Projects Awards in recent years. Moreover, Choate won ENR's National Best Of The Best award for the Interiors/Tenant Improvements category two years in a row, in 2015 and 2016.

Perhaps the company’s biggest news in 2016 was its becoming 100% employee-owned as of this past December. "Employee ownership allows Choate to share long-term success with our employees while also remaining an independent, internally-operated company – keeping the business “in the family” and complementing our core values and mission," stated Emily Bridges, marketing director. 

ENR Southeast will provide more information about this ownership change in a profile of Choate Construction in our upcoming July 2017 print edition.