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With ambitious plans for growth in Central Texas, Minneapolis-based Adolfson & Peterson is making strategic moves.
The national construction management and contracting firm recently announced the promotion of Eric Churchill to vice president of the Central Texas region, according to a press release shared with Construction Dive.
In his new role, Churchill will work with regional leadership to provide direction and drive AP’s expansion efforts in Central Texas, where the contractor expects to nearly triple revenue growth by 2024.
Here, Churchill talks with Construction Dive about revenue goals, market entry challenges and his vision for AP’s growth in Central Texas.
This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.
CONSTRUCTION DIVE: What strategies did you implement to increase revenue for AP’s Central Texas region? How will these lessons carry over to your new role as vice president?
ERIC CHURCHILL: Over the past two years, I was able to leverage Adolfson & Peterson Construction’s market strengths from previous projects in other geographies and align them with strategic clients looking to work with a high-quality general contractor. I have worked with many of these clients before coming to AP.
Eric Churchill
Permission granted by Adolfson & Peterson Construction
As Vice President of Central Texas, my focus will be to increase our market share in areas such as multifamily, especially with continued population growth and the mission-critical sector as AI continues to drive demand for data Two additional sectors include the healthcare and education market, as both continue to grow and will always be needed.
Another area we are looking into is life sciences as it is currently in a growth phase in Austin with buildings to follow soon.
You have diversified AP’s customer base into various industries such as education, healthcare and multi-family. What challenges did you face entering these new markets and how did you overcome them?
One of the biggest challenges we’ve faced here in Central Texas is brand awareness, as AP is fairly new to the region.
Fortunately, the relationships I’ve built over my past 20 years in the Austin area have helped overcome this, and our awareness continues to grow. Additionally, we hired a preconstruction manager, Tommy Meserole, who has over 30 years in the Central Texas market and a huge network to draw upon. We’ve also published several thought leadership pieces on the challenges facing our industry and the ways AP is addressing those challenges.
What are your main goals and vision for the growth of AP in the area?
My vision for AP in Central Texas is to be recognized as a high-quality builder that provides innovative solutions to challenging construction projects.
An example of this is a behavioral health project in Central Texas where we had to work with the team and client to manage the project site that included an addition and renovation to the existing building in a way that did not hinder care or disturb the patients. This is what it means to partner with our customers. My other goal is to attract smart, humble and disciplined team players to the Central Texas AP family as we grow our business.
What are the next ongoing projects?
There are several projects on the horizon that we are very excited about, including renovations and new construction. Our central Texas reach includes San Antonio, where we are currently working on one Renovation of office buildings for Charter Communications.
Additionally, several of our Central Texas projects are moving toward completion, including the Sunrise Commerce Center in Round Rock and Cross Creek Hospital in North Austin.
What current trends in the construction industry are you monitoring?
The real estate market has experienced a slowdown in construction projects due to the high interest rates set by the Fed, preventing many projects from meeting their pro forma goals, thereby delaying their ability to move forward. As such, AP has turned to more public sector clients while the private sector patiently waits for inflation to stabilize and interest rates to come back down.
