Since its founding in Chapel Hill, NC, in 1984, general contractor Resolute Building Company has stayed true to its mission of putting the customer first through exceptional value, construction excellence, and superior service. For 37 years, it’s never wavered.
When Dave Anna founded Resolute Building Company in 1984, he brought to it a considerable body of education and expertise as the holder of two professional degrees from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY, in building sciences and in architecture, plus several years’ experience of project management for other general contractors.
But over and above education and experience, Anna brought a certain quality to his company, summed up by the name he chose for it: Resolute.
The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines the adjective resolute as “determined; decided; firm of purpose; not vacillating” — all desirable qualities in a general construction company, as well as in a person. “Standing strong in the community is how Dave Anna wanted to present himself and the company and why he chose ‘Resolute’,” says Tony Jordan, the company’s Director of Business Development and Safety.
The first order of business for Anna was to build a strong community in-house for Resolute Building, something he did with key players Vice President David Lent-Bews and Past President, Kim Vrana, who have been at his side since 1987. But it’s not only Lent-Bews and Vrana who have been with Anna for over 30 years; Jordan says there are many other long-termers, as well as some personnel who are the children of Dave Anna.
The company also builds and maintains strong relationships with local and regional subcontractors, relationships – some that have existed since the inception of Resolute Building – that are crucial to its continued success.
Family and community
Ensuring the future stability of the Resolute community is a well-thought-out succession plan involving Dave Anna’s sons, Bryan and Mark.
Bryan is currently working with Jordan in marketing and business development, going out in the project management field this year, while Mark is working as an assistant project manager. Like Bryan, he’s working his way through the different offices of operations. Says Jordan, “They are going to be getting their feet wet so they can both understand all the tasks in every area of construction.”
The word ‘community’, in the context of Resolute Building, is intentionally all-inclusive and extends beyond the in-house staff and the valued subcontractors. Within the business community, Resolute is proud that throughout its 37-year history it has used the same bonding company, Travelers Casualty and Surety Company, where it maintains a strong bonding program.
Resolute also made its mark within the larger construction community when it received the Building Star designation in 2017 through the North Carolina Department of Labor, OSHA division, for its Carolina Star quality safety and health programs.
“We are very fortunate and appreciative to be a member of Building Star,” Jordan says. Most of the organizations who win this recognition are large national-regional companies with hundreds of employees, unlike Resolute with its staff of 48.
Across three states
The COVID-19 pandemic has placed additional stress on the safety and health programs, led by Jordan. “We are considered essential workers,” he says, “which allowed us to continue work last year with all precautions in place. We also strengthen our understanding about what we have to do through weekly conversations with Building Star representatives, with our subcontractors, and with our community.”
With regards to other construction community involvement, it should be noted that Anna is the former president of the General Contractors Association of Durham and active in the Carolinas Association of General Contractors, while CFO Ken Chiccotella is the former national chair of the Construction Financial Management Association.
Even though the company is licensed to work in three states, North and South Carolina and Virginia, most of the work it does is contained within an hour’s drive of Chapel Hill, because, as Jordan told us, “we want to be a client-based company and not a project-based one.”
The result of Anna’s early decision to establish the company as a mid-size regional one created yet another community, one composed of satisfied clients who are happy with the personal touch that Resolute project managers and superintendents provide, becoming repeat customers because they are treated like family.
Then there’s Resolute Building’s determination to be good stewards of the community, through officers and employees serving on the boards of various local non-profits, while supporting them with gifts in kind and /or monetary contributions. Among the beneficiaries of the company’s generosity are Habitat for Humanity, Read and Feed, Freedom House, Chatham County Arts Council, and SECU Family House.
And finally, there’s Resolute Building’s dedication to sustainability and green building construction principles.
The company employs several LEED accredited professionals, and has completed buildings to Platinum, Gold and Silver LEED certification, although Jordan says there has been decreasing interest in LEED certified buildings in recent years, mainly because of the associated costs.
Nevertheless, Resolute does work with owners who want to incorporate sustainable design elements without pursuing LEED certification. Additionally, it is common to send construction waste to a separation facility, where materials can be recycled.
First, the foundation
It’s a bit of a cliché that any construction is only as strong as its foundations, because it’s so clearly true. As an analogy it applies equally to construction companies. A solid foundation of long-term professionals and a strong underlying principle of always acting in the best interest of the client – whether private, corporate, or one of the levels of government – inspires confidence and provides satisfaction.
Attesting to Resolute Building’s strong foundation is a project portfolio that spans a number of market sectors including faith-based, senior living, multi-family, multi-use commercial, health and recreation, civic and cultural, educational, retail, and office facilities. Additionally, the company performs renovations and re-use, as well as fit-ups.
Despite the presence of the pandemic for the last year, Resolute Building completed a number of projects, and continued to work on others.
Among those completed in 2020 were: Willow Oak Montessori School, a 39,050 square foot charter school in Northeast Chatham County; The Wharton at Penick Village, a three-story, 20-unit building with oversize balconies and multiple exposures set on a 36-acre property in Southern Pines; Foster on the Park, a 164-unit residential building with five levels of wood framing over two levels of concrete podium in Durham; South Brooklyn Apartments in Raleigh, which are two-story duplex wood-framed apartments with garages; 800 St. Mary’s Street, a four-story, 130,000 square foot luxury apartment complex; and Fairweather Condominiums, a 120,580 square foot building with ground-level retail in Raleigh.
Being completed later this year is Bull City Commons, a negotiated co-housing community with 23 customized units, in Durham.
Still under construction are: the Wake Tech Facilities Operations and Warehouse Complex in Raleigh; Purefoy Road Apartments, two buildings with seven four-bedroom suites within walking distance of the University of North Carolina Hospital and Campus in Chapel Hill; a 14,605 square foot expansion at the United Methodist Church in Pittsboro; and the renovation of the old Durham County Courthouse, which will meet LEED standards.
Take-off at Fayetteville
As if all those projects weren’t enough to contend with in the midst of the pandemic, Resolute Building is currently working on Phase Two of the Fayetteville Airport Terminal. The company completed Phase One in 2019, which involved the replacement of Concourse A with interior renovations, replacement of TSA systems and jet-ways, and a rotunda waiting area.
“We had to tear down Terminal One and rebuild it,” Jordan says. “It was a ground base terminal, so we put it up on pedestals to accommodate jet bridges. Because the TSA (Transportation Security Administration) was in that area we had to move all the radar and x-ray machines.”
He describes how the original was a V-shaped structure, “so Terminal One, which we tore down and replaced, is like the left arm, and where it meets the second arm is the rotunda, and we built that as a waiting area and café.”
Phase Two, slated for completion in the spring of 2022, was also designed by architect Gordon Johnson and will include complete renovation and expansion of the main terminal building as well as a renovation of the Terminal B wing. “It will be a whole facelift,” says Jordan, “with new front entry, new baggage handling system, new parking area, offices, sitting, and lounge area.”
And by the spring of 2022 when work is completed, the pandemic will be less obtrusive – we sincerely hope – and passengers will be flying in and out of Fayetteville, appreciative of the fine work done on their behalf by Resolute Building, as will the owners and tenants of all the other buildings currently under construction.
