Since 2001, Thrash Commercial Contractors, Inc. has set the standard for commercial and industrial projects in the states where it is licensed, a footprint that spans the southeast United States. With its headquarters in Mississippi and a second office location in Alabama, projects take the company into Tennessee, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas, and wherever it goes, it simply does it better than the rest.
“If a client wants us out there, we’ll find a way to be there for them,” says Director of Business Development Luke Walker of the level of commitment and dedication to meeting and exceeding client deliverables that spans the company’s history.
Deeply rooted in construction
Thrash Commercial Contractors, Inc. is a family business that has evolved over time to offer exclusively commercial contracting services including preconstruction, general contracting, design-build, and construction management for its clients, which range in size and reputation. Building on the years he spent on the jobsite with his father, President Josh Thrash and his business partner, Vice President Matt McWilliams, have grown the company exponentially by focusing solely on commercial construction, delivering on commitments, building trust, and simply doing it better than the competition.
As Walker explains, “They decided to take it fully commercial and so it was kind of the second generation of the business that started in 2001.” Since then, the company has continued to do what it takes to be the best.
The key to executing diverse project types is that the executive group at Thrash Commercial Contractors breathes confidence into their employees, backed by the certainty that the company’s strong hiring practices secure top talent. “The executive group here is confident in their staff. They put wind in their sails and then the employees really crush it on jobs because they feel confident in the team that’s behind them,” says Walker. “The bar is set high and if it was set any lower, we wouldn’t be living up to our full potential with the staff we have, which I think is a great thing.”
Walker feels that clients can sense the trust the company has placed in its own people, which translates into a common confidence that sets the tone for the project. “For a lot of projects, how they begin is usually how they go,” he says, and in the case of Thrash Commercial Contractors, projects are designed from the outset to go well.
Upholding commitments
Regardless of a project’s size, value, or complexity, Thrash Commercial Contractors approaches them with the same tenacity and commitment to meeting budgets, deadlines, and expectations. And the company puts its money where its mouth is; in fact, it has never paid liquidated damages on any project for a late finish.
“Finishing late is just not an option. I think there is also just a respect that’s given to the client for cases in which projects could elevate in cost that even the owner has suggested at times—we say if it was our money we probably would do it cheaper this way or that way, with design changes,” Walker shares.
Beyond meeting expectations, Thrash Commercial Contractors pushes the limits regarding the conditions under which jobs are completed and the opportunities the team can find beneath the surface of projects. One such project is the new Medical Arts Complex for Lackey Memorial Hospital in Forest, Mississippi. The $20 million, 42,600-square-foot project was unique from the outset, which presented unique challenges for Thrash Commercial Contractors to overcome.
“We took an old, abandoned tire shop and stripped it down to its steel and existing slab, and essentially built a full-scale hospital around it,” says Walker. “There were some slab corrections that had to be made and some other adjustments to the steel, but by and large we were able to keep the existing structure and build around it. I don’t think it’s every day that you can say that you turned a tire shop into a hospital.”
Another project that showcases the capabilities of the Thrash team is the Humphrey Coliseum at Mississippi State University, a project the company undertook in conjunction with Dale Partners and AECOM Sports. The arena renovation took place during the school year while the facility was still in use, which presented a unique set of conditions within which the team had to operate, particularly for the kind of work that was taking place.
As Walker recalls, “That building was built in the ’70s, and what we did is we came in and we put a club level within the midsection of the grandstand, so we had to put temporary support structures up and do self-performed demolition to be able to accommodate for a new club level,” he explains. “And all of this had to go on while Division One basketball and volleyball games were being played in that arena, so it had to be neat and tidy throughout the week.”
The project included the addition of concourse improvements including width expansion, improved sightlines to the court, concessions, and restrooms, as well as two new points of entry on either side of the building, which offers a unique user experience and adds to the arena’s energy and flow, to which Walker can attest to as an alumnus of the school. “I remember that stadium and I remember walking in,” he says. “It was kind of the older neglected buildings of the athletic department and now it has really changed the whole atmosphere of the place.”
The club level is available to premium ticket holders who have access to a dedicated entrance and lobby leading to a 6,000-square-foot sideline-to-sideline club, with nearly 580 seats and suites for 80 people.
Standout projects like these go well at Thrash Commercial Contractors because they are led well and from a place of confidence in the team and their ability to execute on time and on budget.
Raising the bar
Amidst its expanding footprint and growing reputation, the company’s projects continue to be delivered on time and on budget, a feat that is possible because, as Walker put it, “Thrash is a mix of a small company with a big company feel. We have local experience in staff that puts us in a position to do large-scale work but still with kind of a small, local, family contractor feel. You have access to these people within the company,” he says, crediting the firm’s project managers and superintendents.
To fully leverage the company’s talent and capacity, investments continue to be made in technology to improve its safety performance and to optimize the culture of excellence that has motivated these efforts. As Walker puts it, “We saw a bar that was above us and we had to start trying to reach it, and so we made a few adjustments over the past two years by picking up safety partners and a couple of safety consultants to evaluate how we were doing,” and it has certainly paid off.
Thrash Commercial Contractors has seen its EMR reduced to a third, an impact that cannot be understated, though for Walker, “It isn’t necessarily all about the rating itself; it’s about keeping people safe and going home to their families and setting them up for success when they come to work every day, knowing they are prepared and ready and have been given the tools to work safely.”
The company’s success in this regard has enabled it to continue to break into new markets and discover new ways to raise the bar for itself, which has poised it to take full advantage of the growing opportunities in the southeast United States including defense, e-commerce, industrial, and manufacturing projects.
To be able to scale the size and impact of its drive for excellence, Thrash plans to continue to grow its presence in Huntsville by adding new team members to be able to increase its capacity to undertake more work. “I think that’s our main focus over the next year, to further improve our ability to step up,” Walker shares. “Not necessarily who we hire—we feel like we’ve done a good job of that over the years—just to be able to do that a bit more rapidly and to scale.”
Further, Thrash Commercial Contractors has identified Texas as a desirable third market for a physical footprint. So in time, when the right players are in place and the moment is right, the company will continue to build its presence and reputation across the southeast and beyond by investing in its people and its capacity to raise the standard for itself and for the market, wherever it goes.
