Teel Construction provides general contracting, construction management, and design-build services for a nationwide list of commercial clients. Headquartered just outside of Washington, D.C., in Fairfax, Virginia, the company boasts additional offices in Oakland, California; New York City, New York; and Richmond, Virginia.
Teel Construction’s roots trace back nearly half a century, when Parker Teel ran a residential remodeling and custom home building company. “He ended up realizing that residential was not for him and sold his interest in that partnership and founded Parker Teel Construction Company in the late ’70s,” his son Spencer Teel recalls. The business incorporated as Teel Construction in 1987 and continued to grow from there. “37 years later, here we are, really making an impact on the market.”
This impact is strengthened by the fact that the company continues to be family-owned and operated. Multiple family members remain at the helm, including Parker, as Chairman of the board, and Spencer, as President and Chief Executive Officer.
How has a family-owned and operated business managed to maintain its success into the second generation? Firstly, the company has a people-first mentality. “You take care of your people; they’ll take care of you,” Teel says. “That really helps propel us, to make us successful.”
This people-first approach is built into the company’s core principles, which are “our DNA,” he says. “They are what make us unique and special.” These principles also include a commitment to client satisfaction, quality, safety, forward thinking, financial stability, and anticipating others’ needs. “Client satisfaction is at the top of the list,” he says, and the business has the track record to show it.
Throughout Teel Construction’s decades in operation, “over 90 percent of our clients are repeat and referred clients,” he says. “Once we find a client who aligns themselves with our core principles, we tend to continue that relationship for the long term, and our people are really empowered to do whatever it takes to keep that long-term mentality at play in the decisions that they make.”
Quality and safety are also “of the utmost importance,” says Teel. “On the quality standpoint, we aim for a zero punch-list type of mentality throughout the company.” The team keeps a plaque on the wall listing all of the superintendents who have achieved zero punches on their projects over the last several years.
“There are over three dozen superintendents,” Teel says. When it comes to quality, “there is no mentality of saving it for the punch list or saving it to the end of the job. We’re punching as we’re going and that expectation is drilled into our superintendents, but we go above and beyond and deliver that message to our subcontractors, make sure that they understand to do things right the first time so that we’re all efficient, that we’re all really making money and not burning resources on the back end of the job trying to correct things that should have just been done properly in the first place.”
Management encourages everyone at the company to think ahead. “We put value on forward thinking and challenging our people to not accept mediocrity,” he says. “We’ve always done it this way; we’ve always challenged people to think outside the box.” This mindset also includes investing in new technologies and adopting new ways of thinking “to make sure that we are constantly improving, learning, and growing as a company.”
When it comes to financial stability, “We have to align ourselves with clients who allow us to make reasonable profit, to keep the lights on, make sure that we are reinvesting in the business, and just providing a place where people can learn and grow and reach their full potential.”
Treating others well and understanding their perspective is foundational to the company. “We try to understand what motivates and makes people tick and try to provide an experience that aligns with their expectations,” Teel says. “We do that not only internally with our team, but externally with our customers, our subcontractors. We try to go above and beyond to create a custom approach by hearing them out.”
These principles apply to all employees. “Going back to that people-first mentality, we use our core principles as our guideposts to recruit, train, and really manage the entire lifecycle of that person at Teel,” he says. “If we find a person, a candidate who aligns with our core principles, we’re going to make them an offer, try to hire the best and the brightest.” The company then expects employees to use these principles to guide their decision making. “They are reviewed and rewarded based on their alignment with the company’s core values.”
Following these core principles has helped Teel Construction achieve a diverse portfolio that showcases its ability to execute high-profile projects throughout the nation. This work includes projects for the fitness, restaurant, educational, financial, grocery, retail, and healthcare industries. Projects have been completed in a variety of locations including Virginia, Washington, D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania, California, and Georgia.
Company leadership is taking an active approach to Teel Construction’s future, steering it into more decades of successful family ownership. “About three years ago, I read Cameron Herold’s book Vivid Vision,” says Teel. “The concept is for the leaders of a company to go out and complete a mind map of how they envision their companies in three years’ time, and it was a really helpful exercise for me to complete, and the results translated into my vision for the company.” This vision covers everything “from operations and accounting to preconstruction and marketing,” and ensures that “we are serving our revenue goals.”
The team shares this vision with all new and prospective employees, trade partners, suppliers, and consultants, to make sure that everyone is on the same page. “The company has really gotten on board with having something that is in explicit detail. They can visualize and help understand where the company is going,” he says.
To ensure they are on track with the vision, the team reviews the company on a quarterly basis via a color-coded system. “Red if something is off-track, yellow if it’s on-track or green if it has been realized and completed,” he says. “At this point, most of it is painted green. Most of it has become a reality in these three short years, which I’m so incredibly proud of our team for accomplishing, and the couple areas that are off-track or still on-track, we certainly hope to accomplish in the next six or seven months as we wrap that up.”
The vision has created new roles within the company that are already proving beneficial. “The most important and exciting components of that vision are our two new positions within the company,” Teel says. The Recruiting and Talent Development Manager, who fills one of these new positions, helps bring in new people and guide their careers.
“Some companies refer to this position as a dream manager. It takes HR to a more personal level in terms of trying to understand people’s personal goals and how the company can help make some of that a reality. [We are] really excited to have Leslie Philpot champion that initiative in the inaugural position for the company.”
Teel Construction has also added a Manager of Technology position to not only take care of standard information technology concerns, but to also help the company invest in virtual construction and robotics. The team is eager to utilize the most advanced technology for the benefit of both the customer and the company.
With a robust vision and core principles to keep guiding the company forward, Teel Construction is well placed to continue the family business for many more generations to come.
