Lott Brothers Construction Company, located in Round Rock, Texas, is a privately owned, third-generation, commercial construction management company with design-build capabilities.
For many years, Lott Brothers has received Associated Builders and Contractors’ (ABC) Accredited Quality Contractor Award, given to world-class construction companies that qualify in corporate responsibility, quality, safety performance, and talent management. The company has built millions of square feet of new and renovated structures since it began operations over 30 years ago, with millions of square feet completed in sectors as varied as health care, retail, corporate and commercial offices, hotels, education, and industrial. The company’s broad experience has given it a distinct competitive advantage in successfully bidding and managing projects.
Right the first time
Brothers David and Wayne Lott, Jr. founded the company in 1988, inspired by the work ethic of their father Wayne Lott, Sr., a commercial contractor and developer who began working in the Austin area in the 1950s, and instilled in his sons the core value of “doing things right the first time.”
Today, led by Justin Lott and Mike White, Lott Brothers still serves its clients with the simple commitment of working tirelessly to make every project absolutely right. Justin “grew up in the business. My father ran the field, so I came up as a superintendent, and my uncle managed the office, so I worked there too and learned all sides of the industry.” Now he encourages all employees to do the same, working in various roles to gain greater understanding and insight into the business.
Justin was joined eight years ago by his business partner, Mike White. Mike has more than 25 years of experience in the construction industry, including healthcare, retail, commercial, industrial, institutional, and multi-family. He leads the team with a no-nonsense, positive attitude that turns every project into a “win-win” situation. We speak with Justin Lott and Jenn Griffith, Marketing and Business Development Coordinator, to learn more about what the company does, and why an inverted triangle and the acronym CLEAR are central to its success.
CLEAR benefits
In the early 2000s, Lott says, “We decided to showcase the values we stand behind and present them in a graphic in the form of an inverted triangle using the company’s trademark colors of gold and silver, denoting excellence.”
Balancing the triangle on its tip is an interesting way to emphasize the importance of the first value, Character, because the trust that is given to a company based on its sterling character is critical for its success. Should that character waver, the delicately poised triangle will topple, as will any business shown to be untrustworthy.
Working upwards from the lower tip are the other values that make up the anacronym CLEAR: Leadership (leading without fear of conflict); Excellence (through commitment); Attitude (encouraging an attitude of accountability); and Responsibility (accepting responsibility for the results).
This translates into numerous benefits for the client, as Lott Brothers is committed to taking responsibility for completing every project with experienced personnel; verifying everything to the owner’s specifications; producing detailed construction estimates before production begins; providing a final validation of accuracy with each layout; scheduling aggressively and finishing on time; and communicating across every level to provide a transparent flow of information and knowledge to all participants.
“The CLEAR approach breaks down traditional barriers that slow the work and increase the costs,” Lott says. He explains that “traditional barriers” refers to “the old standard process where the architect does something on a piece of paper, hands it to the engineer, and maybe works with the owner, who eventually hands it over to the General Contractor who prices it and gives it back to the owner, who doesn’t like the price. Then the engineer must do some value engineering and that slows everything down, and that is where the traditional barriers begin, which can result in days and weeks of delays.”
Instead, Lott Brothers has implemented leading industry technologies, including cloud-based solutions for information control and documentation. Among the tools the team uses are Building Information Management (BIM), computer-assisted estimating, field engineering, and location-based CPM scheduling, while PlanGrid is used to control documents and information that can be transmitted via email to team members or posted online for review.
But first, safety
“We train our people to be competent on site, and we believe we offer as much as or more than many big companies in terms of health benefits, training, and education. We develop site-specific safety plans for every project because safety comes first. It’s important to us to retain our employees,” says Lott.
The employees appreciate the way they’re treated by the company, as a survey conducted by Griffith revealed. “Everyone genuinely cares about one another and their well-being.” “Our company has a strong understanding of work-life balance.” “I love that our contributions are recognized directly by leadership.” “I am new, but I feel like I am part of the team.” “I feel encouraged to speak up and share opinions.” These are just a small sample of the comments that echo each other in positivity.
As a result of Lott Brothers’ proactive approach to ensure safe working conditions and promote health and well-being, Griffith notes that the company “has received multiple ABC STEP (Safety Training Evaluation Process) awards by consistently meeting the stringent criteria, including most recently the STEP Gold for 2020 and 2021, and STEP Diamond for 2022 and 2023.”
The company has extended its caring, thoughtful approach to the wider community, ensuring philanthropy is at the forefront of all it does, with company owners sitting on several philanthropic boards and supporting many local groups and organizations such as the YMCA, educational and hospital foundations, youth sports teams, and scholarship funds.
Happening now…
“Texas has been blessed with large companies moving here and homes being built to house the employees, including large multi-family residences,” Lott explains. “And we have built several of those complexes in the last few years, including affordable housing. With the amount of people moving here, that comes a need for retail, commercial, businesses, schools, and medical facilities to serve the people relocating here in Texas, which creates more opportunities for the industry, including us.”
Currently, the company is involved in 19 active projects, covering most of those sectors.
Education projects include a new Elementary Science Academy, part of the Harmony (Public) Charter School System focusing on STEM education in Leander to be completed by June 2025, and Stony Point High School in Round Rock, which is getting an additional 4,046 square feet of additions, with the work coordinated around the functioning school.
Another education project involves the Divine Savior Academy in Liberty Hill, a design-build project. For Phase I, Lott Brothers received a 2020 Merit of Excellence in Construction Award; the team has just wrapped up Phase II and is now embarking on Phase III. Also in Liberty Hill is Phase II of another design-build project, this one for the Grove Church and Worship Centre, where the design/preconstruction has wrapped up and construction is about to begin.
Medical projects include a 23,200-square-foot living facility/dorm for the staff of the Rankin County Hospital, an attached EMS building with a three-bay garage, and a complete renovation and expansion of the kitchen and cafeteria of the Ascension Seton Medical Centre in Austin, which requires a temporary kitchen to be built to accommodate patients and staff.
Lott Brothers currently has seven housing projects in various stages from pre-construction to wrapping up. These include two luxury complexes in Surprise, Arizona, comprising eight buildings in one and 12 in the other for a total of 496 units, with each complex having a pool, clubhouse, and amenity center; townhomes in Leander; and two affordable communities, both in Austin.
There’s also the just-completed Burnet Place, a project with a local non-profit to provide 61 affordable apartments reserved for people living with HIV, and Habitat for Humanity’s Persimmon Point, which will be a community of 126 affordable homes, a mix of townhouses and condos. Some families will be able to move in as early as 2025, with completion in 2027. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Austin Mayor Kirk Watson said that the project was satisfying key critical needs in Austin, “making sure that people can afford to live in the place they call home.”
Lott Brothers is also in the process of pre-construction, breaking ground, or wrapping up four commercial/industrial projects. There’s a new design-build manufacturing facility under construction in Georgetown, three large commercial parks, and the Panther Commercial Park in Pflugerville, which won the 2023 Central Texas Excellence in Construction Merit award, is now fully leased.
Building on this success, the company, through its development arm TBN development, “is excited to announce two new commercial parks, Cross Creek in Georgetown and Rolling Oaks in Austin.”
As Griffith shares, “These projects are set to redefine flex commercial spaces with features such as 14-foot-high, glass roll-up doors, 24-foot building heights, high bay windows in the back, and expansive storefronts. Our parks cater to a diverse clientele, including light manufacturing, distribution centers, tech startups, retail showrooms, and creative studios, and are thoughtfully designed so businesses of all kinds can find a perfect fit.”
What’s to come?
Certainly, this company has plenty of irons in the fire and a lot to look forward to. Lott is enthusiastic about the future, saying, “We have doubled in size in the last few years, and we are not slowing down.”
Will there be a fourth generation of Lott Brothers? Justin Lott is the father of three sons, aged 13, 11, and 8, but it’s too early to tell yet, he says. “They are young and having fun, and I’m not putting any pressure on them and will let them decide if they want to enter the business. I’ve told them I’m leaving the door open to them if they decide they want to, and already they’re saying, ‘We’re the next Lott Brothers!’”
