Hunt-Doyle Construction Services, Inc. - A new partnership brings a wealth of building experience

By Carol Froehlig Over the past five years, I have interviewed David Hunt, president of Hunt Corporate Services, Inc. (Syosset, N.Y.) several times, the first time as he was piloting his airplane to Wallkill, N.Y., to take aerial photographs for a new client. Each interview was a result of his firm being named Company of the Month by the New York Real Estate Journal. Established in 1981, Hunt's firm has carved a very successful niche in exclusively representing Long Island companies for the acquisition and disposition of commercial real estate. Both the firm and David Hunt, individually, have been named as Top 20 Brokers by Real Estate Forum magazine and the Costar Group (Bethesda, Md.), one of the largest independent providers of commercial real estate information. Unlike traditional real estate brokers, however, Hunt works with clients only through exclusive contracts. His firm serves as an outsourced real estate department for an impressive array of Long Island companies. Today, however, my interview is about a new company, Hunt-Doyle Construction Services, Inc., which has been named Company of the Month by the New York Real Estate Journal. My meeting today will be with both David Hunt, president of the new construction company, and his partner, Dennis Doyle who is CEO. Hunt-Doyle Construction Services specializes in interior commercial construction in the northeast region of the country. Doyle most recently was vice president, construction, planning & design at Davis Vision, Inc. (Plainview, N.Y.) There he oversaw the development and real estate strategy for over 500 locations, as well as bearing the responsibility for the construction and maintenance of national corporate offices, laboratories and manufacturing facilities. I joined the two over lunch in a quiet restaurant in Syosset, a short distance from their offices. The New Partnership CF: David, I was very surprised to learn that you started a construction company, particularly in this economy. Hunt: It was not part of our strategic plan. It was just an opportunity that presented itself. Davis Vision has been a client of Hunt Corporate Services for a half-dozen years. While Dennis was vice president at Davis Vision, I had the pleasure of working with him closely on several projects. As for the present economy, Dennis and I both felt that we would not be scratching for new business given our many long-term relationships in the industry. We believe that the high level of trust that we enjoy will generate business on its own. CF: How will the new company affect Hunt Corporate Services? Hunt: It will only augment the services that we can supply to our clients. Our client list is growing and we are doing more business off Long Island. While Hunt Corporate Services represents some very well-known names such as Progressive Insurance, PNC Bank out of Pittsburgh, and Swiss International Air, we also represent a substantial number of smaller local companies. We will be able to offer construction budgeting, if not the actual construction, to all of them. CF: Dennis, what led you to leave Davis Vision and start your own company? Doyle: Davis Vision asked me to transfer to their San Antonio offices. I have lived on Long Island my entire life and have family here. And I especially did not want to uproot my 11 year old daughter, Elizabeth. CF: So you decided to start your own construction company. Doyle: No, not at all. David called me after he heard that I had left Davis Vision and suggested lunch. He wanted to help me find a new position on Long Island. During the course of the lunch, I mentioned that I could book nearly a year's worth of construction management services with my existing contacts alone. But I also told him that I did not have the "where-with-all" to start a new company. CF: What was his response? Doyle: He asked me a short question, "Would you do it with a partner?" CF: And you said, "Yes?" Doyle: No, not right away. But he really got me thinking. The more we talked over that lunch, the more we seemed to have something viable. David already had the infrastructure of a company-a highly respected name, offices, administration, IT, and a well-oiled marketing machine. I have over 25 years of construction experience. And we both have the connections that could lead to as much business as we could handle. We shook hands on the concept by the end of the lunch. I was excited. CF: David, what led you to such a quick proposal? Hunt: Well, normally I am more circumspect. But first and foremost, I have an incredible respect for Dennis. He is one of hardest working people that I know. Secondly, commercial construction seemed like a natural fit with the commercial real estate work of Hunt Corporate Services. It is actually a rare real estate transaction that does not require interior construction or renovation of some kind. Plus we have been actively acquiring real estate for our own account. So that is an arena where managing your own construction can give you a real advantage. CF: Have there been difficulties? Hunt: I can't say there have been any major difficulties. The first liability insurance quote of $30,000 certainly gave me pause! And there has been a lot of work getting the company off the ground, which is to be expected. However, as hard as I may work, I cannot seem to keep up with my partner. He never seems to stop bidding and construction managing. Just watching Dennis exhausts me! Definitely a Type-A personality. CF: Dennis, do you have a rebuttal? Doyle: (Laughs) I plead guilty. But working in David's office is relaxing, and it is starting to rub off. I'm starting to drink less coffee. I suppose he will have me meditating shortly. My partner has this unshakeable vision of great success. I guess I don't want to leave anything to chance. CF: Dennis, tell me a little about your background. What did you do before Davis Vision, and what were your responsibilities while you were there? Doyle: I have been in construction my entire working life, starting my construction career as a union electrician for Local 25, here on Long Island. By the mid-1980s I had my own electrical contracting company, and one of our accounts was Davis Vision. I was offered the position of director of facilities in 1994. Because that was a tough time to be operating a contracting company, I accepted. When I joined the company we had 20 locations, and were doing $2.5 million a year. By the time I left as vice president of real estate, I had built the construction department to 16 people, and Davis Vision had 550 retail locations and five manufacturing facilities nationwide. I am proud of the fact that we were "cutting-edge green" in all of our facilities. I have built optical laboratories, manufacturing facilities, and retail outlets. David leased us an existing 40,000 s/f building in Plainview for a manufacturing facility, and we essentially re-built it from the inside out. Today, Davis Vision is a $250 million company, growing fast and furious. CF: Has it been a big adjustment moving from a big company like Davis Vision to running your own company? Doyle: Not really. Construction was run as a separate company at Davis Vision, so in many ways it is very familiar. Although, I am not used to a partner who encourages me to leave early so I can be at my daughter's softball games! CF: You find that objectionable? Doyle: Of course not. Elizabeth loves it, and so do I. The First Projects CF: So, gentlemen, how is it going? Any projects underway? Hunt: Dennis and I agreed from the start that we wanted to concentrate our efforts on the needs of existing and past clients. Within three weeks of forming the company we had bid and won a contract to build the interior of a Davis Vision retail store in Centereach, Long Island. Naturally, no one knew more about building a Davis Vision store than my partner! Doyle: It was a project I could have done in my sleep. Of the hundreds of Davis Vision locations that I oversaw in my career, all but two were on-time and on-budget. We were in and out of the Centereach store in less than 45 days. Hunt: And thanks to the recommendation of the former president of Davis Vision, we are now in the process of remodeling a four-story office building on Long Island. Through an introduction of another mutual contact, we have just won a bid for interior work and custom furniture for the Queens Library System. Doyle: Not to mention future Davis Vision work. We intend to be active bidders. CF: What do you see as your niche, or strengths that you can offer your clients? Doyle: First and foremost, there is a level of trust that we will be doing the right job for our client, every time. David calls it a "trusted advisor" level of confidence. Second, we can handle any level of commercial interior construction, almost anywhere in the country, union or non-union depending on the locale. And finally, I have supervised construction from the most sophisticated laboratories to the simplest office construction and everything in-between, so we are able to handle almost any commercial project. We are offering both construction management and general contracting services, depending on the client's needs. David has built his real estate advisory company on the concept of an "out-sourced real estate department," and he was well respected at Davis Vision for carrying out that role so well. We are looking to provide the same for our construction clients - their own "out-sourced construction department." Beyond Business CF: Dennis, tell me a little about yourself and your personal life. Doyle: My family is what makes it all worthwhile. My wife, Carolyn, is a retired NYPD patrol officer and seems to participate in everything! She is very involved with our church, St. Rose of Lima, sits on the school board, and is on "ad hoc" committees all over the place. My daughter, Elizabeth, takes after her mother and is also involved in a million and one different things. She is a very good student, going into the sixth grade this fall, and also very athletic. Volleyball, softball and basketball are all on the agenda now. We do a lot of things together. Living in Massapequa, we are very much a boating and fishing family. I also enjoy a round or two of golf occasionally. CF: Will getting a new business off the ground interfere with family life? Doyle: No, on the contrary, it has severely cut down on the amount of necessary business travel. Business travel is probably the biggest interruption of family life. At Davis Vision, we were opening stores all over the country. While we always had excellent trades completing the work, I still needed to visit every site. My schedule is also more flexible at Hunt-Doyle. So, for example, it is not too difficult to move obligations around to make sure that I can attend one of Elizabeth's softball games. CF: What is it like to be partners with David? Doyle: To be honest, not a lot different than the relationship we had when I was at Davis Vision. He is very professional about his business, and very easy to work with. I had no idea, however, of the extent of his volunteer work and outside activities until we started our new company. CF: David, bring me up to date on your life. Won't your son be finished with graduate school shortly? Hunt: Yes, Jonathan should be emerging from UCLA with his PhD in geochemistry shortly. I say, "should be," because he is in the middle of his doctoral thesis review. But he is already interviewing, with an eye to relocating on the east coast. That will be nice. Judy and I miss our son and daughter-in-law, and would love to have them closer to home. CF: How is your scouting volunteer work going? Hunt: I am currently coaching 25 boys who are trying to achieve Eagle Scout rank, both in a group and individually. I am also an assistant scoutmaster with a Boy Scout troop in Centerport, and as well as serving on the District Advancement Committee. Not to mention merit badge counseling! You could say, "I drank the Kool-Aid." But scouting made a tremendous difference in my life when I was a youngster, and it is such a joy to give back. CF: That is so commendable. Those boys are lucky to know you. What else? Still flying? Hunt: Still flying. Not as much, though. My wife, Judy, and I just completed our first year of seminary in May, and that required a lot of work and time. If all goes according to plan, we will both be ordained ministers in June of 2011. CF: You're planning to leave real estate!? Hunt: No, not at all. But our spiritual life is very important to us, and it has been a wonderful sharing experience. Judy is a certified life coach and will be able use our new skills in spiritual counseling. I can use those same skills in my work with kids. So we'll see where it all leads. CF: I don't know where you can possibly find the time for all of this. Well, I wish you both the very best luck with your new venture! Sounds like a plan for success. Hunt: Thank you, Carol. It is always a pleasure to talk with you. As the lunch concluded, I drove away impressed with energy, professionalism and the easy manner of both partners. There was no question in my mind that a future interview would be with a much larger construction company. Carol Froehlig is a freelance writer on Long Island.