October 10, 2022

Ep. 129: Building a Construction Empire Grounded in Community with Jeff Cavanagh

38 minutes

Taylor welcomes construction veteran and legend, Jeff Cavanagh, to the podcast to talk about the history of his family firm, Thomas Cavanagh Construction, the importance of building vibrant communities, and investing and trusting in the right people. The pair open the episode by discussing Cavanagh’s company history and familiarity with vertical integration. Since the late 20th century, the firm has done nothing but grow, and Jeff owes a lot of that success to his tough team that runs 1200 people deep. Since his father let him join the family business, Jeff has dutifully taken the time to hire and invest in the right people, and according to him, that’s made all the difference in the company’s success.

Not only does Thomas Cavanagh Construction strive to develop vibrant communities around Ottawa at large, but they also aim to foster the same positive atmosphere within their organization. After all, taking care of Cavanagh employees is paramount to the company’s success. Given that Jeff and his family have been in the game for decades, Taylor and Jeff spend the remainder of the episode reminiscing on early land development lessons, market recessions, how they prepared for them, and the future of Jeff’s ever-expanding business. Filled with wisdom informed by extensive experience, Jeff truly has so much to offer listeners here today - you don’t want to miss this one!

Topics:

Cavanagh Construction’s history of vertical integration

Building vibrant communities

The importance of delegation

Investing in the right products and people

Taking care of Cavanagh employees

Early land development mistakes

Preparing for residential market recessions

The future of Cavanagh Construction

Quotes:

“We do all things construction. We do home building. We're into land development– building houses. We backfill houses, dig basins. We have aggregates, pits, and quarries, asphalt, and all types of heavy equipment.”

“Lots of times, you know, you see things going wrong. But lots of times you see things going right, so there's more right than wrong.”

“So that's building vibrant communities; it's more than just the community itself. We're building a community inside of Cavanagh construction.”

“I found that I was becoming too much of a micromanager for the size of our business. And we were able to empower the people that work for us, in particular the bosses in that sector.”

“So we tried to buy what was best in class. Because we were using the product and basically wearing it out, fixing it and wearing it out, then selling it. So we didn't want to work on junk anymore.”

“When we're building you a house, when you move into that house, there's good value in that product. When we develop a lot, we do it efficiently so that when we are able to sell that lot, it’s good value for the consumer. So, if you can provide good value for what they're buying, they'll come back and buy some more.”

Links:

Taylor White on LinkedIn

Cavanagh Construction Homepage

To learn more about the 2023 CONEXPO-CON/AGG Show and to register, go to: https://www.conexpoconagg.com/show-experience

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