Tom Glass

When your average project costs $2 million, lasts 18 months, and often requires a four-month lead time, you’d better prepare for extensive planning. “We’re into managers,” Tom Glass, president of Glass Construction, says, chuckling.

Serving an elite Washington clientele, Glass Construction manages fine details amid large historic renovations and adaptive reuse projects. There is one superintendent per job, from beginning to end. “They set up complete on-site offices with laptops, scanners, printers, faxes, filing systems — everything,” Glass says. “Sometimes it seems like they’re living at the job.” Full-time oversight is enhanced by weekly status meetings, and four-week milestone charts help clients and crews make timely progress on long projects.

“One thing I’ve learned working with these types of clients is that they want us to manage them,” Glass emphasizes. “We’re working with busy professionals who are used to having managers handle their day-to-day, so they’re very good at making decisions when they’re given notice.”

Despite demanding schedules, Glass Construction remains flexible and creative in its work. “We’ve chosen not to become a design company — it’s always exciting to work with a new architect and get into their style. Almost every project we do is something we’ve never done before.”