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nector, with a white pre-cast concrete
and green glass skin and an underfloor
air delivery system. For this project, D.F.
Chase worked with Nashville-based archi-
tect Gresham Smith and Partners.
Overall, Chase says the project went
well despite of some minor challenges.
For example, the headquarters is located
in a remote area. “There’s nothing out
there but hills and trees,” he states. “The
main office is on a hill and the first build-
ing is on an 1,100-acre redevelopment
zone.” Bringing utilities to the site was
not easy, he notes. With only one main
highway, “we had to do a lot of infra-
structure work just to get access to the
building site,” he continues.
D.F. Chase completed Embraer’s first
maintenance service hangar in North
America in December 2006 after seven
months of construction. Located in Nash-
ville, the $10 million project consisted of
an 80,000-square-foot maintenance han-
gar with an office and pilot areas. Chase
notes that a 300-foot truss had to be ship-
ped-in in five different pieces and erect-
ed on-site in order to construct the 300-
foot clear span opening to the hangar.
Brazil-based Embraer manufactures air- want to work for us than work else-
planes for JetBlue and US Airways. It is
expanding in North America with three
new facilities and has hired D.F. Chase as
its contractor for all three future projects.
‘Solid, Honest, Fair’
Chase says he feels fortunate the compa-
ny has never run out of work. One indus-
try challenge, however, is the labor short-
age. “Finding skilled labor is a big prob-
lem in [today’s] market – not so much for
general contractors, but for major sub-
contractor trades,” he states. Nashville is a
busy area right now, and finding subcon-
tractors with the appropriate work force
can be difficult. “Nashville is a great sub
market, but there’s only so many skilled
workers out there,” he adds.
D.F. Chase employs 85 people, and
Chase says retaining them is simple:
treat them right. “We do good work,” he
says. “Ninety-nine percent of the work
we do [is] privately negotiated, so it
makes it a little easier for us because
[clients] want us to be there.
“We’re a solid, honest and fair compa-
ny,” Chase continues. “People generally
where. We’re more of a family atmos-
phere than a business.”
Dean Chase stresses that his employ-
ees have contributed to the company’s
success. “I have the better people,” he
states. “That is what it gets down to. [Our]
superintendents and project managers
are leaders in our industry and recog-
nized as such by our customers.”
Keeping Clients Happy
D.F. Chase has grown 15 to 20 percent in
revenues annually for the last three years.
David Chase says he is proud of the com-
pany’s reputation of “being able to make
and keep clients happy.”
The company’s goal from the start was
to manage growth.
“[Our future plan] is to successfully
manage our growth and stay profitable,”
Chase says. “[A few years from now], I’d
like to see us at about $200 million to
$250 million a year consistently.”
Dean Chase anticipates the business
will continue to grow simply by doing
what it does. “If you do good work, you
get invited back,” he states. ■
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