BridgePoint’s President, Shelley McPhatter, was featured as an “Executive Voice” on the cover of Triangle Business Journal.
Shelley McPhatter, president of BridgePoint General Contracting in Durham, has found success in an industry that is not exactly overrun with women.
McPhatter has worked in the commercial construction business for 18 years, learning the ropes from construction trailers as she oversaw subcontractors and construction projects for more than a decade.
She founded BridgePoint in 2007 and the business has experienced rapid growth as it heads into 2017.
What sparked you to get into the commercial construction business? Growing up in western Pennsylvania, there was very little happening in terms of new buildings or commercial construction projects. When I went to college in Florida, I took note of all the construction happening in my area. I have a distinct memory of driving by a beachfront condo under construction and staring up at the structure. It never occurred to me until then that a career in construction was possible, since I had seldom seen construction while growing up.
What brought you to the Triangle? I went to college in Florida and moved to Raleigh about eight months after graduating. I happened into the construction industry when I moved here. I applied to a temp agency and requested an assignment in an engineering department. They put me in the construction and commissioning department at Glaxo Wellcome in RTP. After working for the director for about two months, he kept me on to assist some of their project managers. He then let me put his name on my resume, which landed me three interviews and two job offers in construction. My first job was working for Jacobs Engineering on the main EPA campus in 1996 for GSA.
How many employees does BridgePoint have now? General Contracting/Construction Services has 12 and Civil has 32.
What do you expect revenue to be in 2016 and how does that compare to previous years? General Contracting/Construction Services will have booked revenue of $7.3 million and Civil (launched in March 2016) will likely finish at about $3.8 million. We have seen a lot of growth in the last few years. Our goal for 2016 was to stay relatively even with our success in 2015. We have experienced such fast growth in the past few years that we wanted to make sure we weren’t growing too quickly. Our focus for 2017 is to continue growth, at a manageable pace.