By Clint Confehr
FRANKLIN, TN — A construction company has issued an open invitation to businessmen and women, especially those in construction, to a “meet and greet” at its recently established Middle Tennessee headquarters.
“We value all our construction partners,” says Joshua Rhodes, division manager of DeAngelis Diamond’s Nashville-area office near Williamson County Medical Center. Rhodes declined to describe prospective partners in one list.
“We don’t value site workers over plumbers or electricians,” Rhodes said last week while discussing the informal gathering 4-6 p.m. April 20 in Suite 202 at 2179 Edward Curd Lane, Franklin. It’s scheduled for contractors, subcontractors, architects, engineers, building trades professionals, workers; anybody interested in the field.
DeAngelis Diamond is reaching for nearby construction contracts. Again, Rhodes declined to get specific but, with an eye for guests he’d like to meet at the open house, he said, “I want to look them in the eye and shake their hand so that our first contact is not an invitation to bid.”
“We know we will not be able to succeed without a good, strong relationship with the subcontractors in this area,” Rhodes said.
DeAngelis Diamond’s national headquarters are in Naples, Fla. It’s focused on commercial construction.
“We are in 16 market sectors,” Rhodes said.
They include office buildings, hospitality structures, retail stores, storage buildings, entertainment venues, and health care centers. DeAngelis Diamond might have been known as a construction company specializing in hospitals and similar health care buildings, but now, Rhodes says, “Our non-health care revenue exceeds our revenue from health care” construction jobs.
With revenue of $275 million last year and projected revenue of $350 million this year, DeAngelis Diamond hired 87 team members in 2016 and has some empty office space in Franklin.
The Thursday, April 20, open house is a rain date because of bad weather last month when Metro schools closed. That reflects two aspects of the company.
“DeAngelis Diamond is ‘Built on Safety,’” the company said, announcing the April 20 event. “We do not want to put anyone at risk of injury.”
And DeAngelis Diamond’s open house next Thursday is scheduled 4-6 p.m., “so people can get home to their families and those they love,” Rhodes said.
Those decisions reflect the company’s core values that start with faith in God and end with integrity.
“They’re like bookends,” Rhodes said. “We walk by them every day.”
Literally.
Words that immediately summarize DeAngelis Diamond’s core values appear in raised letters on a wall between the open office luncheon-break room area and a wide hall flanked by offices that have glass fronts and glass barn door-styled openings to the hall.
Honor to build, lasting relationship, leaders, excellence and quality, and a healthy environment and culture express the other five of seven core values.
Good humor might be another as Rhodes says the open house is also “to generate recognition of our name and brand in Middle Tennessee” where during informal conversation at church or other social settings he might reply to a typical conversational question saying he works for DeAngelis Diamond and be mistaken as a jeweler.
David Diamond and John DeAngelis co-founded their construction company in 1996. They cut the ribbon to open their fifth office in October when about 125 people attended. Their next closest is in Birmingham, Ala.
Nearly 175 responded to invitations to attend the now-rescheduled meet and greet late last month, according to DeAngelis Diamond Receptionist Megan Ryan, who wants to hear from people planning to attend. Call her at (615) 922-3995. Megan.Ryan@DeAngelisDiamond.com is her email address.
