February 10, 2025 • 30 mins
Under John Scott’s leadership, Scott-Long Construction has become a trusted partner in the Metro DC area, creating win-win outcomes for clients, partners, and team members. Known for its expertise in healthcare, senior living, faith-based projects, and complex builds, Scott-Long also excels in adaptive reuse—transforming existing spaces to meet modern needs while preserving character.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
M and T Bank presents CEOs. You should know Poward
fight I Heeartga.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Let's me John Scott.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
He is the CEO for Scott Long Construction, headquartered in Chantilly,
Virginia and founded in nineteen sixty one by John's father,
Bruce Scott. Now six decades in projects include hospitals, schools, malls,
and much much more. Before we find out more about
john dotstanding company, I first asked him to talk a
little bit about.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Himself, where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
I am from Oakton, Virginia, you know, little northern Virginia,
hamlet between Fairfax and Vienna, And we went to oakd
Elementary and Oakton High School and then hit Syracuse University,
got my engineering degree there.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
And for me being in broadcast, Syracuse is a great
broadcasting school, and of course all the Jim Beheim years
and some great basketball there. So Syracuse you got a
rich tradition of pumping out some great kids with a
lot of different things in great sports and sounds like
for the most part, except for Sera, because you're a
lifer from this area, aren't you.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
I really am. I've lived here my entire life. With
the exception of those four years. I actually met a
girl from North Carolina and tried to get a job
in Raleigh, believe.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
It or not, with one of my friends. But I
came out in.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Ninety two and the construction economy was down, and so
I couldn't do it, and so I came home.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
The only guy that would hire me was my dad. Well, listen,
he said, he said, he.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Put my resume in a stack of other resumes and
took the names off.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
But I don't believe it.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Well, listen, I am just thrilled to talk to you
about Scottlan Construction. And there's a lot of different reasons why.
Because your father started this company in nineteen sixty one.
And listen, you know, when it comes to legacy and
kids taking over the company, it could be problematic or
it could be pretty exciting. And I know that your
kids also work for you too, and I do want
to talk about all those things, and I want to
talk about mission and.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
What you do.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
But can you tell me the origin story about your
dad starting this company back in sixty one.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Yeah, you know, he grew up in Arlington, son of
a department interior worker, you know, and he graduated from
Washington High School. And wanted to go to Virginia Tech
and joined the core credets, but he didn't have any money,
so he worked construction for a couple of years until
(02:22):
he saved up enough money to go to Tech and
he did choose the building construction program there. And then
when he graduated, and he did a six month active
duty service in the Army and graduated and started Bruce
Scott Construction in Arlington, Virginia nineteen sixty one. I think
(02:42):
his first project was a bookcase, and then he built
a carport, and I think his third project was a church,
and so it's, you know, it's just interesting, just just
a one man show. I think he hired a carpenter next,
and then you know, just started multiplying and growing from there.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
So you may or may not know this, and I'm
I'm guessing you do, but I didn't want to assume.
Was there a time when he had the company going.
You talked about the small little projects, how he just
got off the ground with him, But was there run
one project that he got to that next level said
I think this company's going to make it.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Well, you know, I'd actually not sure about that, but
I will tell you the exponential jump occurred.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
In the seventies.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
He'd moved from Arlington out to Oakton, you know where
I grew up, and we actually had horses. Oakton was
horse country back then, and they were at a horse
show and he and Henry Long and West Foster were
standing on the side of the horse ring talking about
life and business. And it turns out that they owned
(03:49):
about one thousand acres out near Dallas Airport in Chantilly,
and they said, you know, we're going to build a
whole bunch of office buildings and make an office park.
And it might make sense to the construction company too,
that's going to build it. So they joined up and
actually in nineteen seventy eight, Scott Long and Foster.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Was incorporated. Within six months, mister Foster said.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Wait a minute, I want to become the biggest real
estate broker in the world, and had Long and Foster
real estate. But Scott Long continued in through the seventies
and really built a lot of the red brick office
buildings that you see in Chantilly today.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
And through the eighties.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
You know, my dad and mister Long were partners, and
mister Long was a silent partner because he had. He
had the land and my dad had the construction. And
so it wasn't until nineteen eighty nine, when that market
crash happened that my father bought mister Long out and
we kept the name. But what was interesting in that
(04:51):
transition was by that time we had also got into
the institutional market, so institutional hospital, schools, churches, senior living, synagogue's,
community projects. And so from that crash of nineteen eighty nine,
my dad said, you know what, I'm done with commercial work.
(05:12):
This institutional work is super insulated from economic downturns, and
so throughout most of my career that's.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
What we've done.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
We've done that, focused on institutional work until the COVID years,
which we can get to.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
No, well that's a great story. By the way, it
sounds like that was pivotal. And you know, it never
ceases to amaze me no matter what industry you get in.
It seems like talented people that are going to succeed
find each other. And it sounds like with your dad
and mister Long, they found each other.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, yeah, very cool. Yeah they did. They did. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Well, listen, I want to talk to you about ninety
three because that's the year that you had joined. And
I just love to hear you know, when it comes
to working with your father, you know, working for family members,
there can be great experiences and maybe not so great,
But tell us about joining it, about what that experience
was like of joining an established company, and that what
you wanted to do with your life, and was there
(06:10):
any thought when you joined the company that maybe someday
either your dad had a plan for you to take
over or you wanted to.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
You know, I was really just one of the guys
in ninety three. I was brought on as an estimator,
junior estimator, and I had, you know, probably two or
three layers of management between me and my father, and
he really let those guys manage and didn't meddle in
(06:37):
my development. I then moved to a project engineer, which
is an assistant project manager type of thing, and again
I had a project manager that I reported to. I
remember at five o'clock every afternoon he would say, Okay,
let me read all the facts as you're going to send.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
So I came with him.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
A stack of papers and said, yeah, I want to
facts this. He goes, no, I'm gonna mark this up.
Mark rewrite it, you know what I mean. And so
like literally that was Paul, Paul Bushing and he really
like trained me facts by facts of what to say,
when not to say, what to do, and what strategy.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
So you know, he did My dad did a really
good job.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
It wasn't until later when I got promoted to a
VP that I actually reported to my dad, And you
know that was different and unique because.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I think he treated me like one of the guys. However,
we could also have conversations that were a little deeper.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
He and I connect in the same way, faith, perspective, whatnot.
We really did, We really did connect well. And then
of course I bought into the company in nineteen ninety
seven of fifteen percent share of the company, and then
we became partners. And so that really was a transformative
time when it actually became my money, not just his,
(08:02):
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
And so, you know, really a change.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Of perspective where we went from you know, being a boss.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
An employee to really partners. That was a game changer.
You know.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
The other thing I was thinking about and you could
give us context, you know to this, but you know,
you're worked your way out from the bottom of the
company and then he let other people manage you. But
you worked your way, you learned all the jobs, and
then you had this big position, and I imagine when
it was time to hand it over. I don't want
to make any assumptions again, but I imagine your dad
was proud of you, not only because his son's going
(08:36):
to be taking over the legacy of this really cool company,
but also that you knew how the whole thing worked.
And he probably felt very confident. He knows everything. We
built something special here. It's going to carry over with him.
Would I be correct? Am I on the right page
on that?
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Well, you'd be correct. He was really proud of me.
I mean, he passed last year and we missed him,
but he's really proud of me. The interesting story, worry though,
I don't know if he thought we knew everything, but
we had a consultant to help us with a transition
and this is really interesting and he told my dad,
all right, I should say that I had six guys
(09:13):
come to me in nineteen ninety I'm sorry, in two
thousand and four. In two thousand and four, I had
six guys come to me and say, hey, John, if
you don't take over. We're all quitting. Your dad's getting
old and conservative. And so I went to my dad.
I remember we had a house at Dewey Beach, and
went to him. Hey, Dad, we're sitting on the porch.
The guys say I need to take over. They're all quitting.
(09:34):
He said, okay, you got it. And so what he said,
I need Jim to help you. We had a consultant
named Jim Oster House and Jim Jim told my dad.
He said, Bruce, look, I want you to leave the
company for a year and we need John to get
his feet on the ground and become the leader. He said,
do you give me with John on Wednesdays for breakfast
(09:56):
and as long as you want, But except for Wednesdays
for breakfast, you're not.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I'll talk about work, okay.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
And so we would go to Wednesday breakfast and it
would be two or three hours, and it would be
he was a what's going on with this?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
What's going on with that? And it would take it
would take forever. Uh. But he coached me up.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
But the cool part was he left me alone the
rest of the rest of the time. Now, to be
completely honest, I lost a crap ton of money.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
For the company that year because I didn't know what
I was supposed to do. But he was there. He
loved me, he cared for me, and he coached me up.
It was great. The follow on story to that.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
When he came back, he immediately was diagnosed with stage
four prostate cancer, given six months to live, and so
he went to Florida for cancer treatment. Through prayer and radiation,
was completely healed. And by the time he came back
three years later, he didn't know any of our people,
he didn't know our clients, he didn't know what was
going on.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
He said, you know, I think I'll just retire.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, So well, I'm glad you shared that story. I'm
sorry for your loss, but also it's just really cool
how you've continued along with your family. Then I want
to talk about, in just a little bit, continue the
legacy of this wonderful company. But why don't we do this,
Why don't we talk about the company? What's the mission
statement when it comes to Scottland Construction?
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Really we don't really have a fancy mission statement, but
our mission is really we just make friends and help
them get what they want.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I like that a lot.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Then, that's fine and that's right to the point. So
if we were to do this, there's a lot of
CEOs and future entrepreneurs and probably people in your business
and other businesses that listen to this series. John, if
you were to tell them for the first time ever,
give them that kind of thirty thousand foot of you
of what scott Long Construction actually does.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
What would you say you do?
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Yeah, Well, we're a general contractor and we build buildings
and the idea is to help folks get what they want.
So our clients have a dream, have a vision, and
we come alongside them and help them see that vision
to a reality. And that can be as simple as
you know, giving people a proposal to build a building,
(12:05):
you know, after the plans are done, after everything's done,
or it can be helping them find property, helping them
coordinate design to the business plan and totally help them
and be a kind of what we call construction manager
all the way through the process to help their dream
become a reality.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
So, as CEO, what do you see as your primary
role in driving Scotland Construction success?
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Well, so what I look at it as pitcher a railroad.
I'm the guy that lays tracks and keeps people on track.
So I have a president, David Offlman, who's an amazing builder, incredible,
incredible construction executive, and really I'm here to support him.
He knows what our long term vision is, he knows
(12:49):
what a short term vision is, and he's empowered to
run the company. I do sit in the leadership meetings.
I do guide and make comments, Let do this look
to that. The buck does stop with me. But I
let David run and do what he wants to do.
I'm on the sales team. I don't run the sales team,
but I'm on the sales team. And you know, we
(13:10):
have a great sales leader, Amy Montgomery, and so she says, hey,
you would be helpful here, you would be helpful there.
Of course I have my own sales connections and I
bring work in there. But back to the question, My
main thing is to lay tracks, lay the vision for
the company, and keep people on track.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
If you could do me a fever here, because John,
I'm a sports guy and I've watched meddlesome owners in
sports really put their finger into the pie and all
hell breaks loose, right, But I've also seen owners that
hire the right smart people and let them do what
they were hired to do, and when they need to
kind of get in, like you had talked about, popping
(13:49):
in and giving your two cents and certain things. There
seems to be a lot of success of that model
when it comes from your vantage point of how you're
running a company right now, as you explain a little
can you tell me why this has been a successful
way that you've run a company about hiring the right
smart people, letting them do what they need to do,
popping in when you need to. But listen, you hire
(14:09):
these people for a reason. You've got some smart people there,
You let them go and you watch them succeed.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Can you talk a little bit about that and expound
on it.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
I believe that people each have a unique ability, in
other words, what's their sweet spot, what are they good at?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
What do they get up in the morning to do?
Speaker 4 (14:25):
And I think if we can get folks sitting in
their unique ability, then they're great. You don't have to
manage them, you don't have to do anything. You just
let them run because they're much better at it.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
To me.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
So, for example, I was a president scott On Construction
for quite a long time ten or fifteen years, and
I realized along the way that you know what, I
don't really love the day to day passion.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
I don't have passion for the day to day.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I don't have passion for making this decision, that decision, concrete,
steel and other things. I started realizing that I love
seeing peopleople's dreams and helping make them become a reality,
whether it's our clients.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Whether it's the architects, whether it's our people.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
And so trying to listen what's important, what do you love,
where's your passion and revolve and I create a kind
of job description around that for me of helping people
get to the next level, get what they want, and
then creating a job description for David, our.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
President, to run the day to day. And so the.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Idea is he's super excited about getting up in the
morning and talking about concrete and steel and negotiating contracts
and doing all this kind of thing. I'm more excited
about getting up and meeting people and connecting with them
on a higher level and seeing what I can do
to pull them up into a bigger future for themselves.
And the same way with our admin team, our accounting team,
(15:51):
you know, for example, my assistant. I realize she's a
mom that actually have a virtual assistant assistants in Pennsylvania,
and she's a mom who just wanted to do EA
executive administrative work and she worked for me for.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Five hours a week. Well that was five years ago.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Well now she's graduating and starting her own consulting business
because she's realized.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
That she.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Was much more, She could do much more, she loved
much more, she said, so much more passion around helping
clients achieve their vision.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Then it's amazing. So the idea of for me is helping.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
People become kind of who they're created to be is
my thing. And when you create an ORG chart that
lets people do that, it can be super powerful.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
No, I think that's well said in your hiring people
to go with their strengths and it makes a lot
of sense. I did want to ask you about competition.
I imagine that it's a competitive space here in the
DMV and outside this area. But with that said, when
it comes to Scotland construction, how are you differentiating yourself
from the competition out there.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Yeah, that's a really good question, and it is an
incredibly competitive market.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
You know, construction is construction it's pretty prescriptive.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
You know, the architects and engineers say build it this way,
and you really.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Kind of have to.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So the main differentiator is relationships for us, you know,
connecting with people on a personal level, listening well, communicating well,
keeping folks informed is really the main The main differentiator
for us is your concrete's concrete, steel, steel, carpet and paint.
(17:34):
That it's pretty much everyone's going to put it up
the same, but it's the customer experience of how are
we doing this? You know, we meet with customers every week.
Here's where we here's what's happened, here's where we're going.
And before every meeting, the very first question is we
identified your goals on the beginning of the project, how
(17:55):
are we doing on those goals today? And your perspective right,
and we say we have a term PGP. You know,
what's our client's purpose, goals and perceptions. So their perception
they may say, oh, we think you're late, you missed
that concrete for or whatever, Well.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Tell me why you perceive that. Why are you thinking that?
Speaker 4 (18:14):
And they may be right, they may be wrong, but
we want to listen and understand their perspective and then
adjust for that. So that's my main thing is making friends,
help them get what they want. And the way we
communicate with our friends, it's great, right we text them,
we call them, we talk to them, we go to
dinner and have a beer or whatever. And that's kind
of how we want to be with our clients and
(18:36):
vendors and the design teams.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
So, John, before we talk about maybe some really cool
projects that you've been most proud of that you and
your team assembled and are there now, I do want
to talk about challenges because I know every industry has
presented their challenges. In your industry, you know, sometimes we
hear about workforce or the supply chain. I imagine resources are
very expensive. I imagine you play the long game with
(19:00):
different projects. But what kind of challenges prevent in the
industry right now for you and your team?
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Well for us, you know, really we as I mentioned
and focus on institutional work. And if you think about COVID,
COVID the first year or two was great for us
because the hospitals, the private schools, senior living facilities, churches
we were.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Building, they were mostly closed and we could have at it.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
We had projects, for example, that were to be phased,
and all of a sudden, we could do it all
at once because no one was there.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
And it was great.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
We had a really wonderful I hate to say it
because I know COVID was hard for so many, but
we did great. We were central workers and it was
a positive thing. But what we didn't predict was all
those nonprofits, those institutions. Every project is a board driven project.
A board meets, creates a vision, boats to spend money,
(19:56):
gets it designed and built. Well, guess what boards weren't meeting,
and they certainly weren't meeting to spend money to expand
facilities that weren't being used. And so we didn't predict this,
but we ended up having a post COVID lull of work.
And that you know, in construction, every project takes two
(20:16):
or three years to design, permanent, finance and whatever, and
so we really had to pivot once we realized that,
oh crap are base uh portfolio, it's really slowing down.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
We had to pivot. So we really pivot.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
To the commercial market and we're you know, we're doing
retail centers and car washers and some cool multi family
work and that that's been really good for us. That's
changed us, that's made us better, But that too has
been hard with interest rates because you know, many of the.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Developers have you projects ready to.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Go, but you know they're just hanging on for interest rate.
I had a client tell me he's got two apartment
buildings for us to build, but he needs another point
and a half rate cut. No boy, So it's like, okay,
well I can't eat that, so I got to go
find something to grow. So that's been our big challenge.
Is just this post COVID pipeline for us as kind
(21:21):
of has been a big deal.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
All right, well, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
I had mentioned about maybe some possible recent projects that
kind of reflect the values and the expertise of Scotland
construction that you bring your clients. Is there a couple
that either we know about or that you and your
team are most proud of.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Well, most recently we finished a really great shopping center
out in Manassas on Library Road called the Evergreen Village
Shopping Center, which was as I mentioned to you, we
switched to the commercial world and so we went from
building hospitals to shopping centers, which you know, that's a
(21:58):
big change for us.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
And what was interesting saying what we realized was, boy,
that was easy. You know, built some shopping center, that
was easy.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
And so it's been really fun to be able to
do that portfolio that you know, we're used to doing complex,
non ring rectangular type structures, and you know that was cool.
But you know, my my background is, uh is hospital
work really, you know, that's where I cut my teeth
(22:28):
building projects, and you know, kind of my signature project
was a big surgery addition at a Nova fair Fairfax
Hospital and where we built twenty five operating rooms. And
I was a project manager back in the day.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Wow, and you know.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Those are those are really great projects and and folks
like I know have been a really great client for us.
We've since worked in pretty much every other hospital between
Baltimore and Fredericksburg and out to Woodstock.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
And so that you know, those those high hospitals kind
of our bread and butter.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
We do ten thousand dollars projects for him, and we
do thirty million dollar projects for him, but those are
really great clients for us.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Well, I appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Well. Listen, if I could put a pin in work,
even though I might kind of sync up with work
when it comes to philanthropic and charity work. I realize
how you busy, you and your team are. But when
you have a chance to be a part of those
kind of things, what do you like to be a
part of.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Well, I'll tell you a story.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I met my wife at a Young Life camp in
Colorado and we were working in camp for a summer.
And she's from Greensboro, North Carolina, and I met her
there and then we dated throughout college. And I had
a great faith encounter at a Young Life camp, and
so I had a dream. I knew I was going
to go into construction. I love Young Life Camp. I said,
you know, one day I'm want to build a Young
Life camp. That's going to be my thing. And my
(23:52):
good buddy, Bill Tibbett, who I was in class with
in Syracuse, was working for a Young Life and said, hey, John,
young Life's building a new camp in Georgia. This is
nineteen ninety five or nineteen ninety six, and we're building
a new camp in Georgia, and we want you to
move to Georgia, to the mountaintop to build this camp.
So I go home to Elizabeth and I said, hey, babe,
(24:13):
let's go. This is my dream. I want to go
build this camp. And she said, are you crazy? You
know I'm not going to live an hour from the
nearest mall. You got to be kidding me. Well, it
happens so that that was the same day that I
got that invitation to go build that camp, that we
won the contract for that twenty five operating room job
(24:34):
at Fairfax Hockeill. And I was like, literally from above,
somebody was saying, are you going to follow your dream
or are you going to do this?
Speaker 1 (24:41):
You're gonna do that?
Speaker 4 (24:42):
And so I'm like, well, she doesn't want to go
with me, So I guess I'm going to stay and
work for dad. But lo and behold, it's amazing kind
of how.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
The world works.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Six or eight years ago, we got invited to be
on the board of another new young life camp in
West Virginia called wild Ridge. And a few years ago
my wife and I were invited.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
To be co chairs for wild Ridge.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
So we are building a new, just fantastic camp called
wild Ridge in West Virginia. We had a groundbreaking a
few months ago. Now, I say, we were at Scott
Long Construction is not building it where my wife and
I are just on the board and so far we've
raised thirty five million dollars and we've got three buildings built.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
But we're super excited about about that camp. And you
know that's kind of where most of our energies go
when we're talking about, you know, philanthropic things.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Well, John, I love that because it obviously, as a
young person, had an impression on you and then you
were able to follow through as an adult. And thirty
five million dollars, My goodness, that is a lot of
money to work with.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
So yeah, very cool.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Well, we got a long way to go.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah, I'm sure you do, but my goodness, that's a
wonderful story. Well, listen, I really have enjoyed the conversation,
but I do want to get some final thoughts from you,
and if you could just kind of recap what we've
talked about and maybe some takeaways, not for listeners current
and future entrepreneurs not only they're in and out of
the business, but serve the floors here.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Just some final thoughts.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Well, it's a people business, right, People are important and
really helping people get what they want, helping people realize
their dreams, helping people to dream. Right, you know, it's
you know, I kind of feel my life's purposes to
create environments where people can have abundance. And that can
be abundance obviously financially, health wise, spiritualists they feel like
(26:31):
it relationally. So what we're trying to do is create
environments for people to thrive and have abundance.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
And you know, with that as as as you know,
what do I wake.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Up in the morning and try to do it kind
of orders my day, right, it orders our business. What's
best for this person and what's best for this vendor,
what's best for this client. When I have a situation
of conflict, Hey, what's best for How can we create
a win win here? And so really that's what we're
trying to do is help people create wins and create
(27:04):
an environment where where where you know, people can experience abundance.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Outstanding.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Well, let's give a website, and let's let all the
listeners know that are listening to this fantastic series. If
you're hiring, I'm sure at times you're always looking for
the best, the best, but let's give the website.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Yeah, our website is Scottlong dot com and just just
run it all together. And we're always hiring, right, You
know it's it's you need great people. And you know
we have people that graduate from Scott Long and you
know it's funny, I've got clients that keep hiring my people.
(27:39):
You're always it's a good situation, right, and so you
know and and and and manpower short.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Now you know, skilled workers are short.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
So we're we need electricians and you know, we need
good managers, and we we we we need good accountants
and so estimators across the board. We're looking for people.
So would love to love to meet anybody who would
like to talk.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Well, John, not to embarrass you as we finish up
saying goodbye, but you know, once again with my supports
background and watching teams that have gone to Super Bowls
or win championships, the coaches are usually raided because something
special is happening there and they take him over to
the next team. And I think that's a compliment to
how you run your team and your people that if
you're ever raided or they go somewhere else. So you
(28:23):
have a great culture there. And it's very clear that
your father is very proud of your legacy. Before I
let you go, though I didn't mention because we forgot
to talk about this. But the family's involved in the
business too, right, with something you didn't expect to happen.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah. Right. So it's funny.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
My daughter who lives in DC, she and her husband,
she was working at Deloitte in recruiting. Yeah, and she's like,
you know, I'm getting a little bored, and I said, well,
I've got a business development position that I'm here for.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Are you interested?
Speaker 4 (28:56):
You love to talk to people, And so my daughter
joined and she's on our business development team. And then
my son Bennett, who's my youngest, he's starting a small
projects team actually to work out at Richmond and so
he and his best buddy Luke are starting a new
what we call it light l i te Building services
(29:19):
and that's kind of building building without the paperwork. If
you can imagine you think of a Miller Lite. You know,
it's kind of construction light. And so Bennett's doing that.
He's entrepreneurial and so starting that business. So we're super
excited about both.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Bennett and Anna working in the business.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
That's one for you and I are fathers, and I
can tell you're proud that the kids are working with
you and for you and being a part of the company,
John Listen, thank you so much for this. It's an
amazing company. Your dad obviously built something very special. You've
carried the torch and with family members a part of
it now, it sounds like it's a real special time.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Continue success. Thank you so much for joining us on
CEOs you should know.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs you
should know as part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a Bank for communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive,
because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed
M and T Bank presents CEOs. You should know Poward
fight I Heeartga.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Let's me John Scott.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
He is the CEO for Scott Long Construction, headquartered in Chantilly,
Virginia and founded in nineteen sixty one by John's father,
Bruce Scott. Now six decades in projects include hospitals, schools, malls,
and much much more. Before we find out more about
john dotstanding company, I first asked him to talk a
little bit about.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
Himself, where he's from and his origin story.
Speaker 4 (00:27):
I am from Oakton, Virginia, you know, little northern Virginia,
hamlet between Fairfax and Vienna, And we went to oakd
Elementary and Oakton High School and then hit Syracuse University,
got my engineering degree there.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
And for me being in broadcast, Syracuse is a great
broadcasting school, and of course all the Jim Beheim years
and some great basketball there. So Syracuse you got a
rich tradition of pumping out some great kids with a
lot of different things in great sports and sounds like
for the most part, except for Sera, because you're a
lifer from this area, aren't you.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
I really am. I've lived here my entire life. With
the exception of those four years. I actually met a
girl from North Carolina and tried to get a job
in Raleigh, believe.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
It or not, with one of my friends. But I
came out in.
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Ninety two and the construction economy was down, and so
I couldn't do it, and so I came home.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
The only guy that would hire me was my dad. Well, listen,
he said, he said, he.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Put my resume in a stack of other resumes and
took the names off.
Speaker 1 (01:34):
But I don't believe it.
Speaker 3 (01:36):
Well, listen, I am just thrilled to talk to you
about Scottlan Construction. And there's a lot of different reasons why.
Because your father started this company in nineteen sixty one.
And listen, you know, when it comes to legacy and
kids taking over the company, it could be problematic or
it could be pretty exciting. And I know that your
kids also work for you too, and I do want
to talk about all those things, and I want to
talk about mission and.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
What you do.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
But can you tell me the origin story about your
dad starting this company back in sixty one.
Speaker 4 (02:00):
Yeah, you know, he grew up in Arlington, son of
a department interior worker, you know, and he graduated from
Washington High School. And wanted to go to Virginia Tech
and joined the core credets, but he didn't have any money,
so he worked construction for a couple of years until
(02:22):
he saved up enough money to go to Tech and
he did choose the building construction program there. And then
when he graduated, and he did a six month active
duty service in the Army and graduated and started Bruce
Scott Construction in Arlington, Virginia nineteen sixty one. I think
(02:42):
his first project was a bookcase, and then he built
a carport, and I think his third project was a church,
and so it's, you know, it's just interesting, just just
a one man show. I think he hired a carpenter next,
and then you know, just started multiplying and growing from there.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
That's amazing.
Speaker 3 (03:03):
So you may or may not know this, and I'm
I'm guessing you do, but I didn't want to assume.
Was there a time when he had the company going.
You talked about the small little projects, how he just
got off the ground with him, But was there run
one project that he got to that next level said
I think this company's going to make it.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
Well, you know, I'd actually not sure about that, but
I will tell you the exponential jump occurred.
Speaker 1 (03:27):
In the seventies.
Speaker 4 (03:29):
He'd moved from Arlington out to Oakton, you know where
I grew up, and we actually had horses. Oakton was
horse country back then, and they were at a horse
show and he and Henry Long and West Foster were
standing on the side of the horse ring talking about
life and business. And it turns out that they owned
(03:49):
about one thousand acres out near Dallas Airport in Chantilly,
and they said, you know, we're going to build a
whole bunch of office buildings and make an office park.
And it might make sense to the construction company too,
that's going to build it. So they joined up and
actually in nineteen seventy eight, Scott Long and Foster.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Was incorporated. Within six months, mister Foster said.
Speaker 4 (04:12):
Wait a minute, I want to become the biggest real
estate broker in the world, and had Long and Foster
real estate. But Scott Long continued in through the seventies
and really built a lot of the red brick office
buildings that you see in Chantilly today.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
And through the eighties.
Speaker 4 (04:31):
You know, my dad and mister Long were partners, and
mister Long was a silent partner because he had. He
had the land and my dad had the construction. And
so it wasn't until nineteen eighty nine, when that market
crash happened that my father bought mister Long out and
we kept the name. But what was interesting in that
(04:51):
transition was by that time we had also got into
the institutional market, so institutional hospital, schools, churches, senior living, synagogue's,
community projects. And so from that crash of nineteen eighty nine,
my dad said, you know what, I'm done with commercial work.
(05:12):
This institutional work is super insulated from economic downturns, and
so throughout most of my career that's.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
What we've done.
Speaker 4 (05:22):
We've done that, focused on institutional work until the COVID years,
which we can get to.
Speaker 1 (05:28):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:28):
No, well that's a great story. By the way, it
sounds like that was pivotal. And you know, it never
ceases to amaze me no matter what industry you get in.
It seems like talented people that are going to succeed
find each other. And it sounds like with your dad
and mister Long, they found each other.
Speaker 1 (05:45):
Yeah, yeah, very cool. Yeah they did. They did. Yeah.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Well, listen, I want to talk to you about ninety
three because that's the year that you had joined. And
I just love to hear you know, when it comes
to working with your father, you know, working for family members,
there can be great experiences and maybe not so great,
But tell us about joining it, about what that experience
was like of joining an established company, and that what
you wanted to do with your life, and was there
(06:10):
any thought when you joined the company that maybe someday
either your dad had a plan for you to take
over or you wanted to.
Speaker 4 (06:16):
You know, I was really just one of the guys
in ninety three. I was brought on as an estimator,
junior estimator, and I had, you know, probably two or
three layers of management between me and my father, and
he really let those guys manage and didn't meddle in
(06:37):
my development. I then moved to a project engineer, which
is an assistant project manager type of thing, and again
I had a project manager that I reported to. I
remember at five o'clock every afternoon he would say, Okay,
let me read all the facts as you're going to send.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
So I came with him.
Speaker 4 (06:57):
A stack of papers and said, yeah, I want to
facts this. He goes, no, I'm gonna mark this up.
Mark rewrite it, you know what I mean. And so
like literally that was Paul, Paul Bushing and he really
like trained me facts by facts of what to say,
when not to say, what to do, and what strategy.
Speaker 1 (07:14):
So you know, he did My dad did a really
good job.
Speaker 4 (07:17):
It wasn't until later when I got promoted to a
VP that I actually reported to my dad, And you
know that was different and unique because.
Speaker 1 (07:29):
I think he treated me like one of the guys. However,
we could also have conversations that were a little deeper.
Speaker 4 (07:38):
He and I connect in the same way, faith, perspective, whatnot.
We really did, We really did connect well. And then
of course I bought into the company in nineteen ninety
seven of fifteen percent share of the company, and then
we became partners. And so that really was a transformative
time when it actually became my money, not just his,
(08:02):
you know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
And so, you know, really a change.
Speaker 4 (08:05):
Of perspective where we went from you know, being a boss.
Speaker 1 (08:12):
An employee to really partners. That was a game changer.
You know.
Speaker 3 (08:16):
The other thing I was thinking about and you could
give us context, you know to this, but you know,
you're worked your way out from the bottom of the
company and then he let other people manage you. But
you worked your way, you learned all the jobs, and
then you had this big position, and I imagine when
it was time to hand it over. I don't want
to make any assumptions again, but I imagine your dad
was proud of you, not only because his son's going
(08:36):
to be taking over the legacy of this really cool company,
but also that you knew how the whole thing worked.
And he probably felt very confident. He knows everything. We
built something special here. It's going to carry over with him.
Would I be correct? Am I on the right page
on that?
Speaker 4 (08:51):
Well, you'd be correct. He was really proud of me.
I mean, he passed last year and we missed him,
but he's really proud of me. The interesting story, worry though,
I don't know if he thought we knew everything, but
we had a consultant to help us with a transition
and this is really interesting and he told my dad,
all right, I should say that I had six guys
(09:13):
come to me in nineteen ninety I'm sorry, in two
thousand and four. In two thousand and four, I had
six guys come to me and say, hey, John, if
you don't take over. We're all quitting. Your dad's getting
old and conservative. And so I went to my dad.
I remember we had a house at Dewey Beach, and
went to him. Hey, Dad, we're sitting on the porch.
The guys say I need to take over. They're all quitting.
(09:34):
He said, okay, you got it. And so what he said,
I need Jim to help you. We had a consultant
named Jim Oster House and Jim Jim told my dad.
He said, Bruce, look, I want you to leave the
company for a year and we need John to get
his feet on the ground and become the leader. He said,
do you give me with John on Wednesdays for breakfast
(09:56):
and as long as you want, But except for Wednesdays
for breakfast, you're not.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
I'll talk about work, okay.
Speaker 4 (10:02):
And so we would go to Wednesday breakfast and it
would be two or three hours, and it would be
he was a what's going on with this?
Speaker 1 (10:11):
What's going on with that? And it would take it
would take forever. Uh. But he coached me up.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
But the cool part was he left me alone the
rest of the rest of the time. Now, to be
completely honest, I lost a crap ton of money.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
For the company that year because I didn't know what
I was supposed to do. But he was there. He
loved me, he cared for me, and he coached me up.
It was great. The follow on story to that.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
When he came back, he immediately was diagnosed with stage
four prostate cancer, given six months to live, and so
he went to Florida for cancer treatment. Through prayer and radiation,
was completely healed. And by the time he came back
three years later, he didn't know any of our people,
he didn't know our clients, he didn't know what was
going on.
Speaker 1 (10:57):
He said, you know, I think I'll just retire.
Speaker 2 (10:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
Yeah, So well, I'm glad you shared that story. I'm
sorry for your loss, but also it's just really cool
how you've continued along with your family. Then I want
to talk about, in just a little bit, continue the
legacy of this wonderful company. But why don't we do this,
Why don't we talk about the company? What's the mission
statement when it comes to Scottland Construction?
Speaker 1 (11:17):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Really we don't really have a fancy mission statement, but
our mission is really we just make friends and help
them get what they want.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
I like that a lot.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
Then, that's fine and that's right to the point. So
if we were to do this, there's a lot of
CEOs and future entrepreneurs and probably people in your business
and other businesses that listen to this series. John, if
you were to tell them for the first time ever,
give them that kind of thirty thousand foot of you
of what scott Long Construction actually does.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
What would you say you do?
Speaker 4 (11:44):
Yeah, Well, we're a general contractor and we build buildings
and the idea is to help folks get what they want.
So our clients have a dream, have a vision, and
we come alongside them and help them see that vision
to a reality. And that can be as simple as
you know, giving people a proposal to build a building,
(12:05):
you know, after the plans are done, after everything's done,
or it can be helping them find property, helping them
coordinate design to the business plan and totally help them
and be a kind of what we call construction manager
all the way through the process to help their dream
become a reality.
Speaker 3 (12:23):
So, as CEO, what do you see as your primary
role in driving Scotland Construction success?
Speaker 4 (12:28):
Well, so what I look at it as pitcher a railroad.
I'm the guy that lays tracks and keeps people on track.
So I have a president, David Offlman, who's an amazing builder, incredible,
incredible construction executive, and really I'm here to support him.
He knows what our long term vision is, he knows
(12:49):
what a short term vision is, and he's empowered to
run the company. I do sit in the leadership meetings.
I do guide and make comments, Let do this look
to that. The buck does stop with me. But I
let David run and do what he wants to do.
I'm on the sales team. I don't run the sales team,
but I'm on the sales team. And you know, we
(13:10):
have a great sales leader, Amy Montgomery, and so she says, hey,
you would be helpful here, you would be helpful there.
Of course I have my own sales connections and I
bring work in there. But back to the question, My
main thing is to lay tracks, lay the vision for
the company, and keep people on track.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
If you could do me a fever here, because John,
I'm a sports guy and I've watched meddlesome owners in
sports really put their finger into the pie and all
hell breaks loose, right, But I've also seen owners that
hire the right smart people and let them do what
they were hired to do, and when they need to
kind of get in, like you had talked about, popping
(13:49):
in and giving your two cents and certain things. There
seems to be a lot of success of that model
when it comes from your vantage point of how you're
running a company right now, as you explain a little
can you tell me why this has been a successful
way that you've run a company about hiring the right
smart people, letting them do what they need to do,
popping in when you need to. But listen, you hire
(14:09):
these people for a reason. You've got some smart people there,
You let them go and you watch them succeed.
Speaker 2 (14:14):
Can you talk a little bit about that and expound
on it.
Speaker 4 (14:16):
I believe that people each have a unique ability, in
other words, what's their sweet spot, what are they good at?
Speaker 1 (14:23):
What do they get up in the morning to do?
Speaker 4 (14:25):
And I think if we can get folks sitting in
their unique ability, then they're great. You don't have to
manage them, you don't have to do anything. You just
let them run because they're much better at it.
Speaker 1 (14:36):
To me.
Speaker 4 (14:36):
So, for example, I was a president scott On Construction
for quite a long time ten or fifteen years, and
I realized along the way that you know what, I
don't really love the day to day passion.
Speaker 1 (14:50):
I don't have passion for the day to day.
Speaker 4 (14:52):
I don't have passion for making this decision, that decision, concrete,
steel and other things. I started realizing that I love
seeing peopleople's dreams and helping make them become a reality,
whether it's our clients.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Whether it's the architects, whether it's our people.
Speaker 4 (15:06):
And so trying to listen what's important, what do you love,
where's your passion and revolve and I create a kind
of job description around that for me of helping people
get to the next level, get what they want, and
then creating a job description for David, our.
Speaker 1 (15:26):
President, to run the day to day. And so the.
Speaker 4 (15:29):
Idea is he's super excited about getting up in the
morning and talking about concrete and steel and negotiating contracts
and doing all this kind of thing. I'm more excited
about getting up and meeting people and connecting with them
on a higher level and seeing what I can do
to pull them up into a bigger future for themselves.
And the same way with our admin team, our accounting team,
(15:51):
you know, for example, my assistant. I realize she's a
mom that actually have a virtual assistant assistants in Pennsylvania,
and she's a mom who just wanted to do EA
executive administrative work and she worked for me for.
Speaker 1 (16:07):
Five hours a week. Well that was five years ago.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
Well now she's graduating and starting her own consulting business
because she's realized.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
That she.
Speaker 4 (16:18):
Was much more, She could do much more, she loved
much more, she said, so much more passion around helping
clients achieve their vision.
Speaker 1 (16:27):
Then it's amazing. So the idea of for me is helping.
Speaker 4 (16:31):
People become kind of who they're created to be is
my thing. And when you create an ORG chart that
lets people do that, it can be super powerful.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:42):
No, I think that's well said in your hiring people
to go with their strengths and it makes a lot
of sense. I did want to ask you about competition.
I imagine that it's a competitive space here in the
DMV and outside this area. But with that said, when
it comes to Scotland construction, how are you differentiating yourself
from the competition out there.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
Yeah, that's a really good question, and it is an
incredibly competitive market.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
You know, construction is construction it's pretty prescriptive.
Speaker 4 (17:09):
You know, the architects and engineers say build it this way,
and you really.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Kind of have to.
Speaker 4 (17:14):
So the main differentiator is relationships for us, you know,
connecting with people on a personal level, listening well, communicating well,
keeping folks informed is really the main The main differentiator
for us is your concrete's concrete, steel, steel, carpet and paint.
(17:34):
That it's pretty much everyone's going to put it up
the same, but it's the customer experience of how are
we doing this? You know, we meet with customers every week.
Here's where we here's what's happened, here's where we're going.
And before every meeting, the very first question is we
identified your goals on the beginning of the project, how
(17:55):
are we doing on those goals today? And your perspective right,
and we say we have a term PGP. You know,
what's our client's purpose, goals and perceptions. So their perception
they may say, oh, we think you're late, you missed
that concrete for or whatever, Well.
Speaker 1 (18:11):
Tell me why you perceive that. Why are you thinking that?
Speaker 4 (18:14):
And they may be right, they may be wrong, but
we want to listen and understand their perspective and then
adjust for that. So that's my main thing is making friends,
help them get what they want. And the way we
communicate with our friends, it's great, right we text them,
we call them, we talk to them, we go to
dinner and have a beer or whatever. And that's kind
of how we want to be with our clients and
(18:36):
vendors and the design teams.
Speaker 3 (18:38):
So, John, before we talk about maybe some really cool
projects that you've been most proud of that you and
your team assembled and are there now, I do want
to talk about challenges because I know every industry has
presented their challenges. In your industry, you know, sometimes we
hear about workforce or the supply chain. I imagine resources are
very expensive. I imagine you play the long game with
(19:00):
different projects. But what kind of challenges prevent in the
industry right now for you and your team?
Speaker 4 (19:04):
Well for us, you know, really we as I mentioned
and focus on institutional work. And if you think about COVID,
COVID the first year or two was great for us
because the hospitals, the private schools, senior living facilities, churches
we were.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
Building, they were mostly closed and we could have at it.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
We had projects, for example, that were to be phased,
and all of a sudden, we could do it all
at once because no one was there.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
And it was great.
Speaker 4 (19:33):
We had a really wonderful I hate to say it
because I know COVID was hard for so many, but
we did great. We were central workers and it was
a positive thing. But what we didn't predict was all
those nonprofits, those institutions. Every project is a board driven project.
A board meets, creates a vision, boats to spend money,
(19:56):
gets it designed and built. Well, guess what boards weren't meeting,
and they certainly weren't meeting to spend money to expand
facilities that weren't being used. And so we didn't predict this,
but we ended up having a post COVID lull of work.
And that you know, in construction, every project takes two
(20:16):
or three years to design, permanent, finance and whatever, and
so we really had to pivot once we realized that,
oh crap are base uh portfolio, it's really slowing down.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
We had to pivot. So we really pivot.
Speaker 4 (20:35):
To the commercial market and we're you know, we're doing
retail centers and car washers and some cool multi family
work and that that's been really good for us. That's
changed us, that's made us better, But that too has
been hard with interest rates because you know, many of the.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
Developers have you projects ready to.
Speaker 4 (20:58):
Go, but you know they're just hanging on for interest rate.
I had a client tell me he's got two apartment
buildings for us to build, but he needs another point
and a half rate cut. No boy, So it's like, okay,
well I can't eat that, so I got to go
find something to grow. So that's been our big challenge.
Is just this post COVID pipeline for us as kind
(21:21):
of has been a big deal.
Speaker 2 (21:23):
All right, well, let's do this.
Speaker 3 (21:24):
I had mentioned about maybe some possible recent projects that
kind of reflect the values and the expertise of Scotland
construction that you bring your clients. Is there a couple
that either we know about or that you and your
team are most proud of.
Speaker 4 (21:36):
Well, most recently we finished a really great shopping center
out in Manassas on Library Road called the Evergreen Village
Shopping Center, which was as I mentioned to you, we
switched to the commercial world and so we went from
building hospitals to shopping centers, which you know, that's a
(21:58):
big change for us.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
And what was interesting saying what we realized was, boy,
that was easy. You know, built some shopping center, that
was easy.
Speaker 4 (22:08):
And so it's been really fun to be able to
do that portfolio that you know, we're used to doing complex,
non ring rectangular type structures, and you know that was cool.
But you know, my my background is, uh is hospital
work really, you know, that's where I cut my teeth
(22:28):
building projects, and you know, kind of my signature project
was a big surgery addition at a Nova fair Fairfax
Hospital and where we built twenty five operating rooms. And
I was a project manager back in the day.
Speaker 1 (22:42):
Wow, and you know.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
Those are those are really great projects and and folks
like I know have been a really great client for us.
We've since worked in pretty much every other hospital between
Baltimore and Fredericksburg and out to Woodstock.
Speaker 1 (22:58):
And so that you know, those those high hospitals kind
of our bread and butter.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
We do ten thousand dollars projects for him, and we
do thirty million dollar projects for him, but those are
really great clients for us.
Speaker 2 (23:12):
Well, I appreciate you sharing that.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
Well. Listen, if I could put a pin in work,
even though I might kind of sync up with work
when it comes to philanthropic and charity work. I realize
how you busy, you and your team are. But when
you have a chance to be a part of those
kind of things, what do you like to be a
part of.
Speaker 1 (23:26):
Well, I'll tell you a story.
Speaker 4 (23:29):
I met my wife at a Young Life camp in
Colorado and we were working in camp for a summer.
And she's from Greensboro, North Carolina, and I met her
there and then we dated throughout college. And I had
a great faith encounter at a Young Life camp, and
so I had a dream. I knew I was going
to go into construction. I love Young Life Camp. I said,
you know, one day I'm want to build a Young
Life camp. That's going to be my thing. And my
(23:52):
good buddy, Bill Tibbett, who I was in class with
in Syracuse, was working for a Young Life and said, hey, John,
young Life's building a new camp in Georgia. This is
nineteen ninety five or nineteen ninety six, and we're building
a new camp in Georgia, and we want you to
move to Georgia, to the mountaintop to build this camp.
So I go home to Elizabeth and I said, hey, babe,
(24:13):
let's go. This is my dream. I want to go
build this camp. And she said, are you crazy? You
know I'm not going to live an hour from the
nearest mall. You got to be kidding me. Well, it
happens so that that was the same day that I
got that invitation to go build that camp, that we
won the contract for that twenty five operating room job
(24:34):
at Fairfax Hockeill. And I was like, literally from above,
somebody was saying, are you going to follow your dream
or are you going to do this?
Speaker 1 (24:41):
You're gonna do that?
Speaker 4 (24:42):
And so I'm like, well, she doesn't want to go
with me, So I guess I'm going to stay and
work for dad. But lo and behold, it's amazing kind
of how.
Speaker 1 (24:49):
The world works.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Six or eight years ago, we got invited to be
on the board of another new young life camp in
West Virginia called wild Ridge. And a few years ago
my wife and I were invited.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
To be co chairs for wild Ridge.
Speaker 4 (25:04):
So we are building a new, just fantastic camp called
wild Ridge in West Virginia. We had a groundbreaking a
few months ago. Now, I say, we were at Scott
Long Construction is not building it where my wife and
I are just on the board and so far we've
raised thirty five million dollars and we've got three buildings built.
Speaker 2 (25:24):
Wow.
Speaker 4 (25:25):
But we're super excited about about that camp. And you
know that's kind of where most of our energies go
when we're talking about, you know, philanthropic things.
Speaker 3 (25:36):
Well, John, I love that because it obviously, as a
young person, had an impression on you and then you
were able to follow through as an adult. And thirty
five million dollars, My goodness, that is a lot of
money to work with.
Speaker 2 (25:45):
So yeah, very cool.
Speaker 1 (25:46):
Well, we got a long way to go.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
Yeah, I'm sure you do, but my goodness, that's a
wonderful story. Well, listen, I really have enjoyed the conversation,
but I do want to get some final thoughts from you,
and if you could just kind of recap what we've
talked about and maybe some takeaways, not for listeners current
and future entrepreneurs not only they're in and out of
the business, but serve the floors here.
Speaker 2 (26:06):
Just some final thoughts.
Speaker 4 (26:08):
Well, it's a people business, right, People are important and
really helping people get what they want, helping people realize
their dreams, helping people to dream. Right, you know, it's
you know, I kind of feel my life's purposes to
create environments where people can have abundance. And that can
be abundance obviously financially, health wise, spiritualists they feel like
(26:31):
it relationally. So what we're trying to do is create
environments for people to thrive and have abundance.
Speaker 1 (26:36):
And you know, with that as as as you know,
what do I wake.
Speaker 4 (26:41):
Up in the morning and try to do it kind
of orders my day, right, it orders our business. What's
best for this person and what's best for this vendor,
what's best for this client. When I have a situation
of conflict, Hey, what's best for How can we create
a win win here? And so really that's what we're
trying to do is help people create wins and create
(27:04):
an environment where where where you know, people can experience abundance.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Outstanding.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
Well, let's give a website, and let's let all the
listeners know that are listening to this fantastic series. If
you're hiring, I'm sure at times you're always looking for
the best, the best, but let's give the website.
Speaker 4 (27:18):
Yeah, our website is Scottlong dot com and just just
run it all together. And we're always hiring, right, You
know it's it's you need great people. And you know
we have people that graduate from Scott Long and you
know it's funny, I've got clients that keep hiring my people.
(27:39):
You're always it's a good situation, right, and so you
know and and and and manpower short.
Speaker 1 (27:46):
Now you know, skilled workers are short.
Speaker 4 (27:48):
So we're we need electricians and you know, we need
good managers, and we we we we need good accountants
and so estimators across the board. We're looking for people.
So would love to love to meet anybody who would
like to talk.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
Well, John, not to embarrass you as we finish up
saying goodbye, but you know, once again with my supports
background and watching teams that have gone to Super Bowls
or win championships, the coaches are usually raided because something
special is happening there and they take him over to
the next team. And I think that's a compliment to
how you run your team and your people that if
you're ever raided or they go somewhere else. So you
(28:23):
have a great culture there. And it's very clear that
your father is very proud of your legacy. Before I
let you go, though I didn't mention because we forgot
to talk about this. But the family's involved in the
business too, right, with something you didn't expect to happen.
Speaker 1 (28:37):
Yeah. Right. So it's funny.
Speaker 4 (28:40):
My daughter who lives in DC, she and her husband,
she was working at Deloitte in recruiting. Yeah, and she's like,
you know, I'm getting a little bored, and I said, well,
I've got a business development position that I'm here for.
Speaker 1 (28:56):
Are you interested?
Speaker 4 (28:56):
You love to talk to people, And so my daughter
joined and she's on our business development team. And then
my son Bennett, who's my youngest, he's starting a small
projects team actually to work out at Richmond and so
he and his best buddy Luke are starting a new
what we call it light l i te Building services
(29:19):
and that's kind of building building without the paperwork. If
you can imagine you think of a Miller Lite. You know,
it's kind of construction light. And so Bennett's doing that.
He's entrepreneurial and so starting that business. So we're super
excited about both.
Speaker 1 (29:32):
Bennett and Anna working in the business.
Speaker 3 (29:36):
That's one for you and I are fathers, and I
can tell you're proud that the kids are working with
you and for you and being a part of the company,
John Listen, thank you so much for this. It's an
amazing company. Your dad obviously built something very special. You've
carried the torch and with family members a part of
it now, it sounds like it's a real special time.
Speaker 2 (29:54):
Continue success. Thank you so much for joining us on
CEOs you should know.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 3 (29:58):
Our community partner, M and T Bank supports CEOs you
should know as part of their ongoing commitment to building
strong communities, and that starts by backing the businesses within them.
As a Bank for communities, M and T believes in
dedicating time, talent, and resources to help local businesses thrive,
because when businesses succeed, our communities succeed
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