David Frazier, CEO, Hardaway Construction Corp.

David Frazier, CEO of Hardaway Construction Corp., spoke with Invest: about moving the company forward in the Nashville market. “We have retained Hardaway’s foundational values while introducing our own values, building a new path forward through collective leadership and strategic planning,” Frazier said.

What have been the most meaningful changes and milestones at Hardaway Construction over the last year?

Since I bought Hardaway in 2018, we’ve been running at 110 miles per hour. After years of rapid growth and activity, the past year offered an opportunity to stabilize operations and focus internally on the business. The team concentrated on leadership development, restructuring roles, and improving construction training. From an outward perspective, we’ve stayed the course with our clients. Although some big client projects were paused due to economic uncertainty, Hardaway stayed engaged and helped clients, whether it was pricing, new sets of drawings, or helping them value engineer their projects to help them move forward. 

As a leader, how are you honoring the 100-year legacy of Hardaway while positioning the company for the future?

I purchased the company from its third-generation family owners. We never considered changing the Hardaway name, recognizing its century-long legacy. The Hardaway family name is part of Nashville. It’s given me a unique opportunity to come into a business that is well-established and make it my own. We have retained Hardaway’s foundational values while introducing our own values, building a new path forward through collective leadership and strategic planning.

What are some of the trends shaping your core markets across the Southeast?

The post-COVID migration to the Southeast has slowed slightly, influenced by interest rates and return-to-office trends. This is the slowest the hospitality construction market has been in 20 quarters, and housing and multifamily have also slowed. Optimism is growing, however, about being first to market in the next development cycle that is about to begin. 

How are you helping your clients navigate current economic conditions?

Rising interest rates created a challenging mix of high construction costs and uncertain timing. Everyone was still busy from a subcontractor and vendor perspective. We’ve seen a drop in project costs in the last six to eight months. Subcontractor availability has increased, giving developers more pricing leverage. Timing is very important when pricing a project. You have to find the perfect time to send the drawings out and give subcontractors plenty of time to price it. The slight drop in project costs offers potential savings of 2% to 3%, improving project viability.

What kinds of projects and delivery models are you seeing more demand for, and how are you adapting the firm’s capabilities in response?

The majority of our work is negotiated, so we haven’t seen a big change in delivery method. We do our best work when we are brought onto a project early and are in pre-agreement with the client. Early involvement allows for smarter design and budgeting from a construction and material perspective. The firm is also diversifying, with increased focus on state government work, along with projects in the hospitality and higher education sectors. When we got busy with multifamily, we took a step back from that work. We’ve also grown our tailored projects division, smaller projects like tenant build-out, which has gained a lot of traction over the past six months, helping bridge gaps between projects. 

How is the industry evolving in response to changing expectations around sustainability, technology integration, and workforce demographics?

Six months ago, we established an innovation director to modernize operations. Construction lags behind in technology adoption compared to other sectors, and we are making a concentrated effort to find new technology and innovation methods in construction. The things we have brought on over the last two to three months have been amazing, from using Lidar imagery on project sites to using AI to review drawings and auto-generate RFIs based on that information. A big part of our business is workforce housing. We go into neighborhoods that will work, and we hire within those neighborhoods for our projects. Nashville has an affordable housing problem. Housing prices are very high, and we have to find a way to make housing affordable, so that workers don’t have to drive two hours to work every day. 

How does Hardaway approach recruiting and retaining top talent?

My leadership goal is for other firms to want to emulate Hardaway’s culture. From day one, our company culture has been the most important thing to me. Happy employees lead to happy customers, and if I give my employees the tools to be successful, we’re going to be able to retain people and attract talent. Many former employees return because of the positive environment, even if they were making more money somewhere else. Culture is central to retention and recruitment, and I want Hardaway to have the best culture in Nashville. 

How do you reinforce the values of transparency and collaboration in client relationships across your teams?

Transparency starts with our leadership team. The company shares quarterly financials with all employees. We let them know how we are doing, bring them in on key decisions, and encourage involvement beyond construction through internal committees. This creates a sense of ownership and connection to the company’s mission. I try to reinforce how I want their behavior to be with clients by being transparent internally. We are an open book, and clients can see whatever they want, whenever they want. 

Are there any regional trends in permitting, regulations, or infrastructure investment that you are monitoring?

We are closely monitoring mixed-use multifamily development, which is a big portion of our work. Nashville has delivered units recently, but few new starts over the past 18 months will mean a future supply gap. Affordable and workforce housing remains a critical issue, and the company is working with the housing authority to address it. In order for Nashville to continue to be successful as a city, affordable housing solutions will need to be found. We bring value in that sector with our market-rate products that we can build. 

Looking ahead, what are your top priorities and goals over the mid to longer term?

Our goal is to become the largest locally owned general contractor in Tennessee. We will achieve this by performing well on our projects, growing our strong internal culture, and hiring the right people to sustain growth.