Eric Grzybowski, Partner/Project Manager, The Perry Company

June 2026 — In an interview with Invest:, Eric Grzybowski, partner/project manager at The Perry Company, discussed Tampa Bay’s continued construction momentum, the resilience of the office sector, and the company’s steady approach to growth. “To be in this space, in this city, stable and growing, is something that I feel proud about,” Grzybowski said.

What changes over the past year have impacted The Perry Company in Tampa Bay?

No change is good. We have had several years of stability, so I would not say there has necessarily been change for The Perry Company, but there have been continued opportunities and stability for us.

When I first started 20 years ago, the adage from my mentor was that construction was cyclical. You had approximately seven good years and three bad years. For the last 12 to 15 years, Tampa has just continued to grow, not exponentially, but at an accelerated rate.

We have had some difficult periods to navigate, particularly around 2022, but we have seen steady growth over those years without necessarily the anticipated downturns that were expected in construction.

Which sectors are generating the most activity and demand today?

This might be counter to some of the larger data points out there, but we have continued to maintain and sustain our office sector. We continue to do tenant improvements and interior remodels in assets throughout Tampa Bay, both suburban assets and urban core assets.

Post-COVID and with remote work, there was an anticipated drop in office, and we really have not seen it. We are small enough that maybe we have been able to bridge those gaps, but what we have seen are growth-oriented projects, companies relocating to Tampa, and companies that are established here continuing to grow and absorb square footage.

As far as new industries that we are getting into more, I would say defense contractors. Over the last several years, the demand for SCIF spaces and defense-related work in the private sector has grown. There seems to be an abundance of that particular sector of business.

How are changing client expectations influencing the way projects are designed, planned, and delivered?

We continue to see the incorporation and expansion of technology in construction. There are a lot of software platforms that our clients expect all aspects of project management to be done on.

We can add team members from the asset owner to the client, subcontractors, and design teams, and everyone can collaborate, whether it is on Procore or PlanGrid. Over the last several years, those platforms have really caught on to the point where virtually every project is on one of them now.

What role does AI play, or have the potential to play, in construction over the next several years?

Being a small business, we do not have the corporate push to adopt AI, but even something as simple as a paid subscription to ChatGPT has become a resource for information or quick analysis of subcontractor proposals.

I almost find myself using AI on a daily basis now, whereas even six months or a year ago, it might have been once a week or every other week. Predominantly, it is for quickly finding information, analyzing subcontractor proposals, and meeting minutes. When we set up Zoom calls to host our owner-architect-contractor (OAC) meetings, the meeting minutes taken by these platforms are pretty accurate now, to the point where we can use them as binding meeting minutes on projects.

I do not think we are far off from using it as a tool for project management. One of the things we have played around with is generating a project schedule. It can create a project schedule in Excel that can then be exported to Project, and then you have a schedule in arguably half the time, though it still requires a lot of inputs. I am not at the point yet where it is saving time, but we have played around with that.

What strategies are proving most effective in keeping projects on schedule and within budget?

Here recently, we are experiencing fewer challenges. In Tampa, our biggest challenge used to be subcontractor labor and having that on a steady basis, but that seems to be in a better position.

As far as the cost of construction and supply chain, I feel peak problems with inflationary pressures and supply chain issues were probably in the second and third quarters of 2022. We have progressively gotten to a spot now where there are still inflationary pressures, but it does not feel out of the realm of manageable.

The cost of construction now allows us to provide accurate budgets with scant information because the cost of construction is not accelerating past a point that we could reasonably estimate. Supply chain and cost of construction issues are manageable now.

We are able to provide our clients budgets that are accurate and that we can hold for a reasonable period of time before having to reprice the project. That being said, with the geopolitical climate and what is going on with gas prices, there is a little bit of a fear factor out there. I do not know that we have seen that directly equate to cost of construction increases that are meaningful to our clients.

How is The Perry Company attracting, developing, and retaining skilled talent?

We have tried and failed with some approaches, including using recruiters. We continue to find the greatest amount of success with acquiring talent through recommendations.

That seems to be our best approach, whether that is through a relationship an employee already has at The Perry Company or through one of our trade partners. It comes through personal recommendations as opposed to blindly sourcing on the open market.

We also went through an office remodel, and we like to present ourselves as a family. When we bring somebody in for an interview, it is not just a formal setting across the table with questions. It is also about them feeling the office and meeting The Perry Company’s employees.

There is a relationship between the feel of the office and finding the right fit with the people.

How have sustainability goals become more integrated into your projects?

This may be a disappointing answer, but we used to get requests for LEED buildings or LEED spaces. We have not received one in quite a while, and frankly, it is not a topic that is discussed all that much.

We just finished a project for the GSA where they had some requirements on disposal of waste and recycling, but it has been several years. I cannot remember the last project where that was a major topic for our line of work.

Maybe it is the repeat clientele we work with, and maybe it is just the projects we are part of where that has not become a big topic. Some of the people you are talking to may be involved in developments like Water Street, where there was a big push around livability, green space, and trees.

As a contractor, we may be working on an interior office build-out of a building in Water Street, as opposed to the development as a whole. Maybe those sustainability approaches and goals are with the development, not necessarily with the interior build-out of a high-end office.

As you look to the next three to five years, what are your key goals and priorities?

The key goal is to maintain the course that we have been on for some time. I am proud of The Perry Company’s stability and consistency over a large number of years now. We celebrated 30 years a couple of years ago, and that stability shows.

I would like to hit certain revenue marks in the next three to five years, as well as continue to diversify the markets we are in. I would like to push into residential amenities quite a bit more than we currently are.

To be around 33 years and to go past several ownership transitions is important. Companies get acquired, companies sell, and companies fold up. To be in this space, in this city, stable and growing, is something that I feel proud about.