Charles Blankinship, Market Development Manager, Samet Corporation
In an interview with Invest:, Charles Blankinship of Samet Corp, discussed the firm’s recent milestones, the dynamic growth in the Southeastern United States, the impact of economic conditions, technological advancements, sustainability efforts, and the organization’s priorities for the coming years.
What have been the recent milestones for Samet Corporation in the North Carolina Region?
Samet was founded in 1961 in Greensboro. We’re a family owned business, currently in our second generation. I helped get our office started around the end of 2007 and the beginning of 2008, which was perfect timing to grow outside of the Greensboro market. Since then, we have grown to have six offices throughout the Carolinas and then in Savannah, Georgia. We are also starting some of our first projects in Jacksonville, Florida. That will be the next organically-grown office that Samet will introduce over the next couple of years. We have grown tremendously from being a $100 million general contractor to the largest general contractor in the state of North Carolina. We did roughly $1.4 billion in revenue last year. Most of our growth has been influenced by the number of projects that we work on across our six different offices, as well as the rising costs of construction.
Where are you seeing the most demand currently?
The main demand has been within the public and municipal area, as well as higher education, which is picking up some steam as a result of Charlotte’s recent bond package. For schools, we receive many RFPs (Requests for Proposals) for projects that will most likely start in 2025 or 2026. We do a lot of work in the wellness space too, alongside police stations, fire stations, and recreation centers- that type of public work. We were also awarded a nice project recently by Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) in their South Campus over in Matthews. It was a $70-$80 million project there.
In terms of workforce development, what initiatives or programs is Samet involved in to nurture the next generation of construction professionals?
As part of our diversity and inclusion program, we are involved in many students-in-construction programs. During the summer, we often partner with Career and Technical Education (CTE) organizations, as well as high schools and middle schools, to try to get students engaged with our different trade programs. We teach them what it means to be an electrician, plumber, or HVAC repairman. That is a big initiative for us. We are an advocate for students who don’t necessarily want to go to college. We actually just built Aspire Trade school in Huntersville for this specific type of program. So students who graduate from Aspire are going to have an Associate’s degree and can start working directly in the trade for our different trade partners.
We also have a robust internship program. Company-wide, we will probably have 20 interns for the summer, which is how we attract new employees going forward. If they are in their senior year or junior year, we want them to come back to us when they graduate. Most of the time, we are in the position to make job offers to those students.
How does Samet Corporation balance the need for modern, innovative construction methods with environmental sustainability?
We employ a lot of technology in the company with software packages. We’re always looking at how we take advantage of the new technology — AI is the big one right now. We are trying to figure out how that is going to be beneficial to the way we do business and build our projects.
As for sustainability, we have always been very conscious about recycling and keeping as much product out of the landfill as possible. We deploy recycling on our jobsites and work closely with owners and designers when we can to identify and use sustainable products. We are proud to have completed a number of LEED projects companywide using sustainable design and construction. We want to be sure we’re taking care of the environment as best we can and adding value to our clients.
How does Samet Corporation integrate technology and digital tools into your construction processes, and what benefits have these brought to your projects?
We partner with our in-house virtual design group that does all of our BIM coordination, 3D rendering, and modeling, which we primarily use for our client presentations and visualizations. Most of our clients are looking at concepts in two dimensions, so we employ this holistic approach to help them be able to visualize what the building is going to look like on the outside. For interiors, we have Matterport cameras and drone technology that we use on a regular basis for taking pictures and documenting, which supports us in our work with inspectors. We also partner with moisture-intrusion companies to check flashing, so they take that drone technology and map out the building’s exterior, looking at everything in elevation and three dimensions. We wouldn’t be able to get done without that technology.
What are your key priorities going forward?
Our trade partnerships are a priority, specifically getting them to understand what is going to be needed on job sites from a labor perspective. These collaborations are going to be even more important going forward as the projects become more complicated. We understand the significance of getting our trade partners in early because to lower the cost of our projects we need proper execution. You can have a low price, but if you can’t execute properly, then you’re still upside down.
The supply chain is currently crucial, particularly for switchgear, transformers, and power. With numerous data centers being constructed nationwide, there will be a significant increase in power demand. This situation will critically impact major companies responsible for supplying that power, influencing how we address this challenge moving forward.
