G. Fisher Construction Company: Over 25 Year of Succeeding as a Family

Gordon Fisher started out in the modernization business over 60 years ago with the goal of becoming the best, not the biggest. Gordon’s mentality survives at G. Fisher Construction Company (GFCC) today through the efforts of his two sons, Eric and Glen, vice president and president of GFCC respectively.

GFCC provides more than just commercial and residential construction services, as the team also maintains a strong foothold in the insurance restoration and multifamily residential rehabilitation market. In any market, though, GFCC aims to provide a balance between a broad array of capabilities and the level of personalized service for which the Fisher name stands.

GFCC maintains headquarters in Farmington Hills, Mich., which allows the company to serve clients across the state and the greater Detroit metropolitan area. These days, GFCC also works for clients as far away as Tennessee, Virginia, Mississippi and Oklahoma, which stands as testament to the fact that GFCC has never been the kind of company to shy away from pursuing opportunities.

In its earliest days, GFCC focused its efforts almost exclusively on renovating and rehabilitating public housing developments before eventually branching out into other field where GFCC’s hands-on project management style made the company particularly competitive. “Within about five years or so, the rehabilitation work led us to pursue insurance-related restorations as well,” explains Eric.

“My father is 84 and he still comes into work every day,” chuckles Eric. “But that’s just who we are. We’re a family-run company and we take pride in providing that kind of personal touch.” In fact, Eric credits the company’s geographical expansion to the company’s strong standing in the Michigan market. “It’s all word of mouth,” says Eric.

Able, Agile

GFCC positions itself to remain flexible and open to whatever a client might need. The company employs just 80 professionals, give or take a few, and can easily scale up or down depending on the labor requirements of a project. The company provides all carpentry and labor with in-house resources, relying on a network of reliable subcontractors to fill in with the necessary specialty trades. This flexibility gives GFCC the ability to position the team to tackle the gamut of disaster restoration rehabilitation and commercial construction jobs, as well as a handful of residential projects.

Above all, the company positions itself to support the client no matter what. When disaster strikes, the GFCC team is on-hand to mobilize resources and begin mitigation and drying efforts straight away before the damage has time to spread. The company also provides insurance estimates, mold remediation and reconstruction services in line with the goals of leading industry organizations like the National Institute of Disaster Restoration and the Restoration Institute of America, of which GFCC is a member.

GFCC has completed over $200 million worth of affordable housing work, often making arrangements so that occupants can remain in their living spaces for the duration of the project. Just as the company’s work in affordable housing rehabilitation led to a presence in the insurance restoration industry, GFCC’s experience in the insurance restoration industry provided the company the necessary expertise to make multifamily housing restorations as painless as possible.

Moving Forward

“It’s really just a matter of intensive scheduling,” expands Eric. “If a home was struck by lightning, we could arrange for that family to continue living in the home while we complete the repairs, just as we can break down work in affordable housing units room by room.”

In the next few years, Eric hopes to continue the company’s diversification efforts. The amount of custom home building that GFCC handled prior to the downturn almost entirely disappeared, but Eric sees signs of that business coming back in Michigan at least. The custom residential home building wasn’t ever a huge focus of GFCC and Eric isn’t sure it will be in the years to come. However, GFCC will aim to maintain a position that enables the company to pursue the most favorable opportunities.

“Now that we have the ability and experience to travel farther for work, we want to make that ability part of our overall diversity,” asserts Eric.
In true form, GFCC celebrated its 25-year anniversary in 2012 not with a party, but by staying busy. Though 2012 proved a bit slower compared to 2011’s barrage of tornados, the team looks forward to staying busy to really celebrate when GFC reaches the 30-year milestone in 2017. With a wide range of capabilities and a strong foothold in many market specialties, the team positions G. Fisher Construction Company to survive and thrive in any economic climate.