When the two of us first started working together at McGough, it wasn’t glamorous: We were down in the McGough warehouse, a couple of young hands helping hammer together the pallets that carried supplies for our work crews.
Not glamorous, maybe, but important: In our own way, we were helping get the right resources to the right people so they could do great work for our clients, building the infrastructure needed by the business at the time.
In one sense, that’s still what we’re doing, even though today we do it as the CEO and CFO and as part of the company’s family ownership. With McGough celebrating its 70th year in business, we find ourselves reflecting on the past and preparing for the future of the firm. Our long co-experience working in many roles here – from labor to management to executive – has given us a unique perspective on what has changed and what needs to remain the same to win in today’s rapidly changing construction industry.
Getting ahead of an industry in transition
As with many things in construction, a good foundation goes a long way. We are fortunate that generations of McGough’s have invested wisely in quality people and chosen to work with excellent clients on the kinds of projects that have set us up to thrive.
That doesn’t mean our work is done, though. We need to be mindful of our strengths, aware of market forces, and humble enough to see how we can do better. Continued growth will require new strategies and investments in terms of where we work, what kind of work we do, and how we operate.
With that in mind, here’s how we see the industry shifting and how we are evolving with it:
More complex projects: The biggest and fastest-growing sectors right now are also the most complex: data centers, power generation, semiconductor manufacturing, healthcare, life sciences, biomed, agricultural processing and more. These are functional facilities that are the foundation of both the industries and society of the future.
At McGough, we are fortunate to have long experience with these kinds of projects. Today we are doubling down by expanding our technical capabilities, hiring more engineering talent, adding leaders with industry experience, and building partnerships with owners, architects and engineers in these sectors.
Going where the business is: Another change is where work is happening. Key regions account for an outsized share of growth opportunities. Fortunately, McGough has been expanding into business-friendly states for years, notably with new offices in Texas, the Dakotas and North Carolina, putting us in the right places at the right time. We aren’t done opening offices either.
We’ve also increased our national and travel capabilities. For the right size and type of project, we can take on work wherever it may be. Many of these very large projects are in rural areas, so we’ve had to perfect our approach to staffing and supporting remote worksites – which sets us up to do more of this kind of work in the future.
Focusing on recruiting: With so much work, we need to bring in not only enough people, but the right kind of people. We believe the key is not only compensation but culture. For that, we are looking to our history, which holds lessons about the right ways to do our work, treat our clients, and care for our employees. We also are elevating those who have been with us for a long time to serve as “embedded leaders” who can teach and demonstrate the McGough way.
We want to make sure McGough remains a place that people never want to leave. This isn’t just about making everyone feel good. It’s a necessary competitive move if we want to continue to attract and retain the best in the field, and nothing can be more critical to our success than that.
A new era for mcgough
We’re focused on the future, but getting there means executing today. Our experience, skills, and market position have allowed to catch and ride the recent wave of growth, taking us from a $700 million regional player in 2021 to a projected $3.4 billion in top-line revenue 2026, with more to come.
Some people might say all this change is disruptive. They’re right, of course. We need to change as opportunities change, while holding on to what makes us special. That’s a tall task.
Still, change isn’t all bad, and we don’t fear it. At McGough, we are already enjoying the flood of new ideas and energy that comes from new talent and fast-paced (if sometimes high-pressure) work. We also remain committed to supporting our long-standing clients and performing exceptional work in all sectors, not just high-growth areas. Long-term relationships and doing right by our clients and communities are still core to who we are.
We still remember the lessons we learned in the warehouse and every role we had as we learned the ropes of the industry from the inside. Today we are focused on the future, because winning in construction means doing something we’ve never done before almost every day. No matter what changes come our way, we’ll embrace them for the sake of our clients, our company and our people.
