Customer service accounts for quarter-century career

Bill Nesbitt's story how he started as a part-time draftsman in high school and parlayed that into the construction company he's owned for almost 25 years fits under the heading of "Local Boy Makes Good."

Nesbitt, sole owner of Nesbitt Con-struction, 1400 St. Louis St., took a number of drafting classes as a senior at Central High School. On the recommendation of one of his teachers, Nesbitt took a part-time job as a draftsman for the Greene County surveyor.

After working in drafting and design, then as a field superintendent for contractors, Nesbitt started his own construction company at the age of 34. In 2002, he celebrates 25 years of being out on his own.

Nesbitt Construction mostly handles commercial projects. One of the more high-profile jobs the company completed was the remodeling of the old Sears building, which turned the building into the University Plaza Trade Center at 625 E. St. Louis. Other major jobs include The Bank on Sunset and Campbell, all of the Saint Louis Bread Company stores and the Brown Derby International Wine Center, 2023 S. Glenstone.

Nesbitt, as the general contractor, em-ploys the carpenters and laborers on his projects and has 15 to 18 employees at any given time. Subcontractors for the heating, plumbing and electrical work are hired out. Nesbitt manages and coordinates the direction of the company and sets the policies.

Nesbitt is working on several projects, he said. The company is building a runway lighting vault at the Springfield-Branson Regional Airport. The vault will be a two-story in-ground building that will hold the switchgear for the runway.

Nesbitt Construction also is adding paving around the hangars and maintenance shops at the National Guard 1107th AVCRAD complex located near the airport.

Nesbitt attributes his doing more government-related work, instead of commercial work, to the slowing economy. "When the market slows, bidding gets pretty fierce," he said.

"So you're bidding for more sophisticated work. Times have toughened us up, but there's still plenty of work out there. I'm upbeat about the way people here have responded to tough times," he added.

Nesbitt believes the Springfield construction market has been competitive for years. He said that even when the economy improves, this market will stay that way.

"Construction companies from Tulsa, Little Rock and Kansas City are opening branch offices here in Springfield," he said. "That's because they know this is a viable market. There are more players in the market now. But this means the economy is expanding and will get better."

Nesbitt said he's managed to stay in business for almost 25 years because he tries to continually give his clients customer service.

"My company is small enough that I can know my customers but big enough to take on the large projects," he said. "I'm out on the job meeting the people I'm doing the work for. I think that's what's kept me in business."