Page 78 - BusinessWest May 2, 2022

“As a construction manager or
a general contractor, we’re respon- sible for everything,” Mark Sullivan explained. “We self-perform with our own forces — more work than most firms our size. We’re responsible for the coordination of the entire process,” Sullivan said.
Of course, the industry has evolved dramatically since the company started all those years ago — the nature of commercial work has changed con- siderably since D.A. Sullivan & Sons was established in 1897. Even in the
35 years that Mark Sullivan has been with the company, he notes that technology and efficiency have been
“
worked with almost every municipality in Western Mass, we have long-standing relationships with a lot of the private colleges and schools in the area.”
the company that have not changed, even after all this time. The firm con- tinues to be a community-oriented family business, and it is still equally as committed to maintaining close rela- tionships with its clients as it was over a century ago.
“Because we’ve been around a long time and we’ve worked with almost every municipality in Western Mass, we have long-standing relationships with a lot of the private colleges and schools in the area,” Sullivan told Businiess- West. The Eaglebrook school in Deer-
Mark Sullivan says that relationship- building has been the key to success for this family business.
field, in particular ... that relationship is three decades old. It culminated a few years ago in their new science, art, and music building, which was a signature project on campus. That was a lot of fun.”
For this issue and its focus on the region’s construction sector, Business- West looks at the 125-year history of D.A. Sullivan. Along the way there has a been a good deal of that fun that Mark Sullivan described, but mostly hard work, attention to detail, lots of that relationship-building, and add- ing on that solid foundation that was put down when William McKinley was roaming the White House.
From the Ground Up
Just a quick look at the portfolio of completed projects on the firm’s web- site provides some deep insight into the diversity of work the company has taken on in recent years and some per- spective into how it has changed the landscape in the region — figuratively, but in some cases, also quite literally.
Indeed, the firm handled the recent project to renovate Springfield’s Pyn- chon Park, which links the downtown to the Quadrangle area. It also took on a massive renovation of Chicopee’s his- toric City Hall, a project that included rehabilitation of the auditorium, exte- rior work on the main building, and renovation to the existing clock tower and numerous stained windows.
Meanwhile, the firm also took
Because we’ve been around a long time and we’ve
ever-improving.
“It used to be that my brother and I
would each run three or four projects, we had a secretary with us, and that was it,” he explained. “Now you’ll have teams of personnel for each project. You can have four or five people dedi- cated to a single project ... it’s worlds
apart from where we were 55, even 35 years ago,” Sullivan said.
And it’s not just the industry that’s been evolving and growing.
D.A. Sullivan & Sons has also grown considerably, now having more than 50 employees. However, it’s important to note that there are certain elements to
26 MAY 2, 2022
CONSTRUCTION
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