Pinson’s brings in next generation Business out of recession with focus on mid-sized commercial development

The construction business is deeply rooted in Will Pinson’s genes. Today he is vice president of the company, working alongside his cousin Jim Pinson, who serves as president.

Pinson’s was originally Bradfield’s Inc. When Jess Bradfield retired in the mid-1970s, John Pinson, Jim’s father, bought the company and charged the name.

Jim Pinson was working with the recreation department when he joined the family business in the late 1970s. Will was a golfer at Shorter University and did a little framing of houses on the side. “When I first came to Pinson’s six years ago I was really learning the commercial business,” Will Pinson said. “I still have a good base of residential customers that come to us.”

The company has just completed a major renovation to the facade at Central Plaza and is in the process of redeveloping the former World Hi-Fi building on Shorter Avenue into a strip shopping center.

They’ve always been heavy on the commercial side of the business but in the last couple of years the company has done a bunch of church work.

The new fellowship building at Pleasant Valley North Baptist Church, Will and Jim Pinson look at drawings for a new strip shopping center Pinson’s Inc. is developing at the former World Hi-Fi.

addition and renovations at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church and work at both Trinity United Methodist Church and First Presbyterian Church have kept the company busy.

Back before the recession,

Pinson’s did a lot of local school and SPLOST work. The company served as the general contractor for the conversion of the former Marine Armory on Shorter Avenue to the new headquarters Doug Walker / Rome News-Tribune Pinson’s crews are busy remodeling of the former World Hi-Fi building on Shorter Avenue.

for Rome-Floyd Parks and Recreation.

Pinson’s also tackled the major addition and renovations to the Northwest Georgia Regional Commission building on Jackson Hill and handled Doug Walker / Rome News-Tribune

construction the new Emergency Operations Center, Fire Department Headquarters and Fire Prevention facility on East 12th Street.

In recent years the focus has shifted more toward mid-sized, private commercial jobs.

Jim Pinson said the industry in communities the size of Rome has changed significantly since the Great Recession. “Business has come back but I don’t know if it will ever come back like it was,” Jim Pinson said. “We’ve been very fortunate that a lot of our competitors are not here. Larger companies dropped down at that time, dropped down into the smaller markets to get more work and they’ve stayed there to a certain extent.”

In spite of that, the Pinson’s website boasts that 65 percent of its business is repeat business.

“It’s amazing to me the buildings that we work on now that we still have the original plans for when we built the building or renovated 20 or 30 years ago,” Will Pinson said.

The company is down to about 20 full-time employees, retaining many of its carpenters and flooring installers. “We’re not down a whole heck of a lot,” Jim Pinson said. The company has had a floor covering division that goes all the way back to the 1940s.

A lot of Will Pinson’s experience and background have been in residential construction, however commercial business remains the lion’s share of the Pinson’s ledgers. “Commercial is still our largest sector but since Will has been here I think our residential business has picked up tremendously, remodeling and that type of thing,” Jim Pinson said.

Will Pinson said that even commercial accounts have gotten to the point where they often seek multi-bids from potential contractors.

In spite of that, Jim Pinson said the company’s future is still linked to relationships with their clients and the ability to negotiate a fair bid that will help the client and allow Pinson’s to make a reasonable profit.

Jim Pinson said the company has suffered through a bit of an identity crisis through the years. “Some people know us as floor covering people and they’ll come in and are surprised that we build, and then other will know that we’re commercial builders and they’re surprised that we carry interiors and floor coverings,” he said.