About
The idea for SCS was hatched back in 1999 by Lyn Wilkinson. A 1981 Building Construction grad from Virginia Tech, Lyn had been drawn back to the Blacksburg area in 1986 after a stint in the mechanical construction industry with Limbach Company, Boston Branch, and Colonial Mechanical Corp, Virginia Beach Branch. His mechanical construction experience landed him construction management work in the Radford Arsenal for MCI Constructors, Springfield VA, and later, Breakell Inc. out of Roanoke. While managing projects in the Arsenal, he gained valuable experience not only in all types of mechanical work, but in civil construction as well. While employed with Breakell, he was fortunate to be under the tutelage of Stan Breakell. Stan’s enthusiasm and leadership shaped Lyn to embrace the importance of the details, and how the quality of the details can equal a sum of excellence. A desire to gain experience in commercial and institutional construction, as well as remain rooted to Virginia Tech and the Blacksburg area, opened an opportunity to manage the Merryman Athletic Facility Project, Virginia Tech Campus, in 1997, for J. E. Jamerson and Sons, Inc out of Appomattox. Lyn worked to establish a branch office for JEJ in Blacksburg, but a desire to be independent and start something from scratch led to the idea of Summit. JEJ helped tremendously by subcontracting the management of Summit’s first project to Lyn. Another catalyst was Glenn Reynolds, Reynolds Architects, Blacksburg. Through Reynolds, Lyn was able to gain experience from a talented and practical architect. Summit’s first residential construction venture was an extensive remodel and addition to Glenn’s Blacksburg residence, in 2001.
The work with Reynolds officially launched Summit Construction Services as a Class B Builder. In 2002, SCS was approached to design and build an addition to a residence in Blacksburg. This project, the Merryman residence, was loaded with architectural, structural, and mechanical challenges. For such a small project, it developed into something that Lyn could apply his complete package of skills and experience to, and therefore he considers this project, though small in stature, the apex of his career. In 2003, SCS achieved its Class A license. In 2004, SCS landed it’s first opportunity to design a residence from scratch, and then build the residence. This project, the Leslie Residence, is located in Blacksburg, and progress photos can be viewed in the portfolio section. Again, an item of small stature on this particular project was a source of immense pride and achievement to Lyn: this project never required an off-site debris container, as the waste stream was minimized through thoughtful design and selection of materials.
These early projects have led to more types of design/build work over the years. SCS has evolved into a full service builder+general contractor. We welcome the opportunity to assist customers with development and implementation of their construction needs, and we also welcome the opportunity to partner with architecture and engineering professionals to refine and construct their projects. We relish the opportunity to implement ‘buildability’ into a project. To us, the implementation of ‘buildability’ optimizes the efficiency and quality of a project, and therefore minimizes the fiscal, as well as physical, waste stream of the project. We seek out and welcome projects that will require ingenuity, imagination, and grit to get accomplished, and we enjoy the opportunity to employ cutting edge construction methods, materials, and technology to a project.
SCS became an Energy Star partner in 2009, and though all of our projects have been constructed to optimize energy efficiency and therefore minimize owner operation and maintenance expense, we now are formally committed to conduct business in an environmentally responsible manner. Our plans for 2010 and beyond are, survive the present economic downturn, and move forward by offering Energy Star certification to our projects, offer implementation service of energy efficient building improvements, energy use audit and monitoring services, and to seek involvement with LEED projects. With regard to the work we do and services we provide, we are committed to backing and offering only the energy efficient/environmentally responsible measures that are quantifiable and therefore can offer a fair rate of return on on the initial investment. In other words, we will not ‘greenwash’ our customers.
As the economy slowed down over the past 2 years, we have also learned the importance of continued customer service for our past clients, and how no project is too small in stature. Present survival has been possible because of repeat business and a variety of small projects. We have learned to diversify and have expanded+improved our in-house work skills. We will continue to embrace the opportunity to service our repeat customers, friends, and neighbors. We will do our best to maintain our expected level of quality and attention to the details. We will strive for the best balance of quality, integrity, and competitiveness by continuing to optimize the blend of subcontracted work divisions with segments of in-house sitework, concrete work, carpentry work, and mechanical work. By performing in-house work from the start of a project to the end, the project can be more effectively managed and quality control is enhanced. This approach is being driven to extinction on large-scale projects, so we will continue to focus on residential, light commercial, and light industrial opportunities.