By: Christine Barrett
In 1972, a young man from the suburbs of
Milwaukee had a dream. That dream was to be a professional golfer. So when a
neighbor who worked for Standard Oil knew of a Construction Superintendent
position available in Atlanta, a young Bob Dernehl jumped at the chance to move
south to warmer weather and work on his golf game.
The commercial construction job didn’t really
suit Bob’s personality, and before long he found himself doing carpentry work
for another contractor. Bob then went out on his own to found the Dernehl
Company in 1974. Later, with the dream of a professional golf career still in
his head, he moved to Hawaii. After a year in Hawaii he returned to
Atlanta.
Then, in March of 1985 after being back in
town just two days, Mother Nature had a hand in determining the direction of
Bob’s career. A tornado went through a 3-4 mile stretch of
Buckhead, demolishing businesses and homes.
The Dernehl Company took off, remodeling damaged homes as well as
building new homes in the Buckhead area.
This continued well into 2001, until Bob and his family decided to seek
a quieter lifestyle, and move to the North Georgia mountains.
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Bob Dernehl and Brody Dernehl enjoy
riding their dual sport bikes in North GA.
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The Dernehl Company began developing and
selling land, as well as building homes and several beautiful barns in the
Hiawassee area. Life was good, Bob had
more time to play golf, and his family was enjoying various outdoor activities.
The Great Recession changed the course,
though, and in 2008 Bob and his business partner Bob Hearn found themselves
back in Atlanta. The Dernehl Company
completed the restoration of the former Roxy Theatre in Buckhead. Today the
Buckhead Theatre hosts many different performances and events, including
concerts, comedy, lectures, and Broadway plays.
At the same time, Bob’s other partner, his
son Brody, expanded the company into the Los Angeles market. There he began doing commercial construction
and renovating homes. While growing up in a construction family, Brody learned
first-hand all of the phases of construction and today is very instrumental in
managing many of the company’s large projects.
Another interesting project in The Dernehl
Company’s portfolio is the construction of Dantes Down the Hatch in 1979. The
Dernehl Company also renovated Dante’s Down the Hatch restaurant after it
caught fire in February of 2001. Sadly, the 43 year old fondue restaurant with
its 18th century sailing ship theme – complete with
crocodiles – closed earlier this year. The Dernehl Company was called upon once
again, this time in helping to disassemble unique items within the restaurant
to later be sold at auction.
We recently sat down with Bob and Brody to
get their take on construction in the Atlanta market. “It seems like the
construction market is starting to move again.
We’ve got 18 months to 2 years worth of work ahead of us,” Bob
said. “There is strong demand for homes
in the $500-600,000 range,” said Bob, whose company constructs homes in the
$600,000 to over $2+ million dollar category.
While not as busy as 2006, when they had as many as 10-11 jobs going at
any given time, Bob and Brody say they can now manage 5 large projects at once
without having to hire any additional labor.
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This Custom home by The Dernehl Company features
hand-cut stones from
granite blocks.
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Today, The Dernehl Company gets much of their
work through several architectural firms that they’ve developed close ties
with, including
Harrison Design Associates. Those
relationships, combined with their extensive customer base from remodeling and
building additions over the years has ensured that work will remain steady for
quite some time. “Your best
advertisement is a happy customer,” said Bob.
Bob and Brody’s business philosophy is simple
and straightforward. “Really good communication with the customer is important
in any construction job. Handling any
and every concern right when it happens is the key to a successful job and a
happy customer,” Bob explained. “You can
never justify poor workmanship, but you can usually explain the costs.” Dernehl
feels very strongly that although a customer may be unhappy with an occasional
cost over run, they will never forgive a quality issue.
“If you’re going to do something, do it right
or find something else to do,” said Bob.
“Do the best job that you can, and be honest. When you can trust someone, and they prove to
be trustworthy, that is something that I value more than anything. If someone trusts me, I have to do everything
in my power to meet that expectation. I
want to be able to look in the mirror and know that I did the best job that I
can.”
“You can’t please everyone, but you can get
close,” said Bob. “It is better to lose
a little money and make things right with your customer, than to have a bad
reputation. One bad job and you’re
finished.”
The Dernehls’ commitment to quality and
superior customer satisfaction is what has kept them successful and in business
for over 40 years. “As a custom home builder, it is important not to get over
extended.” he added.
We asked Brody what he considered to be the
best advice he ever received from his father.
“Be honest, work hard, and don’t live beyond your means,” he
answered. “I’ve been very fortunate to
have grown up around ethical, professional people.”
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Among the many projects in
The Dernehl Company’s Portfolio is this beauty.
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Herbert Construction Company recently
completed a foundation for a 14,000+ square foot custom home in Buckhead for
The Dernehl Company. “It is amazing when
you think about how many pieces or parts go into building a house,” said
Bob. “There is a lot of coordination
that goes into working with all the different trades. We can’t afford to use someone just because
they have the lowest price.”
“Now you guys (referring to Herbert
Construction Company), you guys get the job done right!” he said smiling, while
snapping his fingers three times for effect. “If we don’t get a good
foundation, we’re fighting it throughout the entire house construction.”
The Dernehl Company benefits from the
pinpoint accuracy of Herbert Construction’s robotic total station layout
instrument, which ensures a correct, square foundation.
“The best thing about Herbert Construction
Company is how you layout and check the walls multiple times to make sure my
foundation is exact,” said Brody. “David
Summey (General Superintendent for Herbert Construction), is always very good
about communicating with me. When you
guys commit to something, I know it will happen. You make our job easier.” Brody continued, “We would not hesitate to
refer Herbert Construction Company to others.”
The team at The Dernehl
Company is anticipating a strong 2014, just as we are here at Herbert
Construction Company. We are also
looking forward to working with Bob and Brody on their future projects.