GENCO...
       Becoming One of the Biggest
             When Just Trying To Be The Best

"It comes down to people. It always does."

      Good advice from Genco's Anthony J. Izzo who's been involved with the Bethesda masonry contracting firm for nearly 40 years after his father, Anthony Izzo, founded the company during the midst of the Great Depression in 1929 (Izzo, Sr. is shown in the early days laying a foundation).

     "It's been a remarkable seven decades. Thanks to a continuous flow of thousands of skilled craftsmen and innovative field management, Genco has had the privilege of playing a significant role in the building of a very important city."

"It's obvious we're rather visible when it comes to mid-size, large and monumental commercial and institutional projects," says Genco president, Douglas W. Pruitt.

"But we also have seven decades of experience building thousands of residences and light commercial projects including single family, townhomes, apartments, condominiums and warehouses. When you build up to 50 projects per year, residential and light commercial are, in their own way, as important as the IBM Headquarters building, the Portals, Metro and the Federal Triangle."

     Indeed, looking at Genco's storybook history, one feels like they're caught in a fascinating time-lapse photography sequence where the past, present and future become indistinguishable.

     For instance, Genco's elegant high-tech Bethesda penthouse offices are filled with computer terminals plus a striking brick lobby complete with a polished silver Genco logo. Yet, it seems somehow in perfect harmony with the black and white photos of numerous projects completed more than 40 (or 50 or 60) years ago. As this article goes to press, Genco is less than one year away from celebrating birthday number 70...yet is still owned by its original founding family! Chances are you'd be hard-pressed to find another masonry contractor with similar lineage in the country...let alone the Washington area!

     That's why the Genco ad in this issue (it's always across from our Table of Contents) makes especially fascinating reading. In showcasing (and thanking) dozens of today's general contracting customers, Genco makes a point of including numerous contractors who participated in the building of our city during the first half of the century. It's fun reading. The common denominator among all these contractors is...Genco. For Genco, the past is prologue.

In speaking with top Genco office and field staff, the word continuity comes up often.

And why not?

      As Genco enters year number 69, they've had but four presidents...Anthony Izzo, Sr., Anthony J. Izzo, Dante J. Macario (now C.O.O.) and Douglas Pruitt.

Just listen to Anthony J. Izzo, III, Vice President "We never wanted to be the biggest but we always tried to be among the best. Because being the biggest doesn't really mean anything, but being the best... that's why you're excited to come to work every day!"

     It looks like it's been a self-fulfilling prophecy for Genco. Because with hundreds of employees, building up to 50 (often simultaneous) projects each year...Genco's arguably either the biggest or nearly so. Yet, their goal has always been much more modest, skewed toward quality craftsmanship and the effort to try to be the best.

Just look at what that effort has yielded...

1. Genco's been awarded ABC's Sub-Contractor of the
Year Award...for each of the past two years!

2. Genco's won Masonry Institute's Outstanding
Craftsmanship Award (many, many, times).

3. Genco's won ACI's Award of Excellence (multiple times).

4. Genco's won WBC's Outstanding Craftsmanship
Award (multiple times).

      Looks like Genco's been successful by doing it the old-fashioned way. They E-A-R-N it. By working to be the best, they may well have become the biggest.

     Yet, there's a sense of good Washington construction citizenship that's part of the fabric of the company. Genco founder, Anthony Izzo, Sr., was a founder and past president of the Masonry Institute. His son Anthony was a founder and past president of the American Subcontractors Association (ASA) as well as a past president of the Masonry Institute. Dante Macario was a past president of the Institute and Anthony J. Izzo, III, is now on the Institute's board. Douglas Pruitt has served on numerous Institute and ABC committees.

Pruitt concludes, "Here's a snapshot of what makes Genco so special. A short time ago, Genco completed Jack Kent Cooke (Redskins)Stadium in which the company employed more than 200 craftsmen, used two cranes and a dozen forklifts and completed the task of laying more than 800,000 reinforced/exposed block ...two weeks ahead of what was called an impossible schedule. Then, quite smoothly we moved those craftsmen to residential, light commercial as well as on-going and new monumental jobs! Simply, Genco really tries hard to do what it takes to exceed the general contractor's expectations regardless of the size of the project. That's why, through the years, we've successfully completed thousands of projects and laid well over 1 billion brick".

     Pruitt added, with a wink, "Oh yes, having the right price, job-after-job-after-job, doesn't hurt either."

     That's quite a formula...the right people, the right work ethic and the right price.

Margie Dash is a freelance construction writer and president of Dash Communications in Bethesda Maryland.