A FAMILY LEGACY OF OPPORTUNITY
David Kurilko, president of the interiors division, credits the Small family for his success over his 45-year career.
Written by Dawn Killough
Produced by Oscar Orozco
After 45 years in business, Cleveland Construction has built an impressive resume of unique and large projects. From Universal Epic Universe in Orlando to mega hotels and auditoriums, their national reach, longevity, experience, and unmatched bonding capacity have made them the contractor of choice for these projects.
Cleveland Construction offers construction management, general contracting, and interior finishing services (walls and ceilings). They also provide preconstruction services, including budgeting, building information modeling (BIM), and scheduling, as well as adaptive reuse of historic structures. David Kurilko, president of the interiors division, has been with the company from the beginning and has watched it grow into the nationwide powerhouse that it is today.
Headquartered in Mentor, Ohio, east of Cleveland, the company has seven offices located in Florida (Orlando and Naples), Maryland (Baltimore), North Carolina (Charlotte), and Ohio (Cleveland and Cincinnati), and covers most of the eastern and central portions of the country.
They’re always on the lookout for unique large projects, regardless of their location. “We specialize in large special projects,” Kurilko said. “We have an impressive portfolio of those kinds of projects in different regions across the country. We have national workforce availability, a strong bonding capacity, and the longevity and experience that have been maintained within the company. Those are huge selling factors.”
“We have national workforce availability, a strong bonding capacity, and the longevity and experience that have been maintained within the company. Those are huge selling factors.”
David Kurilko, President, Interiors Division
Kurilko credits this national reach with keeping the company successful for so long. “As diverse as we are in the different regions, it helps us through the ups and downs of the economy. We have the opportunity to target hot markets and pick and choose projects in slower ones,” Kurilko said.
Like many contractors, Cleveland is struggling to find qualified labor. “There’s a labor shortage in this industry, and everybody’s dealing with it.” Particularly when it comes to interiors work, which Cleveland self-performs, labor is one of his greatest challenges. They address it through recruiting at local high schools, vocational schools, and in the community, as well as offering an in-house apprenticeship program sponsored by Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC). Kurilko is always out looking for potential candidates. “I’m looking for
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anyone with character. We will mold and train anybody willing to do it.”
A culture of safety
Cleveland sees safety as paramount to their success. “It’s really a culture. It’s not just saying, ‘Here are the rules.’ It’s a culture that you develop, and people buy into it. We look at everyone as family, and we want all our family members to go home safely at the end of every day. And that’s the bottom line.”
Besides employee training, such as aerial lifts and scaffolding, and tool certifications, they rely on job hazard analysis (JHA) and activity hazard analysis (AHA) to help ensure workers are aware of the risks and do what they can to avoid or minimize them. Workers participate in daily pre-task planning activities to go over specific AHAs for their work. This keeps workers educated about the risks and what PPE and other controls are needed to ensure safety.
Superintendents also participate in two annual training sessions, covering policies and procedures, guest speakers, and management development. Safety compliance training, with an emphasis on identifying and abating hazards, is also provided.
“We’re a family”
Cleveland Construction started in 1980, when Richard Small founded the company with his four sons. It’s currently owned by two of the sons, Jim Small and John Small, who is the current CEO.
“We look at everyone as family, and we want all our family members to go home safely at the end of every day. And that’s the bottom line.”
David Kurilko, President, Interiors Division
As a friend of the family, Kurilko started working with them in May 1981, driving a truck and cleaning up job sites. He initially wanted to be an accountant, so he attended college at night to earn his degree. But after getting a taste of working in the business with the family, he changed his mind after graduation and stayed on. “After watching them start a business out of the basement of their house and developing it, I wanted to stay for the ride. I went from being a laborer to a carpenter, foreman, superintendent, project manager, general manager, vice president, and president.”
“We’re a very large business, but we’re a family. We really are. We’ve been together for a long time. We vacation together, attend family events together, graduations, weddings, you name it. They’re good people. They treat people well, and I couldn’t see working for anybody else.”
Giving back is another important aspect of their work. They sponsor scholarships for construction-based degrees at local colleges, participate in several charity drives, and sponsor a Wounded Warrior project each year in the Washington, DC, and Baltimore markets.
Bringing back the past
Recently, Cleveland Construction was awarded a contract for construction management services for the historic adaptive reuse of the Carding House building located in downtown Cincinnati. It was initially an office building and will be converted into a high-end 44-room boutique hotel, featuring high-end guest rooms, a lobby with a café and seating, a fitness center, laundry facilities, and ground-floor retail space.
Cleveland was selected for this project by Blue Suede Hospitality Group after managing the historic adaptive reuse conversion of the Sky Central Apartments, located on the same block. The Sky Central project involved converting a 1913 31-story skyscraper into a mixed-use development, including luxury apartments and penthouses, a salon and day spa, a bank, a private club, and boutique office spaces.
“I wouldn’t change anything”
When asked to look back at his career, Kurilko said, “I’m proud of what I’ve achieved and what I’ve done. I think that if you go back to your younger self and say, ‘Do this, don’t do this,’ or ‘I should have done that,’ it’s always going to affect how things turn out. And I don’t know that I would change anything.”
Kurilko said he owed much of his career success to the Small family, including the father, Richard, and his sons, who have given him many opportunities throughout his career.
“Don’t be afraid to take chances, and don’t be scared of failure.”
David Kurilko, President, Interiors Division
He also credits a superintendent from Turner Construction for teaching him a lot about the industry. “I was in my twenties, and I was doing a convention center. It was a challenging job. It was very abstract, with sloped walls, radii, a very geometric building, and very unique. He took me under his wing, and I learned as much from him as anybody I’ve met since then.”
His advice for young people entering the industry is “don’t be afraid to take chances, and don’t be scared of failure.”
