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Volume 19
Number 2
FEBRUARY 2017
Running the mill
Family transition
John Rodriguez Jr. opened a millwork shop with his initials on the door nearly four years ago, and the business has grown every year.
L-R: Darren Gerloff, Derek Gerloff, Dustin Gerloff and James Gregory run Gerloff Company, Inc., which is in the early stages of transitioning to new leaders of the company.
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hough John Rodriguez Jr. got his experience working for his father, John Rodriguez Sr. now works for him at JR Millwork, the company he started in April 2013. “He likes to work,” Rodriguez says of his dad. “But he got tired of actually running a business. He had a partner that handled more of the business side and he did more of the work side, and he was just ready for a change.” Carlos Hernandez rounded out the core trio of JR Millwork as Rodriguez started out and has built the business. Rodriguez notes that they don’t have titles – they’re all family. With three full-time employees, including Rodriguez, and two part-time
employees, JR Millwork has done projects including several WellMed Clinics, the most recent one being in San Marcos, and a full-service auto parts business in Victoria. Rodriguez says that though they usually like to stay within the San Antonio area, they do some projects outside the city. Born and raised in San Antonio, Rodriguez graduated from Roosevelt High School in 2004 and worked in the trade for about nine years before venturing out on his own. Though he describes the first year as having been a little rough, things picked up in the years after, and this year, so far, has been off to a good start. If business goes well this year, he continued on Page 25
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hen disaster strikes and families are left without homes, schools or their businesses, Gerloff Company Inc. responds to get people’s lives back together. Gerloff Company is a catastrophe management company that cleans, repairs and rebuilds homes and commercial buildings that have experienced a fire, flood, storm or any catastrophic event. The company was started in 1985 by owner Darren Gerloff after working on a home that was affected by a fire. At the time, Gerloff was looking for a way to transition out of new construction due to the economy. “I started my first company in high school, and in the early ’80s had built it
up,” Gerloff said. “We had built the business up from building cabinets to building condominiums in Canyon Lake and expanded to San Antonio and Austin. I ended up selling the company after the economy took a slight down turn. “A friend of a friend was an insurance adjuster, and he asked me to bid on a fire loss that he was adjusting for his USAA client. I submitted a bid for the project, and I was actually awarded the job. The project ended up being successful and it ended up turning a good profit, and I saw that I could do this with no employees.” A few years later Gerloff brought on former co-worker James Gregory, who is now the president of the Gerloff Company. continued on Page 25
Features highlight new complex
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n a competitive apartment market, Concept Builders’ 335,000-sf apartment complex at City Base Landing is set to be a standout with its extra amenities. Co-project manager Christian Gross said with the growing apartment industry in San Antonio, complexes are coming up with new ways to attract customers. “I know one thing that separates this from the other buildings we have done are the new amenities,” Gross said. “I think in the apartment world, amenities have really been a selling point for renters.” While things like pools and dog parks are the new standard, the new Vantage at Brooks City Base will have a car wash-like dog washing station. “It’s kind of a kiosk dog wash,” Gross said. “Basically, you go up like you’re taking your car to a car wash and select what
Vantage at Brooks City Base was completed in January under general contractor Concept Builders.
options you want, select your options and put your dog on this table for so many minutes to clean your dog. “They also added dog fitness obstacles. It’s little things for them to run up and down and hoops to jump through.” The gated complex also features a half-mile private jogging trail, a grass volleyball court and a two-acre outdoor activity area. The project budget was roughly $25 million, and will include 13 apartment buildings, a clubhouse, a maintenance building, three storage buildings and 11 garage buildings with a total of 64 garages. Concept Builders is the general contractor and is sticking to its regular selection of subcontractors to get the project done in a timely, efficient manner. “We try to stick to the same guy and if their price point is in line, we’d like to continued on Page 25