From left

David Larson

President BFL Construction

Garry Brav

CEO & Founder BFL Construction

Chuck Sanders President JV Driver Group

Todd Patterson

COO JV Driver Buildings/ Civil & Infrastructure Enterprises

Delbert D. Dittmer Senior VP & Project Manager BFL Construction

Nimble Execs Ink Deal in 10 Days BFL Construction Now Part of JV Driver Group By Jay Gonzales Those who say that billion-dollar companies can’t be nimble haven’t met the executives at JV Driver Group – or, for that matter, those at the much smaller BFL Construction, a Tucson construction management company with an annual volume in the $100 million range. In a matter of days around last Thanksgiving weekend, JV Driver Group of Canada went from discussions of joint ventures with BFL Construction, to suggesting an acquisition, to terms that were agreed upon and put to paper. And just like that, BFL became part of one of the largest construction companies in North America, bringing a level of resources to Tucson that immediately puts BFL in competition with the state’s largest construction firms. The acquisition is simply what Chuck Sanders, president of JV Driver Group, does for a good portion of his time. An acquisition can take more than a year or, as in the BFL acquisition, it can take no time at all. It’s all about the opportunity in front of them, Sanders said. “We’re just executing on a strategy,” Sanders said on a recent visit to the BFL offices on East Broadway and Euclid Avenue. “We have a strategic plan that we wanted to be in this area with buildings and commercial construction. We looked around and this seemed to fit, obviously.” The courtship between the two companies actually started slowly in May 2017 at an Arizona Mining Association conference in Sedona. That’s where soon-to-be BFL President David Larson began discussing joint mining ventures in Arizona with Ernie Smith, a business development executive at JV Driver. The next step – still in anticipation of a joint-venture relationship – was a visit by JV Driver to Tucson in October. A date was then set for Thanksgiving weekend for Garry Brav, BFL CEO and founder, and Larson to visit JV Driver, which is where friendship turned to marriage faster than a Las Vegas wedding. continued on page 148 >>> Summer 2018

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