2024: A Year in Review

The end of the year provides a perfect opportunity for reflection. We could summarize our wins month-by-month, put push-pins in maps of Virginia, Maryland, and D.C., or list all of the market sectors we’ve been part of this year. But instead, we’ll train a spotlight on the best of the best that 2024 had to offer.

Project Highlights and Partnerships

Many projects deserve accolades this year, but only one helped HBW relaunch a market segment. The Good Hope Road base build, our first in 20 years, is helping transform a historic Anacostia neighborhood. From the deep footers to the final details, the project drew on the company’s deep experience in healthcare construction and interiors.

Good Hope Road Base Build Project

For partners, we’re giving a shout-out to Holy Cross and Sibley Hospitals. Both projects were huge successes and helped further define HBW’s leadership in medical construction. 

Industry Developments

HBW will continue to expand our big 3: retail/restaurants, healthcare, and multifamily. These sectors had good growth in 2024 and a strong client base, which should lead to more opportunities in 2025. In addition, we are receiving more referrals for base-building projects. We aim to build two base buildings this coming year and add to that number each year. 

Among our retail and restaurant standouts, this year was the opening of ZOOZ, envisioned as a waterside cocktail garden by the Azzouz brothers, an independent owner and operator team. Several medical builds, including Total Health Care’s seventh location and multiple learning center projects, including daycares, preschools, and a private school, rounded out the year.

ZOOZ Cocktail Garden

Business Lessons Learned

Even after decades in the industry, lessons remain to be learned. HBW prides itself on developing close working relationships with our customers. Those close connections led to a challenge this past year with customer financing. With the commercial office market still not recovered, many buildings have had difficulties re-financing, which caught us in the middle as owners were unable to fund projects in a timely manner. The lesson we learned, which is now part of our standard process, is to confirm that proper funding is available before construction starts. 

The other challenge in 2024 was around timeliness too. Projects are taking longer to get started after the award, now averaging 6+ weeks. That delay means that forecasting available superintendents is critical. Understanding the new timing allowed us to adjust our bidding process to ensure we have a backlog to support available manpower. 

Construction Innovation

Looking at 2025, we are excited about using our new project management software, Autodesk and Power BI, which allows us to build dashboards that help managers review data in one place to make better decisions. Ask to see it in action during your next project with HBW.

Building for the Future

HBW CEO Phil Scott is retiring at the end of 2024. For 33 years, Phil has been a presence at HBW, leading the company through the pandemic and implementing changes that helped diversify our business. We thank him for his friendship and leadership and wish him days of fishing, pickleball, and quality time with his family. John Leach, in his role as President, will continue to lead HBW.

John Leach with Phil Scott (L to R)

With dozens of projects in the works for an early 2025 kickoff, we welcome the new year. Stay tuned for more stories behind the work!