Atlanta Business Chronicle - by Janet Jones Kendall , Contributing Writer

In 1990, Doug Davidson started New South Construction Company Inc. in an economy that wasn’t very welcoming for construction businesses.

Two decades later, that experience is serving Davidson and New South well by helping them to ride out an even tougher economic climate without having to lay off any employees — quite a feat for a construction company amid one of the toughest real estate markets in recent memory.

“That may have given us a better understanding of what it takes to survive during bad times,” Davidson said.

New South has done more than survive. It has thrived.

By working throughout the last 20 years to increase its client base, New South finds itself working in a variety of arenas - education, aviation, criminal justice, municipal, industrial, office, clubhouse and religious.

"Market diversity has allowed us to focus on active market sectors, while the other market sectors are down," he said.

Expanding its business into the federal government market five years ago with a project at Dobbins Air Force Base has been especially helpful to New South in the last two years as federal stimulus projects have opened up projects in that area.

"The project we completed established a strong reference with the Corps of Engineers for future federal projects," Davidson said.

No matter the venue, New South has tried to stay true to its core value of customer service, Davidson said. "At the beginning of each project, we spend a tremendous amount of time pre-planning and understanding the client's goals for the project," he said.

John Boatright, Delta Air Lines Inc.'s vice president for corporate real estate, can vouch for that.  Boatright has known Davidson since the 1970s, and Delta has employed New South almost from its inception starting with small projects and working all the way up to a $30 million lobby project recently completed at Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport.

"They work very hard to earn that business," Boatright said.  "If you have a problem, you can call them 24 hours a day and seven days a week and they show up with a crew that can get the job done."

Mike Jacobs, the group director for The Coca-Cola Co.'s new Freestyle equipment, agreed that customer service and flexibility are two traits that set apart New South from its competition.  "They really are a team player," Jacobs said.  "They really come in and help drive things.  They also have good business values, good pricing and a good business structure."

The repeat business of both Delta and Coke, which became clients in the first year of New South's business, is proof enough to Davidson that he is doing something right.

"We have found that by placing the focus on the success of the project and not the individual success of each team member, the results for each are positive," he said.

Some of New South's most well-known projects include the Olympic Rowing and Canoeing venue at Lake Lanier, the Millennium Gate monument at Atlantic Station, additions to Piedmont Driving Club, renovations at Peachtree Presbyterian Church, The Savannah Golf Club, freshman housing at Emory University and Turner Field's SunTrust Suites and 755 Club.

While many businesses, particularly construction businesses, are focused on simply holding on, Davidson is looking eagerly to the future, he said.

Until now, the company has chiefly worked with its clients, which include five Fortune 500 members, on their in-state projects, but New South has slowly expanded its licensing in eight other states and soon will add five more.

New South also hopes to expand its government and military business since it already has a toehold in that arena.

And the company is entering the green market.  It recently was awarded two solar canopy projects - one for Turner Properties and one for MARTA.

"One of our long-term goals is to continue to cultivate our national presence, invest in our clients, our personnel and their respective growth," Davidson said.

The goal is to keep growing revenue, as well as New South's project resume, and expanding geographically and in project size furthers service for clients, he said.

NEW SOUTH CONSTRUCTION

Founded: March 1990

Employees then: 5

Employees now: 181

Revenue then: $4 million

Revenue now: $180 million

Into the future: New South projects revenue of more than $200 million and employee count of more than 200 in 2011.