Jeff Hagar says great people make his job easier.

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Where are you from?

I was born and raised in Missouri on a farm.  I was driving a tractor at 8-years-old.  It was a whole different environment.

We moved to Texas when I was about 10-years-old and lived in Irving. From then on, I’ve been in Texas.

Did you always know you wanted to do construction?

As a kid, I grew up doing a lot of different things:  working on cars and working in construction with my dad.

When I went to A&M, I actually went to the vet school.  When I got over there, I realized it wasn’t a good fit.  When I started looking for something else to pursue, construction was the right answer.

What do you enjoy most about your job?

My favorite part of my job is working with our people. You have to make sure you’re profitable, but people make the difference in our business.  We are a service-oriented business and it’s all about client satisfaction.  Our success has been repeat work with clients that are happy with the work we’ve done in the past.

We have people who have been with our company for 25-30 years.  It’s all about how you handle your business and if people feel like they’re being supported.

How did you meet your wife?

My wife and I met in high school in Irving. We’ve been together almost 30 years. She was my high school sweetheart.

We both went to A&M. We were working during school, so it took us seven years to get two degrees from A&M. We were at A&M from 1981-88.

I’m on the construction industry advisor council for A&M. We do a lot of recruiting from A&M, so I keep in touch with the construction department.

Do you have children?

I have a daughter who is 20. She’s a junior at St. Edwards. She’s graduating in three years, which I’m very proud of.              She’s also a musician. She plays piano and guitar and writes music.

My son is 16 and he’s a tennis player. He plays at the national level and wants to go to college and play tennis.

We’ve home schooled our kids their whole lives.

Do you have any other hobbies outside of work?

I enjoy spending time with my family.  I enjoy boating. I like to spend time at Lake Travis.  I like to fish.

We enjoy the theatre. We attend shows often and do a lot of reading.

With work and kids, it doesn’t leave a whole lot of extra time.

I like working on old cars and things like that. It’s part of what I grew up with.         You find as you grow older that you change, but there are certain things you enjoy doing that never go away.

Do you still have family in Irving?

My aunts and uncles are in the Irving area. The rest of my family is kind of spread out.

I have a sister in Missouri. She lives in Jefferson City. We try to get up there every year.

I have a brother who has been in the Army for almost 30 years.

Have there been any surprises with your job along the way?

I’d say it’s probably what I expected. In our business, there are always surprises.

The one thing I love about construction is that it’s something different every day. It’s not like we’re out there making widgets. Every building is unique and the people you work with are always unique. Every day brings a new set of challenges.         In that respect, it’s what I expected. 

How many people did you first employ?

I think probably 25 or so when we first started. We actually had some work right away. We’ve always had estimating and marketing in our Austin office. Dallas provides our accounting, human resources, and IT support. Everything else we do in Austin.  We’re a little bigger than when we first started. We have about 38 salaried people now.

Have there been many challenges?

I think the biggest challenge is the fact that when you grow, you bring in new people. In a hot market, it’s really difficult to find good people.

We pretty much exclusively work our network to find people who would be a good fit.

The opposite side is when the market turns and you have to tighten your belt or don’t have enough work for everybody. You have to make some tough decisions. That’s one of the bigger challenges.

The market in construction is up and down. Building a consistent, profitable business is the real challenge. You want to be profitable in as many markets as you can, whether the market is hot or cold. If you keep the overhead low, you can survive almost any market.

Did you always know you would eventually be running a company?

I think so. I’ve always wanted to have my own business.

Are there any other goals you have, professionally or personally?

 Professionally, my goal is to preserve our reputation, help our people grow, and build our business in a way that it becomes self-sustaining.  I believe if you do these things well, it will happen.

Personally, I want to spend more time with my wife and family.  We look forward to traveling more one day.

Is there anything else we should know about you?

We have great people and that makes my job easy.  I can’t say enough about the people who have helped make us successful along the way.

Rogers-O’Brien Construction is a general contractor that specializes in both public and private work. –km

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