Greg Jeffreys, who began framing houses here at a young age, enjoyed the work so much that he had started his own subcontracting company by the time he graduated from University High School in 1978. He never dreamed, though, that his passion for pounding nails might evolve into something much bigger.


Now, although hes not quite 40 years old, Jeffreys heads a fast-growing, Spokane-based conglomerate, called Jeffreys Construction Group Inc., that includes a number of affiliate companies, employs several hundred people, and is doing tens of millions of dollars worth of commercial and industrial projects nationwide.


He declines to disclose the groups current annual revenue, but says his goalsupported by recent growthis to push it above $500 million by 2005.


Its just been like a wildfire, he says of its growth over the last seven years.


The largest of the affiliates, G.J.s General Contractors Inc., which specializes in design-build projects mostly in the $3-million-to-$20-million range, currently is working on sizable auto-dealership projects in Portland, Maine; Grand Rapids, Mich.; Chicago; Denver; and Phoenix, among others.


It also recently committed to take on multimillion-dollar hotel projects in Chicago, Detroit, and Cleveland, for the Hilton hospitality chain, and is negotiating with the Westin chain on other potential hotel projects, mostly renovations, in the Midwest.


Other Jeffreys affiliates include Jeffreys Electric Inc., High Altitude Heating & Air Conditioning, Jeffreys Aviation, all based in Denver, and G.J.s LLC, of Spokane. Through Jeffreys Aviation, Jeffreys operates a Learjet that he uses to get to far-flung job sites quickly. G.J.s LLC is a land-development company.


Jeffreys says the construction group, which he and his wife, Kim, own equally, has doubled its revenue over each of the last five years and now typically is working on 30 to 40 major projects around the country at any given time.


Despite being headquartered in Spokane, Jeffreys Construction Group has only a small administrative staff hereabout eight peopleand does comparatively little work in Eastern Washington.


One development project that Jeffreys says he expects to kick off here next spring is a mixed-use business park called Pillar Rock Plaza. Its to be located on a 26-acre site that Jeffreys owns on the north side of U.S. 2 just east of Airway Heights and near Boeings plant there. As envisioned, it will include a total of 30 building sites, with retail uses targeted for five highway frontage lots and light-industrial uses proposed for the interior lots farther to the north.


Jeffreys says most of his attention, though, is focused on larger projects for clients in major urban areas elsewhere around the country where profit margins and job opportunities are greater.


Thats our M.O. We typically move into a big city and never leave again, preferring to establish relationships that generate spin-off and referral work, he says.


While Jeffreys wife manages the companys home-based office here, he says he typically is traveling to about three cities a day. I wake up at 3 in the morning, and Im rarely down until 11 at night, he says of his busy work schedule. Im very hands-on. My involvement at those sites is very important. He adds, though, that he strives to be home on the weekends to be with his family.


A subcontractors background


Jeffreys started framing homes while in junior high school, and he says, It became real apparent that was something I wanted to do. I was always a good student. Work ethic and ambition were two things I was long on.


Those strengths led him to start his own business here, G.J.s Framing Co., the year he graduated from high school. That company grew quickly, obtaining steady work from a number of Spokanes largest residential developers and evolving from smaller jobs into larger ones, to become what Jeffreys claims was the Inland Northwests largest framing subcontractor. If it was stick-built, we were the guys to use, he asserts.


Jeffreys expanded into general contracting in the 1980s and began pursuing projects in California, Nevada, and other Western states. He developed expertise in auto dealership design-build projects and got a boost in 1994 when Denver auto dealer Marshall Chesrown called him to ask for help with a construction project in Boulder, Colo., that was running into obstacles. Chesrown is a Spokane native who coincidentally had graduated from University High School two years ahead of Jeffreys.


Jeffreys redesigned and built the dealership for Chesrown, and that involvement led to a host of other construction projects in Colorado, some involving auto dealerships in which now-retired Denver Broncos quarterback John Elway had been an owner.


We never left Denver. That became a hub for us, says Jeffreys, who now is a big Broncos fan. Exposure in the automotive industry has led to a lot of different things. That affiliation really helped springboard us to where we are now and where were heading. I owe a lot of that to Marshall Chesrown.


Republic Industries Inc., of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., bought the Chesrown Automotive Group dealerships in the spring of 1997 and the John Elway dealerships that fall. Republic changed its name earlier this year to AutoNation Inc., and its 17 Denver-area dealerships now do business under the AutoNation USA name. Jeffreys says G.J.s General Contractors now is doing a lot of work for AutoNation, which claims to be the worlds largest auto retailer and the countrys second largest provider of vehicle-rental services.


He says also that he and Chesrown have become close friends and own neighboring properties at Lake Coeur dAlene. Chesrown now is proposing to develop a semiprivate, upscale 18-hole golf course next to the lake.


Jeffreys says he feels like hes been caught up in a whirlwind of business growth. Looking back 10 years, when his contracting concerns were grossing a couple of million dollars annually, he says, Its unbelievable what were doing now.


Jeffreys is quick to deflect credit for the construction groups growth. I was a subcontractor and a big part of my heart is still as a subcontractor. I give those people (who are doing the work) all the credit, he says. Administratively, he says he has surrounded myself with some phenomenal people, particularly including his wife, who he describes as my right arm.


Jeffreys recalls being a little guy growing up, although with the feisty attitude of a tough guy, and he adds, I dont ever want to lose that feel. It (the business success) hasnt changed me and it never will.