A Reputation for Integrity
By Chattanooga Magazine Staff

P&C Construction was founded on the idea that having quality work and firm morals is the best way to run a business. The formula has worked; P&C has a reputation for good work and it is growing steadily. P&C made the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in America three years in a row.

"We started out trying to build a good name by offering honesty, integrity, and customer service," says Royce Cornelison, president of the company. "And we've tried to stay with those philosophies through the years."

P&C is a general contractor, design builder and construction manager with expertise in commercial, institutional, industrial and residential construction. The company began in 1993 in Alabama. Royce Cornelison was a superintendent for another firm at the time, but work was slow. He joined with a partner and P&C was born. The company started out very small, in a basement, with just a few small service projects and lots of big ideas. Cornelison stated from the beginning that he wanted the company to be different from the norm.

"Contractors as a whole have a reputation not unlike a used car salesman, you know, not always being honest and not always being fair, trying to hide things," Cornelison says. "I feel like, if you're as transparent as you can be and you're honest, you don't have to look over your shoulders. Everybody won't necessarily like you, but at least they'll know you're telling the truth."

Though small P&C quickly became known for its integrity. Soon those small projects became bigger ones. P&C moved from Alabama to Georgia, then to Chattanooga, locating its office at the old Brown furniture building on Williams Street in 1994. The more industrial Chattanooga of the past provided the company with lots of work.

"We continued to grow, and continued to grow," Cornelison says.

When Williams Street was redeveloped in 1997, the company moved to its current location on East 18th Street. At the time, the building belonged to SCT Yarns, which was struggling with bankruptcy, so P&C bought the facility. Since then, the building has undergone a renovation and is now the perfect location for the growing company. 

Cornelison attributes P&C's growth to the wide range of services offered. He says the company has worked to diversify its skills and services, making it versatile in an increasingly competitive industry. In addition, Cornelison works hard to make sure its clients and subcontractors are treated fairly.

"We believe strongly in customer service," Cornelison says. "That sounds like a pitch, but we really do. Proof of that is a large percentage of our clients are repeat clients that we've had for many, many years."

One of those repeat clients is Bank of America. The bank was the company's first commercial client, back when it was still called Nations Bank, and the two have worked together ever since. Other repeat clients include Regions Bank, AmSouth Bank, and Brach's Confections, now part of Farley's & Sathers Candy Company.

Many of P&C's past projects are medical and industrial, such as the Veteran's Administration, Parkridge Medical Center, McKee Foods and Komatsu America International. The company offers both new construction and renovations-including historical restorations-as well as tenant build-outs and planning for all stages of a project. Some of its commercial construction and build-out projects include U.S. Insurance, Petty & Landis, the Tallan Building and the Krystal Building.

Cornelison says the company often works behind the scenes to create the businesses and facilities that make Chattanooga business and industry run smoothly.

"A lot of our projects are not the big ones, wide open for everybody to see," Cornelison says. "A lot of what we do is behind the scenes. But we're happy to do that because it has managed to keep our company busy when other people are slow."

Even in a down economy, P&C has thrived. Where other contractors have closed their doors, P&C has hired more employees, and the company is known as a good place to work. It has a high safety record, maintains a clean job site, and offers competitive benefits as well as a respectful work environment. Many of its employees have been on board with P&C since its first few years as a small firm.

"If I was looking for a job from a construction company, I'd want to work here," Cornelison says. "I never was treated as good as we treat our employees. I'm not meaning that as a brag, that's just our philosophy."

Also part of P&C's philosophy is giving back to the community. P&C is a member of the Better Business Bureau, the Chamber of Commerce, the Associated General Contractors, and the Construction Specifications Institute. P&C is also a contributing member of Hospice, March of Dimes, Jerry's Kids, Habitat for Humanity, Community Kitchen, and Shoeboxes for the Homeless.

"We try to keep assistance and aid coming back into the community," Cornelison says. "We believe in giving back to the community."

Cornelison is a man of morals, and those morals not only provide a direction for the company's decisions but his personal ones as well. With a full-time job as president of P&C, he still finds time to pastor a church, Flat Rock Holiness Church in Flat Rock, Alabama, where he lives on a farm. He has been pastoring the church for eight years. He's also a family man, married to his wife almost 32 years, with two sons and two grandchildren. His oldest son, Nick, is the vice president and senior project manager for the company. Cornelison says his son is a driving force in the company and is helping to take P&C into the future.

P&C is working to maintain its growth and success in the future. Upcoming projects include an ongoing building campaign with Virginia College, another project for the Veterans Administration, and an upcoming project for Hospice, as well as continuing work with the company's returning clients. Cornelison hopes the company continues its steady growth at a moderate, reasonable rate while still maintaining its philosophy and work ethic.

Cornelison eventually wants to partially retire from P&C. He says he'll probably never fully retire as long as the company doors are open, but that's because he's doing what he loves.

"I do the things I enjoy," Cornelison says. "I enjoy construction immensely, I enjoy pastoring immensely, I enjoy farming. And I love to hunt and fish, too, in my spare time."