Welcome to the blog

Home of our portfolio, press releases, and employee blogs

Here, you’ll find a library of blog posts dedicated to different aspects of the commercial construction industry -- news and updates, upcoming trends, and past projects built by us at The Douglas Company. 

The Douglas Company, General Contractor, announced the promotion of two of its partners to Vice Presidents. Mr. Bruce Douglas has been promoted to Vice President of Preconstruction, and Mr. Pete Zimmerman has been promoted to Vice President of Estimating. Both will be serving as members of The Douglas Company’s Executive Committee, establishing company policies, and […]

July 23, 2021

The resilience of active adult communities during the pandemic and resulting recession has resulted in many developers, operators, lenders, and equity investors taking another look at the product and determining how it fits their strategy for future growth. Many skeptics have become supporters after seeing the performance turned in by active adult communities through 2020.  […]

July 20, 2021

Government regulations have been loosening up lately, but some impacts resulting from them are increasing as construction keeps moving forward. One specific item that comes to mind is material lead times. Items that we were accustomed to being readily available now seem to carry a 2-3 week lead time, and items that were normally 4-5 […]

July 9, 2021

The Douglas Company, an award-winning Toledo, Ohio-based general contractor, is proud to announce construction is underway on the new John Arthur Flats affordable living community located in Cincinnati, Ohio is a collaboration between neighborhood community development corporation Northsiders Engaged in Sustainable Transformation (NEST) and national developer Pennrose Properties, LLC. The 50,195 square foot John Arthur […]

July 7, 2021

A little while back, I came across some extra marketing collateral of ours that was previously in circulation with the motto of “Make the Numbers Work.”  Some of the collateral may or may not have had an expletive gesture mixed in of “!!@!%#!!@!!”.  You get the point. It was all good fun, and I thought […]

June 17, 2021

It has been a little over a year since the COVID 19 pandemic began and we are still feeling the after-effects of its impacts over the past year. With more of the population getting vaccinated and some states loosening restrictions, it feels as though we are getting back to normal but there are still many […]

June 10, 2021

The Douglas Company, an award-winning general contractor, celebrates with TLC Management, Inc. the completion of their new $34.0 million Blue Heron Health and Rehabilitation Community in Wesley Chapel, Florida. Blue Heron Health and Rehabilitation Community features 201 residences, including 106 skilled nursing, 22 memory care, and 73 assisted living suites. Eloquently designed by Cuhaci & […]

May 27, 2021

I am hearing different stories from clients in my discussions.  There is no doubt that occupancies in Senior Living are down.  There is no doubt that projects are requiring more equity, and equity demands a higher return.  There is no doubt that staffing is more difficult to find and more expensive.  There is also no […]

May 12, 2021

The Douglas Company, General Contractor, is pleased to announce four key promotions within our Holland, Ohio office, a move that advances both our associates’ professional development and the organization’s growth. “Internal succession and promotions build upon our foundation while allowing the company to evolve and grow. In their new roles, these team members will strengthen […]

April 28, 2021

Lumber – It has been the word in construction this year that we simultaneously hate talking about and can’t stop talking about. At this point, anyone who has speculated on what’s going to happen with pricing has been wrong at least once. While no one can predict what’s going to happen, there may be some […]

April 27, 2021

Active Adult – Leading the Way Post-COVID

A somewhat new segment of rental active adult housing is showing signs of leading the way for senior living development post COVID.  Our estimating department is currently budgeting and pricing several active adult projects for multiple clients.  The product targets baby boomers in early retirement, looking to downsize, but who are years away from needing […]

April 6, 2021

While many of us in the construction industry have been focused on dealing with the steep rise in lumber costs over the past year, a new threat is upon us: PVC.  In February, Texas-based petrochemical plants were forced to shut down unexpectedly due to a winter storm that caused vast power outages. S&P Global reports […]

March 31, 2021

The Douglas Company is serving as the general contractor for a new $11.7 million assisted living and memory care project that recently began construction. Maumee Pointe assisted living and memory care will be located at 1050 Medical Center Pkwy, Maumee, Ohio.  Designed by Davison Smith Certo Architects, Inc., Maumee Pointe will be a 69,310 square-foot […]

March 16, 2021

This past weekend I was listening to a presentation on a book many of you have heard and read, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey; I was drawn towards a reference to an old fable by Aesop, The Goose & The Golden Egg. The story goes like this for those who […]

March 10, 2021

The Douglas Company, an industry-leading general contractor, announces that construction is underway on The Sagefield, a new multi-family residential development in Jacksonville, Florida. The Developer, Chance Partners, LLC, selected architectural firm Dynamik Design Partners, an Atlanta, Georgia-based company, to design the 274,590 square-foot multi-family community. The Sagefield will include 234 one-bedroom, two-bedroom, and three-bedroom units […]

March 1, 2021

We always advocate for getting a contractor involved early in your project to help with constructability input, provide conceptual budget estimates and other milestone pricing feedback, and control costs as the design develops.  There are also three key areas that your development team needs to make decisions that significantly impact project costs.  One of the […]

February 23, 2021

COVID-19 has brought forth many challenges in the last year, and it has pushed our slowly evolving industry into adopting many new ways of conducting business, one of which being virtual inspections from our local inspecting authorities. Many of the counties that we work with have put in place some stringent requirements as it relates […]

February 16, 2021

The Douglas Company, an award-winning general contractor based in Toledo, Ohio, is pleased to announce the completion of construction on HarborChase of Stuart. HarborChase of Stuart is a $27 million assisted living and memory care community situated on the St. Lucie River with a breath-taking waterfront location in Stuart, Florida. The Douglas Company worked with […]

January 28, 2021

Eleven of us (with me being by far the oldest) are taking Darren Hardy’s new leadership course, which will take all year.  The first session talked about the differences between generations.  None of it was disparaging.  We were all raised with different circumstances, so we are different.   I remember coming into the industry over 40 […]

January 26, 2021

Last week we authored a blog post looking back on pricing in 2020 and why the reduced pricing many of us were anticipating to come just never did. The question lingering for everyone in the industry now is:  What’s going to happen in 2021 for pricing? Many developments were put on hold last year in […]

January 14, 2021