When Charlotte rich need a fix, it's Roby to the rescue.

• Author: Cooper, Andrea
• Position: Andrew Roby General Contractor - Real Estate - Company profile

When Charlotte's rich need a fix, it's Roby to the rescue

People often ask for Andrew Roby when they call the Charlotte general contractor that bears his name. But they never get talk to him. No wonder - Roby died in 1981.

Still, many customers think of the company as a one-man shop. Michael Gillette, a Charlotte anesthesiologist, is a typical: "He's done additions or renovations on three different homes for us. He's extremely reliable. You know you're going to get high-quality work and that things will be done correctly."

The business that Roby founded in 1948 is one of the best-known residential and commercial renovators in the city, with projected gross sales of $3 million to $4 million for the year. It's actually run by three people: President Glen Haston, 68, and his sons, Ron, 41, who's vice president, and Don, 33, who's secretary and treasurer.

Most Roby customers match Gillette's profile. They live in posh Charlotte neighborhoods - Eastover, Myers Park, Foxcroft, the SouthPark area. Many are lawyers or doctors. They like plenty of elbow room.

"We don't socialize with our customers, though we could, I guess," Ron says. "Maybe we haven't arrived yet."

That depends on your standards. Now the darling of those who can afford to buy the best, the company began with a different kind of arrival: off a boat.

Andre Robicsek emigrated to the United States from Hungary in 1937 and went to work in New York, importing women's handbags and selling them to department stores such as Belk. In 1941, he moved his family and his business to Charlotte. At about that time, after deciding that few people could pronounce his name, he legally changed it.

When World War II hurt his importing, Andrew Roby joined a couple of partners in a roofing and siding business and later started his own company. Glen Haston, who was a skilled carpenter, joined his five-member staff in the early '50s as as superintendent.

"Roby was a good businessman, honest and fair," Haston says. "He didn't know much about building, though. That's why he hired me." Roby never did learn how to build. He spent his time bringing in sales and making estimates.

Roby and Haston spent more than two decades building a business, with Haston's sons helping after school and during summers. Competition increased, though Roby endured just one truly bad year, 1973-74, when the staff numbered only five, down from its high of 11. When the economy rebounded, so did the company.

In the late '70s, Roby sold...