Courthouse contractor expects federal projects to triple in 2022.

PositionJordon Construction Co.

It had never crossed the mind of Jordon Construction Co.'s founder that he might find himself on CBS News' 60 Minutes. He's been too busy.

But in November, producers of the show requested James Jordon's expertise while he was in Palm Springs, Fla., receiving the Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 Award from Ernst and Young as a Southeastern finalist.

Six days later on a Monday morning, presenter Bill Whitaker flew to meet Jordon in Greenville to prep for an interview on the company's adjustments in a competitive labor market.

"I got in at 1 a.m., actually Monday morning, and jumped off the plane, ran home, got some quick sleep," Jordon told GSA Business Report. "And then, when I met Bill Whitaker at Lazy Goat the next morning, I spent about half a day with him. It was pretty cool."

The episode featuring Jordon aired on Jan. 9 at the end of what have been a fruitful two years for the contractor, despite the circumstances or in some cases, through serving a need because of the circumstances.

"We have been so, so fortunate," he said. "Our primary sectors are federal, health care and commercial and retail," he said. "We're now leaning more into the multi-unit apartment space, but for our primary markets, things have not slowed down."

When much commercial construction came to a screeching halt in 2020, the Jordon Construction Co. soldiered onward with federal projects during the shutdown, a market that has at least doubled over the past two years, he said.

"And we'll probably triple that in 2022," Jordon said.

For the firm, that has meant revamping the HVAC system and floors at Sumter's Shaw Air Force Base, sanitizing Transportation Security Administration areas at the Greenville-Spartanburg International Airport and renovatiing Beaufort's U.S. Navy Hospital.

"At Parris Island, for example, we had 17 buildings we were responsible for doing the maintenance on," he said. Parris Island houses another U.S. Naval Hospital and a Marine Corp. Recruit Depot installation. "After someone tested positive for COVID, we had to come into certain barracks to do COVID cleaning inside those barracks."

Since 2020, Jordon Construction Co. also has helped build out several hospital expansions to mitigate the bed shortage for COVID-19 patients.

Past clients have included Prisma Health, Piedmont Hospital, the Grand Strand Medical Center, and the Lexington Medical Center, among others.

There was one project that made Jordon a bit nervous during a panicky spring 2020...

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