As featured in Construction Mississippi, A Special publication of the Mississippi Business Journal • Summer 2005

McMillan-Pitts breaking ground on impressive projects

Pearl-based contractor building Oprah Winfrey Boys & Girls Club.

By KELLY INGEBRETSEN
MBJ Staff Writer

After flying under the radar for years, McMillan-Pitts Construction Co. is parking its tractor-trailers on some impressive construction sites.        

The general contractor just broke ground on the Oprah Winfrey Boys and Girls Club in Kosciusko, a 30,000-square-foot building that is set to open in early 2006. Kosciusko native Winfrey is funding the approximately $4-million project, and the move will be a big one for the club, which is now located in the old junior high school in Kosciusko.          

McMillan-Pitts’ owners Ronnie McMillan and Brian Pitts were invited to bid on the project after a bank client they had previously worked for put in a good word for the company.           

McMillan-Pitts was also recently selected for the restoration of Chamberlain-Hunt Academy that opened in Port Gibson in 1879. You’ll also find them at Traceway Park in Clinton where their crew is constructing four buildings that are part of a $3.2-million revitalization project.           

McMillan-Pitts has done several projects for Parkway Properties, including the high profile renovation of the City Centre in down-town Jackson . Tenants began moving in last December and the last floor was recently occupied. Jack Sullenberger, Parkway’s senior vice president of technical services, said the City Centre was a difficult, very detailed project, and McMillan was accommodating throughout.           

“Ronnie is very easy to work with, and he’s done everything he said he would,” said Sullenberger.

Teaming up
McMillan has logged approximately 30 years in the construction business, while Pitts is an architect by trade. The two met on a church project where Pitts was doing architectural inspection work, and McMillan was a co-owner in the construction company on the project.           

Partnering with Pitts gave McMillan the chance to have a 50% share in a company. For his part, Pitts was ready to do less designing and try his hand in construction side of the business.           

After seven years in business, they are now bringing in approximately $20 million in sales per year. That figure has grown “exponentially,” says Pitts, since the early days when he and McMillan were out in the field, covered with mud, superintending all of their projects.           

“We didn’t get an office until our second year,” said Pitts, who remembers paying more than a few $1,000 cell phone bills in the days when “unlimited minutes” was an idea yet to be born by the wireless companies.           

They now employ approximately 54 people, although that number varies. Over the years, they’ve seen their commercial work shift from public to private projects through repeat clients and referrals.           

Many of their projects come through referrals, but Pitts and McMillan snare some jobs by networking and keeping their ears to the ground. Over the years they’ve acquired an impressive list of clients, including Millsaps College, Double G Coating, Jackson Public School System, Baptist Health System and Cal-Maine Foods, the largest producer and distributor of fresh shell eggs in the U.S. McMillan-Pitts built a processing plant for Cal-Maine in Edwards, a hatchery in Mendenhall and is currently building “high risers” that are more environmentally-friendly chicken houses for Cal-Maine in Edwards.           

McMillan and Pitts cut their teeth on historical renovation with the state-owned Mississippi Federation of Women’s Clubs building on State Street in Jackson , across from the University of Mississippi Medical Center. That led to a pharmacy expansion renovation project in one of Mississippi State Hospital ’s historic structures.           

McMillan-Pitts was also behind the renovation of a four-floor building in downtown Jackson for the Mississippi State University School of Architecture, Pitts’ alma mater.  

Construction is a constant race against the clock, and this is always a challenge for companies like McMillan-Pitts, whose clients want quality work on deadline within budget. Snafus of all varieties threaten the plan, but McMillan and Pitts find that companies are becoming increasingly construction savvy. Some even have a construction administrator or a project manager on staff to work with the contractor to see the project through. This comes in handy when a dilemma over materials, for example, comes up.  

“The project manager can make a quick decision,” said Pitts, and this helps combat costly delays that slow the whole project down.  

Pitts has kept his architecture license, and he finds the architects he and McMillan work with on construction projects like having a fellow architect on board.  

“If an architect wants a smooth plane sticking out of a building, I understand how it can be done,” he said.

Pitt’s architectural background also enables McMillan-Pitts to provide turnkey projects for clients.