Andy Davidson: From internship to industry leader

03/17/2017

Andy Davidson: From internship to industry leader

Sometimes, the old saw about a guy who starts running errands for a company but eventually becomes the boss isn’t just a saw.

Take for example Andy Davidson, now vice president of construction at Anton Development Co. While still attending California State University Sacramento, he interned with Anton’s Sacramento office, getting lunches and performing other grunt tasks.

That was in 2005. Two years later, Davidson had a job waiting for him when he graduated. A decade later, he’s the company’s vice president of construction and board chairman for the North State Building Industry Association.

“I realize (Anton) was a pretty special experience because it was small,” Davidson said. “The experience I got was invaluable, and I learned just that instinct you need to get deals done.”

These days, Anton is doing a lot of deals. Known primarily as a multifamily project developer and builder, Anton shows 15 featured projects at the moment on its website, with eight either under construction or going through entitlement review in Northern California.

Locally, the most visible is Natomas Green, a 232-unit market-rate project Anton is building for developer Demmon Partners on Garden Highway in South Natomas.

Davidson said his career path started when he took a class in real estate principles in junior college. The art of the deal, as it pertained to selling homes, sparked something in him, he said.

He took a job during college selling homes for Premiere Real Estate but found that he didn’t enjoy single-family home sales. He was more interested in taking a project from nothing to construction and completion.

“And I was able to talk my way out of a lot of things,” he said, laughing at how his skill set matched his chosen profession.

Sharon Parks, controller with Anton Development for more than 15 years, said she brought in Davidson for his first interview to be an intern.“He was very confident and intelligent and personable,” she said. “When you talk to someone with that much drive, you know they’re going to get things done.”She said Davidson showed a skill for approaching something unforeseen studiously and figuring it out. “When you’re in development, you have to be on your toes and always learning,” she said.

After getting a business degree at Sacramento State with an emphasis in real estate and land development, Davidson’s role at Anton moved from the office to the construction department six months in. He said construction gave him a similar rush to getting deals done in the office. It also offered visual stimulation and camaraderie on the job site.

The company was busy, though the construction market was beginning a dramatic slowdown. Anton still had a few projects, and picked up a few affordable housing projects, but the Great Recession that followed made for tense times. As a smaller company, Davidson said, Anton didn’t have the fat to cut that other companies did, so the only choice was to hold on and wait until times improved.

About that same time, representatives from North State BIA approached Davidson about joining the organization, the principal local advocate for homebuilders. When he looked around at the first meeting and saw he was the youngest person there, he realized he was going to get a new education. Not only did he learn about a wide variety of other fields within construction and development, he learned that like the small town he grew up in, Mount Shasta, members of the construction community looked out for each other when times were tough.

Now, with the economy in better shape, builders can think about growing again, Davidson said. “It’s definitely not doom and gloom like it was,” he said. “But we have to play it smart.”

In this cycle, builders have to balance tackling projects with variables such as rising construction costs and a labor shortage. Those two factors mean projects take longer and are more expensive, he said. Members of the construction industry also continually remind municipalities and lawmakers about the dangers of excessive fees and regulation. “If we reel that back, we’ll be in good shape,” Davidson said.

As a relatively young executive in a profession that’s gotten grayer in recent years, Davidson said, he has plenty of goals for both his company and his industry he’d like to still reach.

For Anton Development, the goal is to continue doing the same kinds of projects, but on a broader level, making an impact statewide rather than just in Northern California. And when his tenure as North State BIA board chairman is up, he is interested in working with the California Building Industry Association to advocate for the same issues on a higher, statewide level.

A colleague said she likes how Davidson acknowledges the industry’s leaders but also looks to move the conversation forward. He’s the same way with people at companies Anton works with, said Jasmine Purscell, vice president with Rocklin-based electrical contractor Power Factor Electric Inc.

“One thing he does really well is balance relationships with both sides,” she said. “His approach to projects is, if you’re the expert, let us know how to modify and value engineer what we need to do.”

“It takes a special group of people to stay focused on that,” Davidson said.

Andy Davidson

Vice president of construction, Anton Development Co.

Age: 34

Education: Bachelor’s degree in business, California State University Sacramento.

Career: Premier Real Estate, 2004 to 2006. Several positions at St. Anton Partners; administrative assistant, 2005 to 2007; construction coordinator, 2007 to 2010; vice president of construction, 2010 to 2014. Vice president of construction since 2014 at Anton Development Co., which split from St. Anton Partners.

Personal: Married to Cristi Davidson; 5-year-old daughter and 2-year-old son.

Biggest professional worry: “This is a very cyclical business, so always concerned that another recession will hurt the industry, which still hasn’t recovered from the last one.”

Biggest misunderstanding about your job: That “development is only about the money … Development is about transforming land to its highest and best use.”