Dovetail General Contractors | www.dovetailgc.com
What encouraged your interest in construction?
Rollins: I grew up surrounded by builders: my father, an electrician, and my grandfather, a construction superintendent, showed me the beauty of solving problems and the gift of craftsmanship, sparking my passion for the field.
Edwards: My dad, a teacher and coach, spent summers on construction projects, bringing me along from age six. Building always felt natural, never like work, and that feeling has stayed with me.
The company has been in business for over three decades, how has the company evolved over that time?
Dovetail has become an incubator for a culture that is hard to find elsewhere in our industry. Our people define us. We all care tremendously about how we show up for each other every day, and as a result, we’ve amassed an incredible group of craftspeople. We are humbled by the teams, clients, and amazing landscapes that we get to work with. We often say, ‘We get to do this.’
You have a reputation for large-scale foundation work, structural steel and architectural concrete as well as fine finish carpentry and custom furniture. What does this offer your clients?
We’re builders and craft at this scale is still handmade. Diversifying self-performance gives us more control over results and provides us with institutional knowledge and expertise we can rely on during preconstruction and estimating. We believe this diversity delivers accountable experience and increases the quality and logistics for our clients, in addition to the satisfaction of having our clients immersed with our craftspeople.
How many projects do you take on in a year?
We typically take on 8-10 projects per year. We also have a dedicated service and special projects division that extends the job count, pending the needs of our clients and overall workflow.
What does client collaboration look like for your team?
Our ideal collaboration involves early engagement with a client contemplating the beginning steps of the building process and how best to partner with a contractor. We spend a lot of time educating prospective clients, and we have many systems and considerations we’ve defined over decades to share, regardless of whether we build the project or not. We’re interested in transparency, healthy relationships, accountability, and starting from a grounded, mutually agreeable place.
What is the advantage of clients working with a large company like yours?
We see ourselves as highly integrated, with divisions like Fieldworks Concrete and Interbay Wood and Metal. Perhaps the question is what it’s like to work with a company that values relationships, works earnestly, and has a track record of success. Ultimately, hands, minds, and teamwork—not software—bring diverse ideas to life. We must understand how diverse the language is as a collective to bring it all to life, and that’s exactly what we do.
What part of the build process do you find most rewarding?
Working through adversity and challenging project scopes with our teams and seeing everyone come together to move through the obstacle.
Favorite way to spend a weekend in the Northwest?
Rollins: On a boat, around a boat, and in the water.
Edwards: Anything outdoors in all four seasons with friends and family.
