“I remember being on job sites as early as age 13.”
Even with that early start, and a father who’d been “in the business forever,” it’s only 10 years after taking over the family construction company that Will Patterson can say with clarity what PatCon Industries truly is.
Creating a Strategic Growth Action Plan in the Columbia Chamber's Minority Business Accelerator was supposed to yield a roadmap for the future. Yet the SGAP showed just how much the way forward was paved with what the company had been doing since incorporating in 2010.
Community was the key. Creating jobs, growing careers, changing the landscape — it was more than just laying bricks. Now Will aims to make PatCon a corner stone of the Southeast market. “I don’t mean we want to be a major player. I mean we want to be a major part of making communities function.”
“It’s been a soul-searching experience,” he says. “I’ve learned that I don’t just build buildings, I’m a community builder,” Will says. “You understand where you think your business is, but through the MBA program, you figure out why you’re here.”
