When Tom Antoine first joined J.D. Beam in 2017, the Raleigh-based real estate company was struggling.

Arriving as an executive vice president, Antoine saw the company was losing staff and struggling to grow. Then a crisis sparked a new push for growth, and Antoine transitioned into his new role as president.

He took the reins last November, as the company grows like never before, boosting its staff by nearly double and expanding its pipeline even amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The company has operated in Raleigh for more than 30 years, providing commercial real estate services from pre-construction, general contracting and construction management to full design-build.

Antoine plans to continue the investment and growth as J.D. Beam looks to a new chapter in its long history.

Born and raised in Madison, Wisconsin, Antoine grew up in a family of construction attorneys and professionals, with an attorney father and an accomplished engineer uncle.

“Mash those two together and you get me,” he said.

He pursued construction and law and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville with his degree in Construction Management and landed a string of construction jobs across the country.

In 2000, Antoine got a job at W.E. O’Neal Construction, at which time he also got his law degree specializing in construction and development.

“I had a project in California, and spent more time talking to attorneys than building it,” he said. “Fast forward to today’s environment and you’re dealing with all these issues, executive orders and contract law.”

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Mehmet Demirci

Antoine continued to add to his responsibilities along the way. Then in 2017, he met J.D. Beam President Glenn Kistler. After 19 years at the head of the company, Kistler was looking to bring on a new executive to potentially take over one day.

“It was a no brainer as soon as we spent a half hour together,” Antoine said. “I moved down in September 2017 and never looked back. It’s been awesome.”

But even three years ago, J.D. Beam was a totally different place.

“The company was kind of in a state of atrophy,” he said. “People were retiring. And we didn’t really replace the people leaving or departing somehow.”

Then in 2019, tragedy struck the firm when longtime executive Joe Rucker died of a heart attack at his desk.

“That really shook up our company,” Antoine said. “He had been here for more than 30 years. So losing someone like that … it was a ripple effect through the company.”

Soon, more employees left the company, some due to the emotional trauma of the event.

At its lowest point, J.D. Beam had just 13 employees.

“After that happened, Glenn really started letting me take charge of a lot more,” Antoine said.

The remaining staff and executives soon realized they needed to get much more aggressive in rebuilding the company and growing the business.

From 2019 to 2020 the company nearly doubled to 25 people, with more on the way. Revenue went from $21.6 million in 2019 to $35 million in 2020. Meanwhile, the company began aggressively building out their pipeline as new staffers meant added capacity to handle projects.

“Entering 2020, Glenn and I put together a backlog, by far the highest backlog in the company’s existence,” Antoine said.

Then the pandemic hit, and companies around the country hit the brakes on business.

Leaning on his experience and education as an attorney, Antoine said he spent the next few days pouring over the incoming hurdles the company would have to face as it juggled the dangers of the pandemic with the needs of its clients.

Among the first troubles Antoine spotted was impacts on the supply chains.

“It reminded me of 9/11 and what happened to the building industry after that. Same thinking, even studs and drywall were impossible to get,” he said. “I called every one of our clients and said, ‘If you want this work done this year you need to order everything right now.’ And every single one said, ‘Let’s do it.’”

The company went through 33 percent of its backlog in one month in just material purchases. Since then, Antoine said nearly every job was completed on time.

“For all the effort, I really owe it to our guys,” he said.

Today, the company is looking to grow aggressively, with new hires expected later this year and a hefty backlog of work.

“2020 was the best year in our company’s history, and we’re entering 2021 with almost as much backlog as 2020,” Antoine said.

Moving ahead, he said the company hopes to continue pursuing business in sectors primed for growth.

“We’ve been very deliberate in diversifying what we’ve gone after and what we are beginning in,” Antoine said. “The company 18 months ago was very heavy in the office sector and a lot of that backlog in 2020 – most was not office. That helped us quite a bit.”

Much of its business now comes from a wide variety of sectors, from education, health care and religious institutions to multifamily and senior living.

Through it all, Antoine said that among the accomplishments of the last year, one of the best was keeping all of his staff employed throughout the crisis.

“We’ve been able to keep everybody working,” he said. “I know their families appreciate the fact we’ve been able to do so.”