By Paul Post
Hilltop Construction Co. epitomizes the phrase, “build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.”
The Hudson Falls firm, handling commercial and residential projects since 1975, is growing fast and recently purchased 3.6 acres at Airport Industrial Park on which to build a new 10,000-square-foot base of operations.
The site is on Casey Road, just east of Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport.
“In the last year we’ve gone from about two dozen to more than 30 workers,” co-owner Dan Washburn said. “We don’t really advertise for work. It’s word of mouth. It’s growing by leaps and bounds.”
The firm currently does business from the Crowley Road property owned by company founders Cindy and Tom Albrecht Sr. Last Oct. 1, ownership transitioned to the second generation—Washburn; his wife, April (the Albrechts’ daughter); and Tom Albrecht Jr.
Warren-Washington Industrial Development Agency recently agreed to sell two vacant Industrial Park lots to Hilltop Construction for $40,500.
Plans call for starting site work this fall and moving into the new headquarters next summer. The building will have 3,500 square feet of office space with the rest will be used for warehousing and storage.
Hilltop currently employs four office workers and plans to add more, Washburn said.
By Paul Post
Hilltop Construction Co. epitomizes the phrase, “build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door.”
The Hudson Falls firm, handling commercial and residential projects since 1975, is growing fast and recently purchased 3.6 acres at Airport Industrial Park on which to build a new 10,000-square-foot base of operations.
The site is on Casey Road, just east of Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport.
“In the last year we’ve gone from about two dozen to more than 30 workers,” co-owner Dan Washburn said. “We don’t really advertise for work. It’s word of mouth. It’s growing by leaps and bounds.”
The firm currently does business from the Crowley Road property owned by company founders Cindy and Tom Albrecht Sr. Last Oct. 1, ownership transitioned to the second generation—Washburn; his wife, April (the Albrechts’ daughter); and Tom Albrecht Jr.
Warren-Washington Industrial Development Agency recently agreed to sell two vacant Industrial Park lots to Hilltop Construction for $40,500.
Plans call for starting site work this fall and moving into the new headquarters next summer. The building will have 3,500 square feet of office space with the rest will be used for warehousing and storage.
Hilltop currently employs four office workers and plans to add more, Washburn said.
“We’re hiring laborers all the time,” he said. “Help is hard to find, but the help we do get is qualified. We’re being selective. It’s not necessarily all about experience. If they’ve got the right character we’re willing to train and invest in them to give them a career. Just because someone’s got 10 years’ experience doesn’t make them a great candidate if they don’t have the right attitude.”
General laborers start at $17-$18 per hour.
Hilltop previously did a great deal of work building branch offices for Glens Falls National Bank and Saratoga National Bank along with facilities for Hudson Headwaters Health Network. For the past 10 years, it’s also worked on many Stewart’s Shops buildings, and was awarded six contracts this year alone.
“With Stewart’s we’ve traveled as far as Syracuse and up to Watertown,” Washburn said. “This year we’re working on a 9,000-square-foot building in Rotterdam and a new shop in Ausable Forks.”
In the Glens Falls market, Hilltop is nearing completion of a new Stewart’s Shop on Broad Street, while putting finishing touches on a remodel near the intersection of Dix Avenue and Quaker Road in Queensbury.
This type of work has led to projects building gas stations for other clients as well, from Gloversville to Fort Ann.
And Hilltop keeps diversifying as it grows.
Washburn mostly deals with commercial accounts while Albrecht Jr. focuses on the residential side of things, quite often getting jobs by having good relationships with area architects.
We’ve gotten into doing more custom homes at places such as Brant Lake, Schroon Lake and Glen Lake. We recently signed two new custom homes on Lake George, one on Cotton point and one in Cleverdale.” Washburn said. “It’s a lot second homes and there are some relocations, where people are getting to retirement age and moving up here from the city. We’re getting a lot of phone calls from people looking to get work done.”
In addition to new construction, Hilltop does residential and commercial renovations and additions. “We’ve been moving into the car dealership sector,” Washburn said. “We’re doing quite a large renovation right now for Greenwich Ford’s new owners.”
Clients also include the likes of Garvey Hyundai and Nemer Dodge, where Hilltop built a new service bay.
Work briefly came to a complete halt at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Hilltop then began picking up projects that were considered “essential,” such as gas stations and a job for Brummers Unlimited Trailer Sales on Route 4 in Kingsbury.
“We had trouble getting materials and the cost of materials escalated during COVID,” Washburn said. “That was a huge problem. But we were fortunate that we were able to keep working with most of our crew.”
Hilltop’s growth includes its recent expansion into another market, doing various types of steel construction projects using material furnished by Kirby Steel Inc., a Tennessee-based distributor.
The job at Brummers led to a similar project for an adjacent Route 4 business, Better Than New Painting. Hilltop is currently doing a large steel project for Champlain Beef on Route 4 in Whitehall.
“So it just keeps going,” Washburn said. “People see us doing work on buildings and reach out to us.”
“We’re hiring laborers all the time,” he said. “Help is hard to find, but the help we do get is qualified. We’re being selective. It’s not necessarily all about experience. If they’ve got the right character we’re willing to train and invest in them to give them a career. Just because someone’s got 10 years’ experience doesn’t make them a great candidate if they don’t have the right attitude.”
General laborers start at $17-$18 per hour.
Hilltop previously did a great deal of work building branch offices for Glens Falls National Bank and Saratoga National Bank along with facilities for Hudson Headwaters Health Network. For the past 10 years, it’s also worked on many Stewart’s Shops buildings, and was awarded six contracts this year alone.
“With Stewart’s we’ve traveled as far as Syracuse and up to Watertown,” Washburn said. “This year we’re working on a 9,000-square-foot building in Rotterdam and a new shop in Ausable Forks.”
In the Glens Falls market, Hilltop is nearing completion of a new Stewart’s Shop on Broad Street, while putting finishing touches on a remodel near the intersection of Dix Avenue and Quaker Road in Queensbury.
This type of work has led to projects building gas stations for other clients as well, from Gloversville to Fort Ann.
And Hilltop keeps diversifying as it grows.
Washburn mostly deals with commercial accounts while Albrecht Jr. focuses on the residential side of things, quite often getting jobs by having good relationships with area architects.
We’ve gotten into doing more custom homes at places such as Brant Lake, Schroon Lake and Glen Lake. We recently signed two new custom homes on Lake George, one on Cotton point and one in Cleverdale.” Washburn said. “It’s a lot second homes and there are some relocations, where people are getting to retirement age and moving up here from the city. We’re getting a lot of phone calls from people looking to get work done.”
In addition to new construction, Hilltop does residential and commercial renovations and additions. “We’ve been moving into the car dealership sector,” Washburn said. “We’re doing quite a large renovation right now for Greenwich Ford’s new owners.”
Clients also include the likes of Garvey Hyundai and Nemer Dodge, where Hilltop built a new service bay.
Work briefly came to a complete halt at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, but Hilltop then began picking up projects that were considered “essential,” such as gas stations and a job for Brummers Unlimited Trailer Sales on Route 4 in Kingsbury.
“We had trouble getting materials and the cost of materials escalated during COVID,” Washburn said. “That was a huge problem. But we were fortunate that we were able to keep working with most of our crew.”
Hilltop’s growth includes its recent expansion into another market, doing various types of steel construction projects using material furnished by Kirby Steel Inc., a Tennessee-based distributor.
The job at Brummers led to a similar project for an adjacent Route 4 business, Better Than New Painting. Hilltop is currently doing a large steel project for Champlain Beef on Route 4 in Whitehall.
“So it just keeps going,” Washburn said. “People see us doing work on buildings and reach out to us.”