C. David Moody Jr. is behind C.D. Moody Construction, America’s largest Black-owned construction management and general contracting firm. He established the company in 1988 in Atlanta seven years after serving as a staff architect and field engineer at Bechtel Power Corp.
Then in his early 30s when he founded the firm, Moody guided the company to be among the best in America. The firm was ranked as one of Atlanta’s top 25 commercial contractors and top 100 private companies by the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Since its establishment more than 35 years ago, the company has delivered over 150 commercial projects valued at more than $2 billion, as per Business Leaders United. Some of its projects include the home of the National Football League’s Atlanta Falcons, Mercedes Benz Stadium; the home of the Cyclorama at the Atlanta History Center; and the Maynard Jackson International Concourse at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson Airport, the platform added.
In a recent podcast with Afrotech, the Howard University alum with a Bachelor of Architecture degree noted that he started the company with three individuals, which later expanded to more than 60 people. To start the company, he and his wife borrowed a couple thousand dollars.
What also helped was the financial advice Moody received from his father, who served as a professor and later vice provost of the University of Michigan.
“My dad grew up in the depression, and things were tight and he grew up very poor in Louisiana,” Moody explained. “He always taught me to save. He said, ‘I don’t care if you save but $10.’ So when I started my business — which we started under-capitalized like all of us pretty much do — whenever I made a few dollars, I was scared to spend it. I did reinvest it and made sure I could take care of my family.”
In the podcast, he revealed that he received an opportunity to bring on NBA legend Michael Jordan as an investor in the early days of the company. However, he noted that he rejected the offer because he was not interested in having stakeholders at the time and wanted to run a one-man operation.
“Well I use the stock market for my investments, but I think I couldn’t have a partner, not because I’m difficult to work with. I just wanted to run my own show. I mean, Michael Jordan was going to invest in my company in the early ’90s,” he said on the “Black Tech Green Money” podcast.
“I still got the picture where he signed ‘congratulations and good luck’ to our construction company. At the last minute, I went to his financial guy and turned him down. He said, ‘You the first person to ever turn ’em down.’ Now I said ‘I turned ’em down ’cause I wanted to know what I could do on my own,’” he said.
Despite its initial struggles, the company has managed to improve its financial position over the years. Today, its other clients include Disney and Home Depot and projects like Olympic Stadium, Morehouse College Leadership Center, Turner Baseball Field, and Philips Arena, the company states.
What is more, it has scaled its revenue from $1 million annually to $70 million annually.
