R.W. Dake is a full service commercial construction company formed in 1960 by Robert W. Dake as a successor to the Johns-Manville Construction Division.  In January 2002, the business was sold to Greg Vangellow and two 20-year veterans Mark Bristol and Lee Goodridge.  Vangellow was the company's commercial banker for seven years and now president.  Bristol started with the company as a warehouse driver more than twenty-eight years ago and is now vice president of operations.  Goodridge started in 1982 as an estimator and is now vice president of estimating. 

R.W. Dake self performs all carpentry and painting related scope items and retains the services of other contractors as needed.  "Our project managers, supervisors, foremen, and tradesmen are a highly qualified group who have worked for R.W. Dake & Co., Inc. on average of 12 years each.  Every employee takes pride in customer satisfaction.  We are committed to our clients, including members of the construction, industrial, manufacturing, educational, finance and health care industries." 

R.W. Dake has 70 employees between their main office and warehouse in East Rochester and their two satellite offices in Buffalo and Ithaca, NY.   

New Developments
The company is exploring a fourth office within New York to help meet the needs of their existing customers.  

Challenges
R.W. Dake is facing challenges similar to those of other companies in their industry.  "One of the biggest challenges is the cost of doing business in New York State.  With New York's high tax rates and arcane labor laws, the construction sector is struggling due to an overall lack of demand.  Without new work, there is a premium on getting any work that might come up - making for an extremely competitive bidding process," said Vangellow.

R.W. Dake has addressed the problem on multiple fronts.  "We are increasing our efforts to have the labor laws modified by contacting our representatives and supporting groups like NFIB, the RBA and others who share the same concerns.  We are also extremely cost conscious curbing all unnecessary expenses," said Vangellow.

Rochester Business Alliance Member
R.W. Dake has been a loyal member of the RBA for 20 years.  "This is one of the few associations we renewed our membership with due in large part to the Staples Program.  We compared three other discount plans that were available to us and this was the best.  We are definitely getting a positive return on investment with our RBA membership," said Vangellow.

Contact Info:
Greg Vangellow, President
R. W. Dake & Co., Inc.
100 Bluff Drive
East Rochester, NY 14445
(585) 381-2500

By Kevin Donahue, director of membership and business development