In 1911 Roy Blair started Blair Construction, when Taft was president of the United States and the Titanic was under construction along with the Panama Canal. For nearly a century, Blair has been providing quality construction to a many of customers in southern Virginia and North Carolina.

Roy Blair kept his contracts in his head, and his tools in the trunk of his car. The foundation of his business was built on quality construction and fulfilled promises, with product excellence, integrity and fairness standing tall as hallmarks of his work.

Nine decades later those same old-fashioned principles are the guiding force of Blair Construction, led by the founder’s grandson Fred Blair. The company has expanded from one man and a toolbox in the trunk, to over 150 employees capable of fast-tracking even the largest of projects without sacrificing quality. Blair Construction owns most of its own equipment, which allows for timley grading for site preparation as well as some demolition. Most recently, Blair Construction expanded into the metal building business with a subsidiary company, Blair Metal Buildings or BMB.

Fred Blair is a stoic, soft-spoken man, as up front as he is honest. Blair is blessed with a creative mind, as he says, "My mind works in pictures," which has granted him the foresight to see the big picture and make that a reality. The combination of creative thought and a natural talent for employee selection and retention, along with this brutally honest, calm, straight-forward demeanor has helped Fred Blair lead his company to an upper echelon achieved by only a small number of contractors in the Blue Ridge Region.

"It took me a long time to understand this business," says Blair, who began working for his father, Addison Blair in 1970, when the focus of Blair Construction was the residential building market. After Addison died in 1976, Fred Blair sought growth opportunities and moved Blair Construction, exclusively, into the commercial building market in 1985.

"My uncle always told me, Fred, you got your building sense from your father’s side, but you got your business sense from your mother," says Fred Blair. This combination of genes continues to be a valuable asset. Blair’s volume of business has doubled every other year since 1976, and 1 million square feet of construction in 2007.

Procrastination is not in Fred Blair’s vocabulary. Blair Construction has developed a reputation for what they call "fast track" projects, or turning around huge projects in a short time frame without sacrificing any quality.

"We like to get the building finished and hand over the keys to the owners with the assurance of quality. The quicker we can get things done, the better off we are."

Blair’s fast track philosophy has proven to be invaluable for government and economic development agencies when they are courting companies from outside the region.  

With 92 years of experience and an emphasis on speed, Blair’s resume of work, from the Stewartsville Elementary school in Goodview, to the American Hebrew Academy, is impressive. Fred Blair proudly states, "The Hebrew Academy is nicer than most college campuses."

Blair's presentation portfolio includes public and private schools, churches, municipal buildings, medical facilities, as well as a multitude of industrial facilities. Blair projects span from Richmond, VA to Raleigh, NC and from Emporia, VA to Blacksburg, VA and all points in between. 

Three years after Henry Ford introduced the Model T to the American public, Roy Blair began a construction company with hard work and expert craftsmanship. Today, Fred Blair continues in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, maintaining the guiding principles of quality and focusing on the people directly effected by the projects that Blair is building one beam at a time.