Glazer Grows Into Commercial Construction
By David R. Cohen | david@atljewishtimes.com
More than 13 years have passed since Randy Glazer opened his own construction business.
His company has redesigned and remodeled some of Atlanta’s finest homes and weathered the housing crash of 2008. Now Glazer, the owner of Glazer Design & Construction, is adding staff, branching into commercial projects and building a new office in Sandy Springs.
Not bad for a Jewish kid who got started mowing lawns in his West Hartford, Conn., neighborhood. In those days, Glazer was known in the community as “Handy Randy” for his prowess with do-it-yourself projects.
He moved to Atlanta in 1994 to take a job working for another contractor and soon after decided to start his own business.
“I worked for several different contractors and companies in Atlanta,” he said. “I watched them, saw what they were doing, and I was checking out how I could open a company that would be one step better.”
Glazer went solo under the Handy Randy moniker in 1995, but a short time later he fractured his wrist when he fell from a ladder. At that point, he said, he began to sub out work and became more of a general contractor.
He founded Glazer Design & Construction in 2002 during one of the biggest real estate booms in U.S. history.
During the recession, Glazer stayed in business by focusing on home remodeling and purchasing low-priced properties in metro Atlanta. The move paid off when real estate prices recovered, and Glazer cashed in.
“The way I see it,” he said, “the prices of real estate right now are probably higher than what they were before the crash. Any lot that’s available is getting bought up and redeveloped.”
Now in a competitive market for new housing developments, Glazer has shifted his focus toward commercial projects, home remodeling and, perhaps the most daunting of all tasks, building custom kosher kitchens for his Jewish clientele.
“Finding creative ways to make space in a kosher kitchen can be a challenge,” he said.
Glazer Design & Construction recently won four awards in Atlanta Home Improvement Magazine’s 2014 Before and After contest: first and third place in the Best Bathrooms category, second place in the Best Master Suites category, and first place in the Best Stairway and Entryway category. (Photos of the makeovers can be found here.)
For Glazer and his wife, Meredyth, who serves as office manager for the business, this is an exciting time. The company’s new three-story headquarters is expected to be completed by January and will feature a design showroom and Frank Lloyd Wright-inspired architecture.
“Going forward, we’ve added more project managers and designers to our staff,” Glazer said. “We’re going to take a lot more projects on.”
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