UDN Inc. has a ‘new school’ approach to general contracting

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They had worked in construction for several years, including as co-workers, when they decided they could offer something different to the industry. So, in 2012 Nick Charvella and Nick Testa launched UDN, Inc., a general contracting firm intent on not only providing good work but also taking the grumpy and frumpy out of the world of construction.

“The industry was just so gruff and old school and not accommodating; that was the feel that it had to it,” Testa said. “In kind of a naïve sort of way, you’re thinking you’re going to kick down these barriers and be the nice guys in construction.”

They couldn’t wait to let people know, either, so shortly after they started the business, they attended a networking event in downtown Rochester.

“I was talking to one prominent developer and introduced myself to him,” Testa recalled, “and he said, ‘Just what Rochester needs, another GC.’ ”

So much for a warm and fuzzy welcome. But, 12 years later, UDN is doing just fine. The firm ranks No. 14 in revenue among commercial builders in the Rochester Business Journal’s Book of Lists 2024 and was No. 51 on the Greater Rochester Chamber of Commerce Top 100 list of fastest-growing companies in 2023.

Not bad for two guys who saw a need and together took a leap of faith in what they could accomplish.

“So many people would say, ‘Can you do this for me as a side job?’ or ‘Can you do this for me?’” Charvella said. “I said to Nick, I think we’ve got something here where we can really make a run at it. Are we willing to jump ship?”

They both said yes.

“We had enough money to pay ourselves for about six months,” Charvella said. “But if we didn’t do it then, we were never going to do it.”

Through their previous work in the industry, they had built strong relationships with subcontractors. They started doing a lot of renovation work in the bar/restaurant and hospitality space, as well as some residential construction.

Their focus has changed considerably over the years. Today, UDN’s projects are almost exclusively commercial, although they’ll still consider doing some sizeable residential projects through referrals or for previous clients.

“We do a lot public prevailing-wage work, using union subcontractors and paying prevailing wage, so that’s K-to-12, medical campus work, higher education, town halls, fire departments,” Charvella said.

That was the driver of growth between 2019 and 2021, in part because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We had a considerable backlog of private work and when COVID hit in 2020, all that got shut down,” Charvella said. “But during that same time, medical work and educational work was deemed essential. So, that entire year we didn’t have one private job, we were so booked with public work. With the schools closed and other buildings shut down, the schools and municipalities ended up saying, ‘There’s no one in the buildings, let’s get this work done when we can.’ ”

The firm has grown to 20 employees and has offices at 252 Alexander St., a property they bought in 2020. Charvella and Testa are the principals.

That’s quite a change from the early years of UDN, when there was no permanent office.

“Between the third floor of the downtown library and the upstairs of Spot Coffee — that was our office,” Testa said. “We’d grab our laptops and we gave everybody our cell numbers and we’d act like we were in an office.”

By 2015 they began adding employees, and their first three hires are still with the firm. John Herriman has advanced from project manager to director of operations, Cory Diaz has learned the trade from a variety of early roles to his current position as hybrid superintendent and project manager, and Emily Torregiano remains the office manager.

“We really kind of Moneyballed it where we were grabbing young talent that we knew were good workers and just needed experience and grooming,” Charvella said. “And now all of those people are our management staff.”

Approximately two years ago UDN added a new offering as well: pre-engineered metal buildings through Nucor Building Systems.

“We were bidding on projects where we would have to get pricing on those pre-engineered metal buildings from competitors, and then bid against them on the project,” Charella said. “So right there you’re in the hole because they’re taking the advantage of repping their own manufacturer with the pre-engineered building.”

UDN found that Nucor didn’t have a partner in the Finger Lakes region and soon became an authorized affiliate.

The collaboration provides clients with a cost-effective product as well as design flexibility, and UDN works as the single-source partner for design, estimating and engineering needs. The buildings are custom designed and engineered for a specific use.

“So, there’s a lot of front-end work to deliver a package for a building,” Charvella said, “but when it shows up on site, your entire building package is essentially there and it gets directly mounted to a foundation system and it goes up much quicker.”

The premise is to provide a more efficient, more economical process to creating a building. And the limitations that existed in the early days of pre-engineered buildings have been eliminated. They no longer need to have a boring, block-building, industrial-warehouse look.

“You can essentially put any façade you want on a pre-engineered metal building: masonry, glass, EFIS (exterior finish and installation system), whatever you want,” Charvella said.

Adding pre-engineering metal buildings to the offerings opened doors to new opportunities, including with Li-Cycle on construction of the Rochester Hub. UDN was contracted to erect nine buildings on the Li-Cycle campus, and completed over 90 percent of the work before all construction on the site was paused in October. UDN is hopeful the Toronto-based lithium-ion battery resource recovery firm will revive the project in the coming months.

A pre-engineering building is being used on a project for the Joseph Avenue Arts and Culture Alliance. UDN and Pardi Partnership Architects are in the process or converting the former Congregation B’nai Israel at 692 Joseph Ave. into a community center, and historical preservation is included. When completed next year, the building will house a variety of events, including dance and concert ensembles.

The front façade, stairs and stair towers are being preserved to retain the historical feel and a pre-engineered building will replace the dilapidated temple area.
“I don’t know (if) it’s a first, but it’s going to be special for the area,” Charvella said.

UDN has done historical preservation work in the past. The firm oversaw restoration of the Little Theater, a project that won the Barber Conable Award from the Landmark Society of Western New York as well as awards from the Rochester Chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Repeat clients from the private sector include Jeremiah’s Tavern, Chipotle Mexican Grill and Crumbl Cookies while UDN has completed numerous projects for area school district and universities, including the Rochester City School District, Rochester Institute of Technology, the University of Rochester and St. John Fisher University.