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John W. Daniel & Co. relishes big projects, like the $8.3 million middle school it's currently building in Rockingham County, N.C. But the Danville-based construction firm has a division to handle smaller jobs, like a $400,000 renovation of a home for disabled adults.

It's all part of the 54-year-old company's strategic plan, says Howard Burnette, president of the contractor's holding company, The Daniel Group Inc.

The Daniel Group made critical changes to that strategic plan three years ago. It sold its Richmond construction division to a nephew of John W. Daniel, the company's founder. Prior to that, company officials had decided to bid only on projects within a 100-mile radius of Danville. "You start getting past 100 miles and it doesn't turn out to be cost-effective because you have to keep people in hotels. Employees don't like that. We want to get home every night," says John W. Daniel, who started working for the founder, his uncle, as a carpenter apprentice and now heads the construction subsidiary.

While the smaller radius makes it easier to focus marketing efforts and manage major projects, it does have its downside. The sale of the Richmond division has pushed annual contracts down from $30 million a decade ago to $20 million last year. And even in a smaller market like Danville, bigger regional firms are always on the prowl.

To fend off that competition, company officials emphasize their firm's local roots, its relationships with subcontractors, the development services of its sister subsidiaries and its eagerness to handle difficult restoration or renovation projects.

"We're smaller than the big boys out of Atlanta, but we can move more quickly," says Ed Coleman, chairman of the holding company and an employee since 1973.

Coleman helped the company's founder diversify the company into a vertically integrated construction and development firm. The holding company also owns Southeastern Associates, which develops, owns and manages hotels, shopping centers, offices and industrial buildings. Another subsidiary, Riverside Equipment Co., rents construction equipment, while General Development Co., is a mini-storage, commercial, residential and multifamily development company. Coleman won't reveal the annual revenues of the private holding company, but its subsidiaries employ 450 people, he says, with only 75 working in construction.

For Danville-area projects, the subsidiaries can team up to complete projects quickly. One example is Riverside Centre, which is owned by General Development and managed by Southeastern Associates. It needed a facelift and new tenants, and when national retailers, including Marshall's, became interested, Southeastern didn't need to bid out the construction work because John W. Daniel & Co. already had the project scoped. The contracts were signed in the fall, and the company hopes to have the renovations complete by April. "I think we can do things about 90 days faster than others," Burnette boasts.

The company's vertical integration also helps it attract small-business customers that want to expand but need help with every aspect of real estate.

But the company's favorite projects are those that leave a lasting mark on Danville. The firm renovated the historic High Street Baptist Church in 1996 after a storm severely damaged the sanctuary's roof. And, in 1995, the company turned the old rail station into an Amtrak waiting area that doubles as a satellite facility for the Virginia Science Museum. The building, which dated from the early 1900s, had been completely neglected for 15 years.

Gerald Fischer, Danville's director of community development, worked with the firm on the train station/museum project. "They assigned an excellent foreman to the project, a person who took a personal interest in the project," he says. "He had obvious pride in his work, and that made it a very good situation."