“My grandfather was a builder. My father was a builder. And I’m a builder. My name is Andrew Giancola and I’m the owner of Giancola Contractors, a full-service general construction firm that does everything from architectural design, renovations, and all things in between. Ironically, the first business I opened up was not in the construction business. But I couldn’t stay away from building for very long – it was destiny. I always had a knack for working with my hands, putting things together, and building things. My mom says it’s a natural talent, a gift. And like most natural talents, mine is genetic. It’s in my blood. In this case, the talent to build came from my grandfather, Michael Giancola, Sr. and my father, Michael Giancola, Jr.

You see, way back in 1922, my grandfather started a building and real estate development business. And with the help of his partners, he built 800 houses in Brooklyn, another 250 houses in Long Island, as well as some well known commercial properties – all between the years of 1922 and 1961. With 1,050 houses built in 39 years, he averaged almost 27 houses a year – a hell of a lot of building even by today’s standards! He had studied carpentry and did architectural work, so he could do everything from design to building and supervising.

My dad, Michael Giancola Jr., told me that my grandfather was a pioneer of tract building in Brooklyn. He used to buy large pieces of land so he could develop a block of houses at the same time. Then he would sublet work to different contractors and supervise the building of 15 or 20 houses simultaneously. In one case, he built 26 houses on Jackson Court in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn; he came up with the street name, “Jackson Court,” because he had heard that General Stonewall Jackson himself was stationed there at one time.

My grandfather built all over Bay Ridge, Dyker Heights, Long Island and Connecticut. And most of the houses he built were brick, single-family, and very modern. In the 1920s, when he started building on the water, people told him he was nuts. They’d say, “Who would want to live on the water?” A beautiful ranch house he built on Shore Road, right on the water in Bay Ridge, sold for $90,000 in 1947. Today, that house is worth approximately $5 million.

An article was written on my grandfather where he was quoted as saying, “People were telling us we were crazy to build so many houses, that they would never sell.” He noted, “They were wrong and we were right, because we sold them as fast as they were going up. Doctors, lawyers, working class, all kinds of people were buying them.”

In fact, since most of the homes my grandfather built were brick, they really withstood the test of time. The fact that he was a perfectionist also helped him achieve an excellent reputation as a builder. And a lot his customers remembered him years later. Even recently, I’ve spoken to some of his customers who are still happy with his exceptional craftsmanship after all this time. My grandfather once told a story about a woman who called him about a house he built in 1923. It was decades after the house was built, and she wanted to know what could be done about her floor. She said it was “squeaky.” Apparently, his customers were perfectionists, too.

My grandfather was the first of three generations of construction services in the Giancola family. My dad followed in my grandfather’s footsteps. He earned his degree in Engineering, worked with my grandfather, and then started his own company under the name of Giancola Contracting. After many years working as a general contractor on both residential and commercial construction jobs, my dad took his experience to the Board of Education in New York City. As Area Manager of Engineering and Maintenance for the Board of Ed., he approved all rehabilitation and maintenance work for the 1,200 public schools in the five boroughs of New York City. Today, my dad is retired from the Board of Education. For a long time, he also did building management, as he directed the maintenance and renovation of a beautiful Art Deco-period apartment building in Bay Ridge Brooklyn.

With more than 90 years of history in the construction business, the Giancola Contracting company of today is a product of three generations of quality construction services. I still ask my dad for advice on jobs. Of course, he also gives me advice even if I don’t ask for it. Apparently, my grandfather used to give my dad advice on jobs, too, even when he didn’t ask for it. And interestingly enough, my grandfather was always right. So is my dad. So am I.

My grandfather’s work ethic, skill and perfectionism were above reproach, producing beautiful homes that customers were thrilled with for many years to come. These traits were passed down to my dad and me. But they were not passed down by choice; these traits are partly genetic and partly learned behavior. They come from a long history of being around family members who expect nothing less than perfection. The benefit is that perfectionists are ideally suited for construction services. Face it, when you’re building something, things do need to be, well…perfect.

Giancola Contracting: Three generations of excellence, 90 years of history”