After 38 years leading Miles Construction, Bill Miles steps away

Bill Miles’ construction career began more than four decades ago, and after more than 38 years at the helm of Miles Construction, the 70-year-old has stepped away from his day-to-day duties in order to focus on other interests.

Cary Richardson has taken the leadership reins at Miles Construction and serves as the company’s president. Longtime employee Jerry Dienes returned to Miles Construction from semi-retirement and manages field operations, while Miles continues working on business development opportunities along with Jim Magrogan, vice president of business operations.

“I enjoy what I do, but I’ve got several other businesses, and I own some property that I am getting real serious about developing,” Miles told NNBW. “I have 24 acres where Highway 50 meets with USA Parkway; it’s a prime corner for a truck stop and potentially an RV park.”

Miles also owns Builders Wholesale, Inc., in Mound House, a millworking shop that specializes in high-end custom cabinetry and woodworking for the medical and dental industries and custom homes. Miles said he plans to spend more time with his three children and grandchildren, as well as travel more and pursue his lifelong passions of fishing and hunting.

Miles' journey to becoming one of Northern Nevada’s most respected general contractors actually began at a Safeway store in 1971. Miles started working at Safeway as a bagboy and became an assistant manager by 1976. He was making good money, but he wasn’t truly happy working in the retail environment.

He decided to return to school, and in the interim he took a job with Boyles Bros. Drilling of Sparks, which helped knock off a few extra pounds.

“You talk about a job that will get you in good condition,” Miles said.

After enrolling in community college and taking a few courses at UNLV, he began working for Advanced Mechanical of Las Vegas. He longed for home though — Miles graduated from Carson High School in 1972 and always loved Northern Nevada’s rugged outdoor beauty.

“I really enjoyed construction, but Las Vegas was not my cup of tea,” he said. “I enjoyed the outdoors a lot — backpacking, hiking, skiing, hunting and fishing. Las Vegas was just not the same as living in Northern Nevada.”

Miles returned to Carson City in 1978 and began working for custom home builder Newman Construction. After the recession of the early 1980s decimated the regional homebuilding scene, Miles found himself out of work. His next opportunity came as a project manager with Comstock Tunnel and Drainage Co., which was doing historical renovation work on the Brown Hotel in Eureka (now the Jackson House Hotel & Tea Room). The mining industry was booming in central Nevada, so much so that Miles formed Eureka Builders in 1982 with partners Phil McCollum and Jim Schriver.

“That’s when I started the business side of my construction career,” Miles said. “I had taken enough school to understand the business side of things from my courses at Southern Nevada College when I was an assistant manager at Safeway, and I had the construction skills on the other side from working at Newman Construction and on the historical preservation project.”

After getting married in 1984, Miles decided to return to his roots in Carson City. In 1986 he founded Miles Brothers Construction along with siblings George and John. The company also began working with developer Julius Bunkowski, whom Miles credits with helping foster his knowledge of the land side of the construction industry. The two teamed up to develop custom homes in Lyon County and dozens of commercial properties at Comstock Industrial Park in Mound House.

After owning a construction business for more than four decades, Miles knew the time was right to step away from daily operations and hand the reins over to the next generation of leadership.

“I’ve never been one who faults anyone who wants to try to do better,” he told NNBW. “I have had quite a few employees in my 42 years of owning a business go out on their own and become contractors. I’ve always been willing to sign an affidavit that they were qualified — I’m proud that a lot of folks I’ve mentored in my career have gone on to be successful.

“That’s something I want to see for Miles Construction, their continued success,” he added.

Richardson joined Miles Construction more than two decades ago to run the office side of the company. He was responsible for accounting and project management, Dienes managed field operations and Miles was the great connector and business facilitator.

“That was really the initial dynamic we had, and it worked very well for almost 20 years,” said Richardson, who has served as president of Miles Construction for several years. “The reputation that Bill has built laid the foundation for Jerry and I to continue to grow this company. His reputation and standing in the community will continue to be very important to Miles Construction and to business development.

“Although Bill is retired as far as ownership, he’s still engaged with the company and will carry the Miles torch out into the community to help us cultivate new relationships, strengthen existing relationships, and bring in new work. He’s still very much the public face of Miles Construction.”

Richardson also noted that reputation is everything in the construction industry – especially for companies that are based in Northern Nevada and do the majority of their work here.

“Construction is an industry where people sometimes set the bar low,” Richardson said. “But if you do what said you were going to do, when you said you would do it and for how much you said you would do it for, and treat people fairly and conduct business honestly, it blows people's minds. Once you get those relationships established, and clients can see your true mettle and that you will do the right thing, people in this community will come back to you. That’s how you get multiple projects, repeat clients, and stay in business for decades.”

Richardson also said he’s excited to step into the founder’s shoes and take a legacy contracting company into its next generation of leadership and continue the reputation that’s been forged in the community.

“I am responsible to ensure that on my watch this company continues to succeed – that’s a responsibility I wasn’t fully anticipating because I was looking more day-to-day,” Richardson said. “But now I have a greater responsibility than I previously did.

“The handful of truly local general contractors have to perform to a higher level than those companies that come and go,” he added. “We have the benefit of established relationships with clients and subcontractors throughout the construction industry, and we are held to a higher standard. Maintaining that standard and allowing this company to succeed from generation to generation is a real challenge.

“There have been a lot of construction firms in the past five to 10 years that have transitioned (leadership). I’ve watched those transitions from the outside, and now I realize that managing that transition comes down to putting the right people in the right seats.”