![Commercial contractor launches homebuilding brand, plans HQ for both 1 TitanHQ](https://richmondbizsense.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/TitanHQ-700x434.jpg)
A rendering of the building that will house offices for Titan Construction Group and Crossed Key Homes. (Ionic DeZign Studios image)
Six years after starting his commercial contracting company, Brad Capps is launching a homebuilding brand and building a new home for both near Brandermill.
Capps’s Titan Construction Group is preparing to build two 4,000-square-foot buildings at 13380 Tredegar Lake Parkway, a 6-acre property beside Powhite Parkway east of its intersection with Charter Colony Parkway.
One of the buildings will house offices for Titan and homebuilding offshoot Crossed Key Homes, which Capps launched about a month ago with his wife Brittany. The other building will be leasable space, and Capps plans to later build a third building with flex space, which he said is lacking in Chesterfield County.
![Commercial contractor launches homebuilding brand, plans HQ for both 2 Titan1](https://richmondbizsense.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Titan1-700x553.jpg)
Titan Construction Group plans to build three commercial buildings on the 6-acre site at 13380 Tredegar Lake Parkway. (Thalhimer flyer)
Capps is under contract to purchase the property for $380,000 in a deal that’s scheduled to close in August. The undeveloped land was listed with a $400,000 asking price by Thalhimer agent Isaac Deregibus for seller Swimquest LLC, which bought the property in 2008 for nearly $680,000. Thalhimer’s Kevin South is representing Capps in the deal and will handle leasing for the buildings.
The land is assessed by the county at $440,600.
The buildings will be the latest that Capps has constructed with Titan, which he launched in 2017. The general contracting firm focuses on restaurants and retail but has branched out in recent years with several shopping center builds, including buildings at Cosby Village and CenterPointe.
“We’ve done a dozen or so Starbucks out of the ground,” Capps said. “When I started it, we were primarily an upfit contractor. Now we’ve transitioned into a shell contractor that then turns around and does the upfit. We’ve been very lucky that we’ve had clients that I knew in my past that were willing to let me grow with them.”
Titan has also built a track record of building buildings for businesses that are new to Virginia. Capps said it built the first Crumbl Cookies in the state, the first Chicken Salad Chick and the first Vivo Infusion.
It’s set to build the first Starbucks in Powhatan, and it was just awarded the Mason’s Lobster Roll that’s going into Winterfield Crossing and is building the 7 Brew coffee shop planned at Courthouse and Hull Street roads. Other projects have included Hidden Wit brewery and
“That’s kind of odd that a company our size is the first to do something, but I think it’s because we get into the weeds and either cut costs or cut fees, or help them understand where potholes or the landmines are in the process,” Capps said. “We get way down into the weeds on the frontend to try to add value to the process, which most GCs don’t want to do. They just want to take a set of plans and bid it and be done.”
While he said Titan’s output has grown to between $15 million and $20 million worth of projects annually, Capps has kept the company “lean and mean” with three full-time employees plus himself.
“I purposely run lean and mean, because it allows us to be flexible on fees,” he said. “When I started Titan, I wanted to make sure that we were different than most GCs. Different meaning that we don’t provide a material or a product that only Titan can provide. The only way to be different is to treat people like you want to be treated, so I truly try to treat people like their partners and not a transaction.
“If that means I need to get tight on a fee or I need to cut a number, because my overhead is low and we run lean and mean, it allows me to be flexible on what I need to be paid,” he said. “My attitude is if the job dies because I’m too expensive on my overhead and my fees, then nobody gets to do a job, so why not be flexible and partner with people? They see that you have a vested interest in their success.”
Having worked in the construction industry for 20 years, Capps said he’s done both commercial and residential but was motivated to start Crossed Key Homes after working on two homes for two of the bigger production builders in the Richmond market.
“When you walk into the neighborhood or sales office, they tell you these houses start at $400,000 or $500,000. Really, they don’t start at 400 or 500, because by the time you add the lot premium and then you get to the design studio and you start picking what you actually would want to put in your house, all of a sudden, the house that they told you was $500,000 is now $750,000,” Capps said.
“Even then, you’re limited on what you can select. It’s based on what’s in their design studio,” he said. “The idea for Crossed Key is to be fully transparent and design a house and offer a house that people actually want and give them an accurate price on it.”
To that end, he and Brittany are designing seven floorplans and elevations that include features that other builders offer as options.
“Features like whole-house speakers or intercom systems. The stuff that essentially you would want to put in your house if you were building it for yourself and not having to go through a builder and then just get what you can get.”
He said the homes will range in size from 3,000 to 4,500 square feet and be designed for larger properties with at least 1 acre. Prices will range from the $700,000s to under $1 million.
He and Brittany have hired an interior designer, Sarah French, and will list the homes with real estate agent Sarah Holton, who also sells homes for Biringer Builders. He said Crossed Key was recently approved to build three lots at Maple Grove in Powhatan.
Describing Crossed Key as a semi-custom builder, Capps said the new business will bring him back into homebuilding, which he started with his uncle in Warrenton after graduating from the University of South Carolina in 2004.
“I loved construction, didn’t like Northern Virginia, so I got home as quick as I could and I’ve been in the construction industry since then,” Capps said.
Starting Titan six years ago, Capps added, “I just decided that I could do it better for myself the way I wanted to do it. The home side has been something I’ve kicked around for two years and just decided to pull the trigger. So, we’ll see.”
![Commercial contractor launches homebuilding brand, plans HQ for both 1 TitanHQ](https://richmondbizsense.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/TitanHQ-700x434.jpg)
A rendering of the building that will house offices for Titan Construction Group and Crossed Key Homes. (Ionic DeZign Studios image)
Six years after starting his commercial contracting company, Brad Capps is launching a homebuilding brand and building a new home for both near Brandermill.
Capps’s Titan Construction Group is preparing to build two 4,000-square-foot buildings at 13380 Tredegar Lake Parkway, a 6-acre property beside Powhite Parkway east of its intersection with Charter Colony Parkway.
One of the buildings will house offices for Titan and homebuilding offshoot Crossed Key Homes, which Capps launched about a month ago with his wife Brittany. The other building will be leasable space, and Capps plans to later build a third building with flex space, which he said is lacking in Chesterfield County.
![Commercial contractor launches homebuilding brand, plans HQ for both 2 Titan1](https://richmondbizsense.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Titan1-700x553.jpg)
Titan Construction Group plans to build three commercial buildings on the 6-acre site at 13380 Tredegar Lake Parkway. (Thalhimer flyer)
Capps is under contract to purchase the property for $380,000 in a deal that’s scheduled to close in August. The undeveloped land was listed with a $400,000 asking price by Thalhimer agent Isaac Deregibus for seller Swimquest LLC, which bought the property in 2008 for nearly $680,000. Thalhimer’s Kevin South is representing Capps in the deal and will handle leasing for the buildings.
The land is assessed by the county at $440,600.
The buildings will be the latest that Capps has constructed with Titan, which he launched in 2017. The general contracting firm focuses on restaurants and retail but has branched out in recent years with several shopping center builds, including buildings at Cosby Village and CenterPointe.
“We’ve done a dozen or so Starbucks out of the ground,” Capps said. “When I started it, we were primarily an upfit contractor. Now we’ve transitioned into a shell contractor that then turns around and does the upfit. We’ve been very lucky that we’ve had clients that I knew in my past that were willing to let me grow with them.”
Titan has also built a track record of building buildings for businesses that are new to Virginia. Capps said it built the first Crumbl Cookies in the state, the first Chicken Salad Chick and the first Vivo Infusion.
It’s set to build the first Starbucks in Powhatan, and it was just awarded the Mason’s Lobster Roll that’s going into Winterfield Crossing and is building the 7 Brew coffee shop planned at Courthouse and Hull Street roads. Other projects have included Hidden Wit brewery and
“That’s kind of odd that a company our size is the first to do something, but I think it’s because we get into the weeds and either cut costs or cut fees, or help them understand where potholes or the landmines are in the process,” Capps said. “We get way down into the weeds on the frontend to try to add value to the process, which most GCs don’t want to do. They just want to take a set of plans and bid it and be done.”
While he said Titan’s output has grown to between $15 million and $20 million worth of projects annually, Capps has kept the company “lean and mean” with three full-time employees plus himself.
“I purposely run lean and mean, because it allows us to be flexible on fees,” he said. “When I started Titan, I wanted to make sure that we were different than most GCs. Different meaning that we don’t provide a material or a product that only Titan can provide. The only way to be different is to treat people like you want to be treated, so I truly try to treat people like their partners and not a transaction.
“If that means I need to get tight on a fee or I need to cut a number, because my overhead is low and we run lean and mean, it allows me to be flexible on what I need to be paid,” he said. “My attitude is if the job dies because I’m too expensive on my overhead and my fees, then nobody gets to do a job, so why not be flexible and partner with people? They see that you have a vested interest in their success.”
Having worked in the construction industry for 20 years, Capps said he’s done both commercial and residential but was motivated to start Crossed Key Homes after working on two homes for two of the bigger production builders in the Richmond market.
“When you walk into the neighborhood or sales office, they tell you these houses start at $400,000 or $500,000. Really, they don’t start at 400 or 500, because by the time you add the lot premium and then you get to the design studio and you start picking what you actually would want to put in your house, all of a sudden, the house that they told you was $500,000 is now $750,000,” Capps said.
“Even then, you’re limited on what you can select. It’s based on what’s in their design studio,” he said. “The idea for Crossed Key is to be fully transparent and design a house and offer a house that people actually want and give them an accurate price on it.”
To that end, he and Brittany are designing seven floorplans and elevations that include features that other builders offer as options.
“Features like whole-house speakers or intercom systems. The stuff that essentially you would want to put in your house if you were building it for yourself and not having to go through a builder and then just get what you can get.”
He said the homes will range in size from 3,000 to 4,500 square feet and be designed for larger properties with at least 1 acre. Prices will range from the $700,000s to under $1 million.
He and Brittany have hired an interior designer, Sarah French, and will list the homes with real estate agent Sarah Holton, who also sells homes for Biringer Builders. He said Crossed Key was recently approved to build three lots at Maple Grove in Powhatan.
Describing Crossed Key as a semi-custom builder, Capps said the new business will bring him back into homebuilding, which he started with his uncle in Warrenton after graduating from the University of South Carolina in 2004.
“I loved construction, didn’t like Northern Virginia, so I got home as quick as I could and I’ve been in the construction industry since then,” Capps said.
Starting Titan six years ago, Capps added, “I just decided that I could do it better for myself the way I wanted to do it. The home side has been something I’ve kicked around for two years and just decided to pull the trigger. So, we’ll see.”
Congratulations Brad! We value our partnership!