Rob Clifton, CEO of Clifton Construction, lives in Evans with his wife Lauren and their two kids, Haviland and Bauer. “I was born and raised in Columbia County and I went to school for all 12 years at Augusta Christian Schools. When I graduated, I went to Auburn University for Building Construction,” he shares. Clifton Construction was started by Rob’s father 37 years ago. He took Rob to visit a job site when he was in the 1st grade and after that experience, he knew that he wanted to work in construction. “I was very blessed to know where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do from the very beginning,” says Rob.
“I always knew that I wanted to grow the company much larger,” he shares. In order to do that, after graduating from college, Rob worked at a bigger firm to gain experience and bring something new to the table. “I came back to the business about seven years ago and I took over the role of CEO four years ago. We’ve almost doubled in size and have tripled in capacity as far as how many projects we can work on at once,” he shares.
“One of our core values is that we’re a faith based company. You can find that on our website, it’s not something we hide behind and we’re very proud of it. We also treat people the way we want to be treated.” Rob is a firm believer in listening to hear and understand what people are saying. “When talking with clients, listen to what they have to say. We make sure we understand what they’re asking for so that we can give them exactly what they want. For our clients, it’s not just another project to them, it is the project. We don’t breeze over something because we do it every day, we slow down enough to make the owner feel comfortable and make sure they feel heard.”
Rob is a part of the Columbia County Government Affairs Committee, on the Board of Directors for the Columbia County Chamber of Commerce, and on the Construction Advisory Board, along with a group called the Coalition for Better Government. “That is my attempt to try and do more, engage more, and make sure I understood what was happening on a regular and direct basis. We’re making sure that as this community grows, my kids have the same benefits that I had growing up. I love Columbia County, this is an amazing place to live, an amazing place to raise a family, and was an amazing place to be raised. I have two young kids and I want them to see Columbia County as a place they want to come back to and raise their family,” he shares.
Prioritizing family time is very important to the Cliftons. They love attending Journey Community Church together and participating in local events like the Evans Market and Food Truck Fridays. When Rob was a kid, his dad raced a Datsun 240z, and they now continue that hobby together. “My dad and I race cars and the kids just love coming to the race track with us.”
For more information about Clifton Construction, visit www.sdclifton.com.