Todd and Ryan Cash offer complementary areas of expertise for Abaco Construction in the northern Bahamas.

A SUCCESSFUL COMPANY doesn’t have to be the biggest to be the best. Sometimes, it only takes a dynamic duo with the yin and yang that complements each other’s strengths and weaknesses to get the job done.

Todd and Ryan Cash have perfected their family-owned operation in just this manner while at the helm of Abaco Construction Ltd. located on Elbow Cay, Abaco, in the Northern Bahamas. The brothers each have their own specialties that would make them hot commodities for any other construction company, but instead they work together to deliver some of the highest quality custom homes on Elbow Cay.

“That’s what makes us unique as a business,” Ryan Cash says. “It allows us to undertake several major projects simultaneously, which translates to more revenue, higher growth potential and more exposure for the business.”

Owner and General Manager Todd Cash has over 25 years of experience in building on Elbow Cay. He launched Abaco Construction Ltd. in 2000. Ryan Cash joined the company in 2006 and now serves in the capacity of operations and office manager.

Ryan Cash says his brother is the artist and creative mind of the company, which really comes to the forefront when meeting with potential clients to develop business or with existing clients when issues arise on projects that require insightful solutions.

“My brother is definitely the artistic one in the family, but he is also a visionary. He possesses the uncanny ability to see things 10 steps ahead,” Ryan Cash says. “If you can see potential problems or issues well ahead of time, you can implement measures to avoid them. Avoiding mistakes is much more cost effective than fixing them.”

Ryan, in turn, focuses on administration, reporting, client relationship management and logistics – the latter of which is especially challenging in a location as isolated as Elbow Cay.

“Logistics are a major challenge here,” Ryan says. “We’re on a tiny little cay, so there’s no Home Depot down the road. Materials are shipped over from mainland Abaco via barge and delivered to job sites by truck. There’s no concrete plant or trucks on the island. A lot of what we do has to be done with sheer manpower, which has a major impact on labor costs.

“A huge portion of my time is spent on logistics – making sure materials are sourced and on the job sites in a timely fashion,” Ryan adds. “Our distance and isolation from the United States, which is our main source of goods and materials, adds another level of complication. Project completion schedules need to be thought out much further in advance to account for this. Materials ordered today average three to four weeks before they are staged on-site.”

As a full-service construction management company, Abaco Construction Ltd. can assist in every stage of the building process, from planning and permitting through the entire construction process to final inspections and provision of occupancy certificate. The company’s services include new home construction, renovations, pools and decks, roofing, tool rentals and available storage.

The Cash brothers combine their expertise to provide a high quality product on a consistent basis.

“We basically pride ourselves on quality and a good reputation, and we work hard for that every day,” Ryan says. “We’re certainly not known as the cheapest game in town because we’re a bigger, more complex operation than the majority of our competition. That obviously translates to higher operating costs/overhead. But with that also comes a high quality product that we unquestionably stand behind.”

Poured ‘On the Rocks’

Abaco Construction Ltd. recently delivered one such high-end custom project on the island that required seeking experts from across the island nation as well as all of the company’s logistics expertise.

This project involved retrofitting an existing home called “On the Rocks” with an infinity pool and Jacuzzi. Because of the location above the rocky Atlantic shoreline, all aspects of the job had to be performed by hand, including the substantial concrete pour for an infinity pool that cascades over a cliff.

“The pool was literally constructed out over thin air. We had to pour yards of concrete with buckets mixed in a small cement mixer that was lifted down on to the property using a small crane,” Ryan says. “If the same pool was built in a suburban neighborhood, it would have taken two months. But because of what we were dealing with, it was a four-to-five-month project.” 

To determine the best course of action, Abaco Construction Ltd. consulted with a local landscape architect for the conceptual design. The company than worked with a pool contractor based in Nassau, Bahamas, to figure out how to install the pumps and heater for the pool.

“It was a baptism by fire type of job,” Ryan says. “In spite of all the planning beforehand, we pretty much had to figure out and implement solutions to problems as they arose. Although it was small project when compared to building a home, we are very proud of the finished product because of the location and scope.”

Abaco Construction Ltd. routinely subs out electrical, plumbing and HVAC related project requirements, but the company has a full complement of skilled employees capable of accomplishing anything construction related. It maintains full-time staff also capable of providing services that are often subbed out such as countertop fabrication or tile installation. Abaco has a multitalented foreman, David Darville, who, besides being the main guy on the ground, is also a highly skilled finish carpenter and mechanic/technician. This way, the company can deliver projects to the Cash brothers’ strict standards.

“When the need arises, we have the skill set on staff and necessary tools and equipment to do most things in house,” Ryan says.

Having this full-time staff with diverse skill sets on-hand has come in handy as Abaco Construction’s clients are demanding higher-end homes than in years past. Ryan says the company has encountered more demand for high end luxury homes built on waterfront properties.

“Every aspect involved with building that caliber of home is exponentially more complex and demanding,” Ryan says. “There is a growing niche there that we are striving to fill, and ultimately, our goal is to be the most sought after operation for large, high end projects.”

Projects like On the Rocks and a host of other high quality homes are proving grounds for the type of work Abaco Construction Ltd. can deliver as the company moves into this upper echelon of custom homes. Logistics and top-notch construction will remain the keys to success.