Vice Presidents Austin Moore and Pete Zseleczky reflect on their business and how they’ve helped transform Durham into the city it is today
As told to Leah Berry | Photo by Sarah Martin
Consider your most cherished Durham hangouts – perhaps restaurants, bars and venues like Queeny’s, Seraphine, The Velvet Hippo or The Pinhook. There’s a good chance that Gateway Building Company, considered one of Durham’s best commercial builders by Durham Magazine readers in our annual poll, had a hand in its creation. Company Vice Presidents Austin Moore and Pete Zseleczky credit the Bull City and its local businesses for the continued support and opportunity to help shape the identity of the place they call home.
Can you give us a brief overview of the history of the company?
Pete Zseleczky Austin’s dad, Jack Moore, started Gateway in 2013. Most of the employees at [Gateway] when it first started came from Mixon Construction, which had been in Durham for 20 years before that, so it’s been a lot of the same experienced staff. When Jack first started, he had some long-term clients who … we started working with again, and we’ve grown from that and had sort of a niche in hospitality and retail projects, especially around downtown Durham. And then, historic preservation, adaptive reuse jobs, etc.
Austin Moore We joined in 2015 and became part-owners around 2017. We’re buying the company from [my dad] in the next couple of years.
What inspired the creation of Gateway?
AM Jack was in his early 60s when he started the business. He had a dream of having his own general contracting company. He wanted a company to be based on the people, kind of a collaborative environment. One of his sayings is that he wanted to “hang up his suit and wear his jeans to work every day,” which we all adopted.
What sets Gateway apart as a commercial builder?
AM We’ve got a very personal approach. With there being three owners, we have a chance to be personally involved in almost all of the projects. And the client has a single point of contact – a project manager will take it from the very beginning to the very end, which is rare in commercial construction. We also have a big focus on collaboration … no one really remembers if you do a great job if the project fails, so it’s all about everyone working together and everyone coming together to make a good project. And we’ve had relatively low turnover, which is also not very common. We’ve had a lot of the same people since 2015, and even as we’ve grown, a lot of those people have stayed. And the new team members we’ve brought on continue to stay as well.
How many employees does Gateway have now?
AM – Gateway has about 21 employees, plus a really great group of consultants. So we’re about nine people in the office and 12 field staff or superintendents.
What has been the biggest business recent challenge for Gateway? Its biggest success?
PZ I think anybody in construction, especially commercial construction, would say that the labor market and supply chain have been disrupted over the past four years.
AM That’s in construction as a whole, so it’s been a tough thing to navigate. For Gateway as well, we’ve been growing that entire time, so learning how to navigate those issues and material lead times, but also bringing on additional employees … there’s just the growing pains from that.
PZ We just expanded our office here, so we’ve done pretty well on hiring and trying to implement standards and create a structure, as well as modernize and keep up with project management software and that kind of thing. Success-wise, we think our employees being happy has been the biggest success. We’ve maintained the same employees, we have little turnover, and everyone maintains a great work- life balance, which is pretty hard to do in our industry.
How has the Durham community played a part in the overall success of Gateway?
PZ We would not be Gateway without Durham and being in Durham. We’re a Durham company. The owners and majority of our staff live within 10 minutes of downtown; our first office was under Bar Virgile, which is now Annexe. We’ve grown and relocated – now we’re across from Ponysaurus. But we’ve been supported by the city, and we’ve got great relationships with the inspections department and many of the local downtown businesses. We’re a small business that works for small businesses. It’s a huge network out there. It’s fun.
What is the best business advice you have received?
AM It’s kind of simple, but, to pay people on time. We keep people happy and keep people paid. There’s a lag in commercial [building], so we bill after a month of construction, so it normally takes us a while to get paid by an owner or developer, but we try to pay people as soon as we can to keep them happy and make sure they prioritize us on other jobs we have with them.
What is a major lesson you have learned from owning your own company?
AM The buck kind of stops with you, so stay positive through whatever problem arises. Construction is constantly dealing with one problem and moving on to another problem, so staying positive and just focusing on the outcome and doing your best to reach the end.
PZ You set the tone for the company. So, as owners of the company, we’re staying positive, we’re getting the job done, we’re team players … not dwelling on the negative and finger pointing. We’re moving on and getting through these projects together.
What are you looking forward to sharing next from Gateway? What projects are on the horizon?
PZ We’ve got some fun ones that are about to start out. Austin is working on Sauna House over on West Geer Street. We’ve got a number of well-known bars and restaurants coming up, some that we’re not really allowed to be talking about. We’ve got some good jobs over at American Tobacco Campus – we’ve started MilkShake Factory over next to QueenBurger and other retail jobs. We’ve also got some great talent who’ve joined our team in the past few months, [like Operations Manager Tommy Moore, Project Manager Tres Yarmuth and Superintendent John Wallace] and we are looking forward to getting into some different markets … we’re working our way into RTP, and more institutional and corporate offices.
IN GOOD COMPANY
Many of Gateway’s projects are fellow Best of Durham 2024 honorees. Here are the categories in which these clients were recognized:
Bar Virgile – Burger, Cocktails
Beer Study – Retail Beer Selection, Draft Beer Selection
Bella Trio Salon & Spa – Hair Salon, Spa
Boricua Soul – Latin/Caribbean Food, Restaurant Catering
Camp Bow Wow – North Durham – Pet Boarding
Cheeni Indian Food Emporium – Indian Food
The Cookery (Juhlin Building Event Space) – Event Space
COPA – Overall Restaurant, Place for a Date Night, Latin/ Caribbean Food, Chef, Mocktails
Cornwallis Road Animal Hospital – Veterinarian
Davis Dance Company – Dance Studio
DSSOLVR – Brewery
Eastcut Sandwich Bar – Sandwiches
Fullsteam (kitchen) – Brewery
Grub Durham – Wings
Hope Valley (entrance sign) – Neighborhood
Ideal’s Sandwich and Grocery – Sandwiches
Isaac’s Bagels – New Restaurant
Mike D’s BBQ – Barbecue
NanaSteak – Overall Restaurant, Steak, Wine Selection at a Bar or Restaurant
Only Burger – Food Truck, Burger
Ponysaurus Brewing Co. (roof deck and kitchen) – Brewery
Queeny’s – Place for a Late Night
Saladelia Cafe & Catering – Restaurant Catering
Saltbox Seafood Joint – Seafood
Seraphine – New Restaurant
Skin Wellness Dermatology Associates – Dermatologist
Two Roosters Ice Cream – Frozen Treats
The Velvet Hippo – Mocktails, Cocktails, New Business, Place for a Late Night
In search of more local business stories? Look no further!
