Women In Construction

CMP Exterior Celebrates Five Years in Business, Continued Success and Growth

Submitted by CMP Exterior

Five years ago, Christine Pandolfi, a highly experienced interior designer/builder for high-end residences and restaurants, decided it was time to shake up her career and find a new challenge. She had long been fascinated by the idea of bringing residential quality craftsmanship to commercial construction and the idea of operating a “well run” commercial construction company.

Christine Pandolfi

Of all the ideas she explored, the commercial siding business concept took hold, and in 2017, Christine and a longtime client and business mentor opened CMP Exterior, a Connecticut-based trade contracting firm. The company’s goal would be to bring quality and expertise at a fair price to an underserved market. While Christine is president and majority shareholder, she also credits her partner for guidance, as the luxury residential construction market and commercial construction market are different.

Today, CMP Exterior is an up-and-coming business that has doubled its revenues each year for the last three years, and 2023 promises the same. That alone is a great business success story by any standard. It’s an even more impressive story, considering the last three years also included a worldwide pandemic, labor shortages, and ongoing supply chain issues.

And perhaps most impressive: CMP Exterior is woman-owned and led – something you don’t see every day in the commercial construction industry. According to the National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC), women today make up about 10% of the construction industry overall, and only 13% of U.S. construction businesses are women-owned.

Christine Pandolfi on a job site

Today, CMP Exterior includes staff to perform cost estimating and take-offs; coordinate material ordering and delivery schedules; and manage the on-site installation teams. Further evidence of Christine’s success is her expansion into new markets and landing new clients. During the initial years of operation, CMP Exterior worked with one or two regional general contractors. Today, CMP’s client base includes nearly a half-dozen regional general contractors, and her geographic reach has expanded into Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Maryland, Virginia, and Delaware.

For Christine, her interest in art, design, and construction has been a life-long passion. Initially, college included a business degree because she feared that interior design may not be a sustainable career. Not feeling satisfied, she returned to college to study art, architecture, design, and construction – and never looked back. Building would be her forever path and love.

“Christine started from nothing and created a business that’s not only a top performer but also profitable. She is a shining example of a person who goes after what she believes in, brings her passion and commitment to every undertaking, and is someone you can count on, without fail,” says Mike Kolakowksi, president and CEO of KBE Building Corporation in Farmington, Conn. “As a contractor and a business owner, having the kind of trusting relationship Christine has built with our firm and other contractors is priceless. Male or female, anyone would do well for themselves to follow her example.”

Other clients concur:

“Working with Christine was refreshing,” says Brian Parmenter, project executive with Callahan Construction Managers of Bridgewater, Mass.  “We had a great experience with CMP all the way from contract negotiation through to punch list.  She and her team are very easy to deal with and very detailed-oriented.”