Overseeing 16 employees who are responsible for maintaining 2 million square feet of Old Dominion's campus, Dannie Gavin's job as superintendent of the Structural Building Maintenance crew is neither boring nor sedentary.
Gavin, who joined Old Dominion in 1987 as a lead man for the carpentry shop, has been in his current position five years, directing the crew of painters, locksmiths and carpenters.
This group handles approximately 2,500 jobs annually, including maintaining the roofs on 55 buildings, painting all the interior and exterior walls, constructing custom cabinets, cutting 4,500 keys each year, creating special signs, renovating academic and staff areas, removing graffiti and making university mementos.
"We try to keep up with the workload," Gavin said. "The guys we have here are the best guys I could ever work with. The challenge is keeping the quality of work . . . with the same number of people."
That challenge has escalated in recent years with the opening of the Gornto Center and the Oceanography and Physics Building and the addition to Perry Library, all of which the crew is responsible for maintaining.
"We do the maintenance from the ceiling tiles down to the floor," Gavin said. "We try to stay ahead as fast as we can. We want to get out there and get it done."
Other recent jobs included preparing the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center for its opening at the start of the fall semester and ensuring that the Education Building was ready for the Darden College of Education's accreditation review.
Gavin and his crew also played a major role in the construction and setup of the new fountain in front of Webb Center two years ago. The carpentry shop built the pedestal on which the bronze lion is anchored.
"A lot of people were involved in it, from Dave Harnage on down to the trades helpers," said Gavin, who was on the job some mornings by 4:30 to ensure that the fountain would be up and running - and the lion in place - in time for Founders' Day.
With a myriad of tasks to tackle each day, the crew relies heavily on work orders. "We do a phenomenal amount of work orders," Gavin acknowledged. "Anything with maintenance has to go through work orders, whether it's locks or painting. Work orders are a really good accountability tool of what's going on on campus."
Gavin's typical work day begins at 6:45 a.m. and ends around 3:30 p.m., but he remains on call throughout the night for everything from a broken window to flooding.
"They call me, and I have to get somebody or come out here myself," he said. "I'm a firm believer that if they need my hands on, I can get dirty with the rest of them."
With an associate's degree in business management from Tidewater Community College, Gavin is well aware of the role a well-maintained campus plays in attracting students. "You want students to come here. Parents come here and their first impression is what they see."
As for the students, Gavin added, "We want it to be a place where people say they are proud they went here."
Whether his crew is putting on a new roof or replacing door locks, Gavin ensures that the staff focuses on customer service. As the liaison between his shop and the campus community, Gavin believes customer satisfaction is a vital part of the process.
"We try to work with people and have them tell us what they need so we can get it done as fast as we can and make sure our workmanship is quality."
Gavin and his crew's emphasis on good customer relationships was rewarded last year when they received the Customer Relations Department of the Year award.
"That speaks a lot for my guys and for me," Gavin said, noting that each employee has attended customer service classes offered by the Human Resources Department.
Gavin was not only proud that the crew received the award, but he was also pleased with how the employees spent their $500 winnings.
"We decided to have a little party back here in the Carpentry Shop, but the biggest part of the funds went to the American Heart Association," he said, adding that the group contributed about $300 to the AHA.
When he's not on duty at Old Dominion, Gavin can be found at his three-acre farm in Gates, N.C., where he raises fruit and vegetables. A Virginia Beach native, Gavin said he and his family left the city when his wife went on disability and their son died in an accident. "We wanted to get out of the city, and we're both happy out there. We like Gates. The people still wave to you."
- Elizabeth Cooper
