Goldsboro’s construction giant marks centennial milestone with celebration honoring past achievements and future vision
GOLDSBORO, N.C. — On Thursday, September 4th, T. A. Loving Company celebrated a remarkable milestone that few construction companies achieve: 100 years of continuous operation. The Goldsboro-based construction giant hosted a centennial celebration attended by community leaders, business partners, and the employees who have made the company’s success possible.
From Humble Beginnings to Regional Powerhouse
The story of T. A. Loving Company began in 1925 when Taylor Abbitt Loving, an enterprising young man from Culpepper, Virginia, ventured south to North Carolina. Having learned to build barns and bridges in his Virginia hometown, Loving found work on a bridge construction crew in Goldsboro and quickly recognized the opportunity in a town situated at a key railroad junction.
What started as a sole proprietorship has grown into one of the nation’s consistently top-ranked 400 contractors, leaving an indelible mark across the Southeast and beyond. From its Goldsboro headquarters, the company has built everything from massive military installations to delicate healthcare facilities, from towering university buildings to essential infrastructure hidden beneath city streets.
Historic Achievements and Landmark Projects
T. A. Loving Company’s portfolio reads like a history of American construction. During World War II, the company took on the massive assignment of building Fort Bragg, employing more than 25,000 workers at peak construction and opening a new building every thirty-two minutes during the height of the project.
The company’s reach extended far beyond North Carolina’s borders, constructing the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, in 1940. This steel-through arch structure would later become a National Historic Landmark, serving as the site of a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights Movement when demonstrators were attacked by police in 1965.
Closer to home, T. A. Loving has left its thumbprint across North Carolina’s healthcare landscape. The company built the Lineberger Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina,
which opened in 1984 as a 70,000 square-foot, $9.4 million facility. More recently, it has maintained a significant presence at Vidant Medical Center in Greenville through more than a decade of major projects.
Building Bridges, Literally and Figuratively
Perhaps no aspect of T. A. Loving’s work is more visible than its bridge construction throughout eastern North Carolina. Stephen Salter, general superintendent and assistant vice president of the Bridge Group, recalls a meeting at the N.C. Department of Transportation regional headquarters where he counted six T. A. Loving bridges or work sites among eight traffic camera monitors.
“When you’re driving in eastern North Carolina, you won’t go on many roads where you haven’t driven over a bridge that we’ve built,” Salter noted. “If you head to the coast, you’re going to cross a T. A. Loving bridge.”
The company has built bridges spanning the inlets, sounds, and rivers of the Outer Banks and coastal areas from Manteo down to Morehead City, connecting communities and facilitating commerce across the region.
Excellence in Education and Healthcare
T. A. Loving Company has played a crucial role in shaping North Carolina’s educational landscape. The company has erected multiple buildings at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, built a classroom building at the UNC School of Medicine in Chapel Hill in 1970, and constructed five K-12 schools around Myrtle Beach featuring dozens of cutting-edge energy conservation features.
In the healthcare sector, the company’s work extends beyond high-profile projects to deeply personal impact. Brett Bond, a healthcare senior project manager who has been with T. A. Loving since his summer internships in 2006, supervised construction of a surgical center for Wayne UNC Health Care from 2015 to 2016. Years later, he watched his one-year-old son receive treatment in the very facility he had helped build.
“We came in through the door and into the lobby we’d built, into the triage room we’d built, into the E.R. we’d built and then back up the post-op room we’d built,” Bond reflected. “I saw every bit of it come together. It gave you quite a sense of pride to see the work you’d done be put to good use—and in my case, see your own son treated in that hospital.”
Hidden Infrastructure, Vital Impact
While T. A. Loving’s building projects are highly visible, much of the company’s work remains hidden underground. The utilities division has worked with hundreds of towns and municipalities
on water distribution and sewage treatment facilities, from Brunswick County wastewater treatment plants to utility repairs at Camp Lejeune.
Paul Hunter, senior vice president and son of company executives Ann and Sam Hunter, emphasized the critical importance of this less visible work. “Everyone associates T. A. Loving Company with our Building Division because it’s so visual, but if we don’t do the water and sewer, this world comes to a crashing halt,” he explained.
Jerry Smith, who joined the company in 1967 and served as senior vice president of the Utilities Group until his retirement in 2015, put it more colorfully: “My wife and I’d go by a wastewater treatment plant on the road driving somewhere and she’d say, ‘What’s that smell?’ I’d say, ‘That’s the smell of money.’ That’s been an important area of work for this company for many, many years.”
A Culture of Excellence and Recognition
The company’s commitment to quality has earned numerous accolades over the decades. In 2004, T. A. Loving was named “Best General Contractor” by Carolinas Associated General Contractors, with one subcontractor noting that “T. A. Loving makes you want to perform well for them.”
Engineering News-Record magazine listed the company among the top 400 construction companies in the United States in 1983, and T. A. Loving has appeared regularly on various rankings of North Carolina’s largest companies since the 1980s.
Leadership Through Generations
The celebration featured remarks from key company leaders, including CEO Ty Edmondson, who emphasized the collaborative spirit that has defined the company’s success. “Each of you have had a part to play in the success of this company,” Edmondson told the assembled crowd. “To our owners, to our employees, both past and present, thank you for your unwavering dedication and excellence.”
Sam Hunter, who joined T. A. Loving in 1971 and served as president and CEO from 1988 through 2023, spoke to the lasting satisfaction that comes from construction work. “One of the nice things about being in construction, and it doesn’t matter whether you’re in management or a laborer, is you can be driving around with a friend or family member and cross a bridge or pass by a building and say, ‘I helped build that, I worked on that,’” Hunter reflected. “You can see what you’ve done, and that is very satisfying and rewarding.”
Core Values and Future Vision
T. A. Loving Company’s enduring success stems from unwavering commitment to core values that have remained constant throughout its century of operation. These include integrity (“We do
what we say we’ll do”), safety (“Safe work, or no work”), excellence, client advocacy, teamwork, and high ethical standards.
The company’s mission centers on operational excellence, while its vision is “to be widely recognized as the contractor of choice in every market we serve.” This reputation for reliability and quality has resulted in an exceptionally high percentage of repeat customers, testament to the company’s promise of delivering quality products coupled with value and expertise.
Building the Next Century
As T. A. Loving Company looks toward its next century, leadership emphasizes continuity with the founder’s original vision while embracing innovation and growth. The company continues to provide pre-construction and construction services across multiple industries, including healthcare, athletics, higher education, K-12 education, and utilities.
Chairman Sam Hunter notes that “time and modernization have not changed the culture of the company. T. A. Loving Compnay remains faithful to its founder’s vision to provide meaningful and rewarding careers to generations of families.”
CEO Ty Edmondson concluded the celebration with a toast to the future: “To our current employees, you are building the next 100 years. Our projects continue to challenge each of us as innovators, problem solvers, and constructors. Cheers to the next 100 years, and remember, it’s a great day to be in construction.”
The Plumb Bob Legacy
The company’s logo—a plumb bob—serves as a fitting symbol for T. A. Loving’s approach to construction. This ancient tool, believed to have been used in building the Egyptian pyramids, represents precision, accuracy, and doing things the right way.
“There’s a lot of symbolism with the plumb bob—straight and true and that’s how you build things,” CEO Edmondson explained. Ann Loving Hunter, niece of the founder, added, “The plumb bob says this company is going to do the job right. They’re not going to do it sloppily. You can trust them to do it the way it should be.”
As T. A. Loving Company embarks on its second century, that commitment to building things straight and true—whether bridges, hospitals, schools, or communities—remains as solid as ever. With a foundation built on a century of excellence and a vision focused on the future, the company stands ready to continue its legacy of turning dreams into reality, one project at a time.
