Forty Under 40: Cody Crawford, 31

Cody Crawford knew by age 16 he wanted to be in the construction business and never lost sight of the dream.
Fast-forward through more than 10 years of schooling — at the University of Arkansas and hands-on in the field — and Crawford decided to start his own construction company with some partners in early 2006.
“I reached a moment that was now or never,” he said. “I probably wouldn’t have been willing to do it at 45, so I did it at 27.”
Despite being the worst possible time to start a construction company, C.R. Crawford had revenue of nearly $26 million in 2008 and is on track to beat that figure in 2010.
“The new norm is to maintain,” Crawford said, “so the goal is to have very calculated, stable growth.”
After college, Crawford worked for Systems Contracting Corp. in his hometown of El Dorado before he joined the Dave Grundfest Co. of Little Rock. His work there spanned from 2002 to 2004, and he got a chance to work for what was then called Bell-Corely Construction and open the Rogers office.
Nowadays, Crawford manages the operations side of the business, but he still gets out to visit job sites two to three days a week and doesn’t mind pitching in when he needs to.
Crawford said fear of letting down a client or a co-worker is what keeps him on his toes.