Keeping it in the family

What we can learn from our multigenerational businesses

When a business is passed down from generation to generation, it comes with it a sense of history and legacy. Multigenerational businesses are special, and they’re rare, too: Business Week estimated that, of family-owned businesses in the U.S., only 3% are successfully passed down to a third generation and beyond.

Two NCGMA member businesses that have been in the glazing industry for multiple generations share why they have chosen to keep their businesses in family. Here’s what we learned.

Bill Coll, Jr., Bill Coll, Sr. and Adam Coll

Hear directly from three generations of Colls and their family’s legacy in the video above.

Multigenerational businesses are all about keeping history alive.

Five generations of the Coll family have been in the glazing industry, with three of those generations working at Architectural Glass & Aluminum (AGA).

“My great-grandfather and grandfather were instrumental in starting the glaziers’ union in San Francisco,” says Bill Coll Jr., VP of sales and estimating at AGA. “They were officials in the union, and they traveled quite a bit across the United States.”

Bill’s son, Adam, says he first became interested in following in his family footsteps as a kid, when his father and grandfather would point out all the buildings they had worked on. “I think it’s special: You can physically see the work, and all the memories come back of the struggles and the good times on that specific job,” he says.

There’s a sense of family pride.

Progress Glass in San Francisco has been in the Burkard family since the 1950s, when Chuck Burkard’s grandfather bought the company. Chuck became a full-time employee in the ’70s, and now his son CJ Burkard, daughter Jessica (Burkard) Markey and son-in-law Stuart Markey are also part of the business.

“My father always told me owning a business was like raising a child. It will always need you and you will always need to care for it,” Burkard says. “Our family roots run deep in this business, but our employees become part of the family. It’s important to me that this business stays within the family or someone who understands the importance of family, balance and service.”

Thomas Burkard, Sr., his wife Blessing and Thomas Burkard, Jr. (Tom)

(L to R): Progress Glass's 2022 Top Glazier Matt Kral, Operations Manager Brad Wallace, Jessica (Burkard) Markey and Chuck Burkard.

Businesses are safe in the hands of future generations.

Because their business is essentially a family heirloom, Chuck Burkard says he knows his kids will carry on its legacy into the next decades.

“They are more than capable of carrying this business on,” he says. “When I realized that, it became clear to pass the business to the next generation as my grandfather started and continue this as a family business.”

Being an NCGMA member keeps these businesses thriving.

As members of NCGMA, both the Burkards and the Colls have received tools and resources that have kept their businesses nimble and will contribute to their ongoing legacies. “NCGMA has been an asset to our business and a great support for our team,” Chuck Burkard says. “They save us time when it comes to questions that need to be answered and we are unsure of a reliable source. They bridge the gap between labor and management, which pushes our trade in the right direction.”

As we close our series celebrating NCGMA's 20th Anniversary, the staff and Board of Director members thank our glazing contractor members for contributing to the success of the association and industry over the past 20 years. Here's to many more!

NCGMA | bfishel@alliedtrades.org | (510) 428-9486 | ncgma.org