We are a full service general contractor specializing in all facets of commercial and government construction systems as well as construction management. Our services are varied and include new construction, retrofit, renovation, and building maintenance.

Since our founding in 1963, we have performed both commercial and government general contracting in Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

Our commercial construction includes a wide array of projects, including restaurants, indoor tennis facilities, office buildings, warehouses, branch banks, tenant fit-out and renovations, major department store renovations, and historic preservation concerns.

We have successfully completed contracts for numerous federal government agencies and local public jurisdictions. This work is as varied as the construction of new warehousing, testing facilities, major renovations of existing military barracks, office buildings, health care units, and dining halls and cafeterias.

We employ a progressive approach to satisfying the needs of our clients, as is evidenced by the large volume of repeat negotiated business we are awarded. In fact, negotiated contracts account for 80% of our business.

In today’s challenging market, Hughes & Smith possesses the capacity and capability to provide the responsiveness that our clients demand.

We look forward to discussing your needs and building a satisfying long-term relationship with you.

John J. Hughes, III

President

“After 4 short weeks, two major snowstorms, a lot of sleep deprivation from the contractors and a fantastic coordination of efforts from everyone involved we are finally done with the MCI remodel and ready to reopen Thursday!! The Verizon folks came in today and were very impressed with the transformation. They gave us big thumbs up!! This remodel has been in the making for almost 4 years and there were some major players that I would like to recognize for their outstanding contributions to this project…

…Lastly I would like to say the BIGGEST thanks to Garland Clark from Hughes & Smith along with his entire crew and sub-contractors. Our site supers, Gary, Craig and Scotty were all just absolutely fantastic to work with. These guys are true gems without a doubt! The guys from Saia Plumbing, AA Electric, Dennis and the rest of the guys worked literally on top of one another but yet were still able to be jovial and fun. I know they were ready to strangle the meticulous OCD sisters, Carolyn and Wendy, but they turned out an AMAZING project in a very short period of time and under some incredible conditions.”

Thanks, CR

Chipotle Director of Facilities

Right from the start in our relationship with them, we proved our ability to keep costs in line and complete multiple locations in a timely manner. For instance, in the 1990’s, we were instrumental in streamlining a process for building and opening over 70 McDonald’s “Express” units within a two-year period.

Our creative approach to construction was also apparent from the beginning, so over the years, McDonald’s has often negotiated with us for their most challenging projects enabling them to take advantage of desirable locations and historic properties, as was the case at 2481-83 18^th Street in Northwest Washington, DC.

In order to preserve its historic façade, while making the building function for McDonald’s, we undertook a series of special measures to shore up the entire exterior, including the roof, while completely removing the interior in order to build a 3-story restaurant in this spectacular building which originally served as the office for the first African American physician in Washington, DC.

The result? A beautifully preserved, historic building with a modern, thriving McDonald’s inside.

More recently, as was the case at 5311 Duke Street in Alexandria, VA, McDonald’s negotiated with us to develop the procedure by which existing modular built stores (now experiencing failures) could be completely rebuilt while maintaining the exterior façade, enabling McDonald’s to compromise with zoning and waive other regulatory compliance issues and their additional expense associated with new construction.

This involved shoring up the walls and mansard roof section that was to remain prior to removing the entire roof, ceiling, floor, and finishes as well as removal of unsuitable soils from the 3’ constricted crawl space, backfilling with engineered stone to grade, and placing a new slab (now on-grade) upon which we built the structural steel framed new interior.