Sandy Patrican of Ipswich Bay Glass stands in front of 303 Congress St. in Boston, a building at which the Rowley-based company is installing green glass.

Sandy Patrican doesn’t have to take time reflecting on a 32-year career in the commercial real estate business, his company’s handiwork already does that just fine.

After all, as founder of Ipswich Bay Glass, Patrican’s legacy can be found in the gleaming office buildings ringing Route 128, or hovering above the enclosed retail arcade at the Prudential Center in Boston. Visitors to St. Margaret’s Hospital in Allston also can admire IBG’s efforts, as can anyone attending the Regis College Performing Arts Center in Weston.

By Patrican’s count, his Rowley-based firm has performed glass installation and glazing services at more than a thousand commercial properties in Eastern Massachusetts during the past three decades, establishing itself as one of the regional leaders in that sector. Founded as a tiny glass replacement shop in Ipswich in 1969, the company soon gravitated from installing windshields and repairing broken storefronts to specializing in commercial real estate projects.

We’re pretty well situated in our market, Patrican acknowledged in an interview last week. We get a pretty good share of the business.

Indeed, one would be hard-pressed to tour Greater Boston these days without running into one of IBG’s works in progress. The firm is installing the ubiquitous green glass found at two downtown Boston office buildings, the 70,000-square-foot 303 Congress St. and the nearby 470 Atlantic Ave., a 335,000-square-foot former warehouse undergoing a gut renovation. IBG is also the glass subcontractor on another atrium being installed for the Prudential Center and on dormitories at the Wentworth Institute of Technology and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

IBG certainly has its share of fans in the industry, including John Moriarity, whose firm John Moriarity & Assoc. is overseeing the Prudential atrium project. The veteran contractor has worked with IBG since the mid-1980s, said Moriarity, estimating that he has used the company for nearly 150 contracts in that time. While the construction industry is infamous for delays, conflicts and scheduling snafus, IBG has been remarkably consistent through the years, according to Moriarity.

We’ve had an excellent working relationship with them for 15 years, he said. I think of them as a huge part of our team.

Equally impressed is John Camera, senior vice president for construction at Boston Properties. One of the most prolific developers in the area, Boston Properties uses IBG for all but a handful of its projects locally, including office buildings throughout suburban Boston and numerous undertakings in the Hub and Cambridge as well. Camera said he has dealt with IBG for nearly all of the 21 years he has been with Boston Properties, calling it a class operation.

In this business, you’ve got to be able to deliver, and they have always done what they said they would do, Camera said. For my money, I’d say they are one of the top firms out there.

But IBG’s expertise goes beyond just laying the glass and aluminum extrusions that support the window lines, according to Camera. Boston Properties often asks the company to review design documents on a given project long before the work actually begins.

We like to involve them very early, said Camera. You want to find out whether what the architect conceives can be done and can be done at a price that makes sense.

Patrican agreed that IBG has the capability to perform such services, often providing value engineering to ensure a project is approached the best way possible. Doing all of its work in-house, IBG has sophisticated computers that can review a design, both for technical analysis and potential efficiencies. In some cases, for example, spacing of the glass system can be adapted to either lower cost or improve energy savings.

Doing What Matters
After 25 years in Topsfield, IBG moved three years ago to a state-of-the-art facility on Route 1 in Rowley. All aluminum fabrication is done at the 85,000-square-foot plant by IBG employees, with technicians able to cut and assemble each extrusion to the specifications of the client. About the only thing IBG doesn’t create at the plant is the glass itself, which is imported from various suppliers. After assembling the materials, IBG then ships and installs the product at the job site, again using its own trained staff.

IBG today has nearly 200 employees, some of whom could be considered part of Patrican’s inner circle. That is because all of his family has played a hand in the firm’s growth, with wife Diane and their three children having helped run IBG’s day-to-day operations in various capacities through the years. Diane and daughter Kelly are less involved these days than in the past, with Kelly now concentrating on raising three of her own children and Diane assisting with six grandchildren. Sons Michael and Brian Patrican are both part of the current management team, Michael serving as vice president of sales and Brian as treasurer.

We’re very fortunate, said Sandy Patrican. Family businesses can be a challenge at times, but the rewards of being with your family are wonderful. All in the clan have been integral in IBG’s success, he said, praising both sons for their expertise in the industry. Moriarity concurred that the Patricans as a group have been key contributors, adding that he deals mostly with Michael Patrican.

I depend on him and trust him, Moriarity said. He does a great job.

A Babson College alumnus, Brian Patrican said he was not sure until he neared graduation that he would remain at the company, but added he is now glad he took that route. The extensive hours somehow seem more worthwhile, he said.

Another component for IBG’s success comes from paying attention to industry changes, Sandy Patrican said, agreeing that methods and materials have evolved markedly since he began the company. Safety regulations are much more stringent, he said, while improved glass has also made it more energy efficient and therefore able to play a bigger role in building construction.

But while stressing that IBG does keep apprised of new technologies, Sandy Patrican also attributes the company’s loyal following to old-fashioned customer service and quality control. IBG will occasionally do a smaller job on behalf of a preferred customer, he said, and shies away from mega-projects out of fears that it might absorb so many resources that longtime clients are impacted.

It’s a simple question of being able to get the job done on time and under budget, he said. That’s what matters to most people.

In attending business-focused Babson, Brian Patrican no doubt heard all of the latest theories on how to run a successful operation. Like his father, however, he maintained that it almost always comes down to the basics.

We’re not reinventing the wheel here, he said. You just have to work smarter and pay attention to detail, and that’s pretty much what we do.