Unlike most local construction companies, Southeastern Properties and Development Company is unique in that we are operated by an individual with an engineering background. Our President, John Cooper, graduated Cum Laude with a B.S. in Construction Engineering and Management from North Carolina State University. John has extensive experience in both residential and commercial construction. John’s employment record includes:

Southeastern Properties and Development Company, Sanford, NC
President/Co-Founder, May 2001-Present

• Conceived and started a land development and residential construction business based in Harnett County, NC.
•  Work includes business plan development, loan negotiation, bookkeeping, estimating, overseeing land improvements, overseeing residential construction projects, and sale negotiations.

Brasfield & Gorrie LLC, Raleigh, NC
Estimator, May 2004-May 2005

• Estimated commercial and healthcare construction projects ranging from $250,000 interior upfits, to $23 million surgical expansions, to a $50 million shopping center.
• Work included bid solicitation, interviewing subcontractors, complete project take-off, evaluating bids, project scheduling, building an estimate, writing qualification statements and presenting bids to owners.

Crowder Construction Company, Apex, NC
Cooperative Education-Project Engineer, January 2002-May 2003

• Worked on a project management team overseeing the construction/upgrade of a waste water treatment plant in Johnston County, NC and a water treatment plant in Orange County, NC.
• Work included estimating, material purchasing, subcontract negotiations, submittal preparations, project scheduling, and acting as a liaison between Crowder Construction and the Engineering firm.

John’s father is a master trim carpenter; John spent most of his summers growing up on jobsites apprenticing. Many of the subcontractors that he met as a child work for Southeastern today. His background as a subcontractor himself and his long working relationship with many of our top subcontractors creates a strong sense of loyalty among our crews which translates into a higher quality product for our clients.
John’s engineering background has proven to be invaluable to our clients. By completing design work in house and employing our own draftsman we have been able to save our clients thousands of dollars.

John enjoys spending time with his family and friends and is an dog lover. He spends much of his freetime fulfilling his duties as chair of HAVEN in Lee County’s board of directors.

Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude with a degree in Business Administration in Accounting from Campbell University.

Chris has over 15 years’ experience in real estate sales and development. He is consistently ranked in the top ten percent of all real estate agents in the Sanford/Lee County area and is one of the only people to every be reelected President of his Realor association. He successfully bid and won the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s listing contract for approximately 15% of North Carolina. He Co-Founded Coldwell Banker Southeastern Properties and was the mastermind and organizer behind its 2010 merger with its two largest competitors, resulting in the formation of Century 21 Southern Realty, by far one of the area’s largest real estate firms.

Chris is a proven negotiator, problem solver and deal closer. While he spends most of his time running Southeastern’s affiliated real estate firms he is always ready to step in should his skills be needed.

Chris enjoys spending his spare time with his wife, Shannon and two sons: Christopher and Chance. He is active in the North Carolina Masonic Lodge and the Lee County Scottish Rite Club. He is also a lifelong member and deacon of Swann Station Baptist Church.

Matt has a diverse background that makes him especially well-suited for his work. He has spent time working as a laborer for both residential and commercial contracting firms and as a material handler for Southern Building Supply (SBS). His hands on experience gives him knowledge of the many different trades that go into our projects and his material handling experience gives him a keen since of material take-off and pricing.

Matt’s oversees several of Southeastern’s projects at once and has proven time and time again that quality is his number one goal.
When he is not working Matt enjoys spending time with his wife, Heather, and two sons, Logan and Parker. His weekends are often spent coaching his sons’ little league games.

Everyone family has a patriarch and JD is ours. His unfailing commitment to the highest quality in his work was heavily instilled in his children and we strive very hard to make it show in every project.

JD has over 30 years’ experience framing and trimming. His trim work in particular is award winning and has earned him the title “master carpenter”. He spends most of his days overseeing and working with carpentry crews and his touch can be seen in almost all of our projects. Whether his project of the day is a coffered ceiling, custom cabinetry, stair casing, railing, or moldings you can bet that it will end up as a work of art.

JD is married to Susan and has five children: John Jr., Matt, Mary, Josh, Stacie and Stephanie. He is an avid outdoorsman and hunter and spends most of his free time on a hunting preserve outside Wilmington.

John has a Bachelor of Science in Communications from the University of North Florida and an MBA from the Jenkins School of Graduate Management at North Carolina State University.

John has extensive experience in human resource management, business planning and marketing. His primary focus at Southeastern is overseeing our accounts payable and recievable departments as well as our marketing programs. He has an uncanny ability to see the big picture while still keeping all of the minor details in mind. He has been instrumental in streamlining our operations making us more competitive and better focused so that we can provide a higher quality, lower cost product to our clients.
John enjoys spending time with his family and is an avid animal lover.