Ridgemont Construction

Ridgemont Commercial Construction is a general construction management company in Irving, Texas. Seth Williams, Director of Business Development, was kind enough to take part of his Saturday to talk to us about his company and projects.

Ridgemont is 36 year old company and does not self-perform, subcontracting all the work on their projects.  They maintained production strong numbers even during the national recession and were even able to grow their company.  Seth shared his belief that this is the result of the high standard by which the company does business - evidenced not only in production numbers, but also in the high percentage of repeat business.

Ridgemont started doing interior finish-out for hospitals and continues to have clients in the medical related fields.  Their work is primarily commercial including Public-Private Partnerships, County Jails, and park & recreation facilities in addition to more traditional retail.  While it is unusual, they did complete a $4 million residential project in Highland Park that was really run more like a commercial application.  They were also part of a LEED construction project of a private school, St. Alcuin School in Dallas.

Seth spoke openly about the high degree of competitiveness in the construction industry pointing our that there are virtually no barriers to entry.  The result is that there are a significant number of contractors all vying for the same, limited business.  It is here, again, that Ridgemont's high company standard has allowed them to succeed.  Seth pointed out that they were looking for "base hits, not home runs" and therefore gave the necessary attention to all sized projects, not just the more high profile ones.  He also talked about the importance of transparency, saying they will even invite an owner in to participate in the bidding process if they feel it would be helpful.

The company has 3 owners and clearly is a relational based company.  The office was very inviting with the design reflecting the construction nature of the company's work.  The layout of the office space clearly encourages collaboration with open space and accessible offices of the leadership. From the work-out area to the game room to the open space where the team works together to meet bid deadlines it is evident that this is unique work environment.

One one the regular clients that Ridgemont works with is the group Roundtree Automotive and we were able to visit a site in Dallas that is scheduled for completion in Sept.  The Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge dealership is located directly opposite the entrance to Love Field Airport.  The land, formerly home to a warehouse, is a great example of brownfield development.   We were met at the site by Reese Goewert, Project Superintendent.  He spoke candidly about the challenges of the project including coordinating the building inspector's visits to sign off on work.  Despite the heat and the fact that is was a Saturday afternoon, Reese was hard at work, just a real life example of the dedication and integrity of Ridgemont Construction.