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CONTEGRA RANKS 89 IN TOP 150 PRIVATELY HELD COMPANIES

The continued growth at Contegra has landed the company at the 89th spot of the Top 150 Privately Help Companies in St. Louis. The article in the St. Louis Business Journal can be seen below. You can also see the article on their website here.

Contegra Construction was able to grow its revenue from $135 million in 2015 to $223.1 million in 2016 due to the expansion of its industrial sector and by focusing its efforts on a growing need for manufacturing and industrial distribution warehouses in the region, according to Eric Gowin, a primary owner of the company.

“We targeted large projects with national developers,” Gowin said. “We also completed large multi-family projects both locally and on a national level, which significantly increased our revenue.”

In 2016, Contegra completed a large distribution center, called Gateway Commerce Center 717, in Edwardsville, Illinois. In addition, Contegra completed work on a 717,000-square-foot fulfillment center for Amazon in Edwardsville. Gowin declined to share the cost for either project.

Contegra also completed a 220,000-square-foot residential project called Bramblett Hills, in O’Fallon, Missouri, which includes 17 three-story buildings. Gowin declined to provide additional details.

Contegra also completed a $13 million project for the Metropolitan Sewer District, that included replacing scrubbers in two MSD wastewater treatment plants at Bissell and Lemay.

In 2017, the company will work on an expansion for Kuna Food Service in Dupo, Illinois; a new Bob’s Discount Furniture store in St. Ann, Missouri; and a redevelopment of the old Northwest Plaza property.

The Northwest Plaza property redevelopment includes 371,000 square feet of new retail building construction and a renovation of 807,000 square feet of existing space.

The company has four primary owners, Eric Gowin, Brad Barnard, Russ Henke and Dennis Araujo, but hopes to extend some ownership opportunities to the next generation of leaders at Contegra in the near future.

Add any jobs in 2016? Added one project executive, one project manager, three project engineers, two in administration and one superintendent.

Adding any jobs in 2017? One project engineer and one superintendent.

Local employees: 76

Total employees: 78

Leadership: Eric Gowin, primary member; Brad Barnard, Russ Henke and Dennis Araujo, members

TOP 150 PRIVATELY HELD COMPANIES

If you ask Brad Barnard, one of the owners of Contegra Construction, why 2015 was such a successful year for the company, he’d tell you it was a perfect mix of customer satisfaction and the dedicated work of his employees. That mix resulted in $135 million in revenue in 2015, up from $79 million in 2014.

“We hire people that have extensive resumes and very strong skillsets for different types of work,” he said. “And when we have that, clients look for specific employees they’ve worked with in the past because they’ve built that relationship already.”

When Contegra was founded in 2003 by Eric Gowin, it was mainly a distribution center builder, but that changed about six years ago when Gowin brought on partners with specialties that complemented his, said Barnard.

“This allowed us to diversify and we were able to competitively bid for other opportunities,” Barnard said.

The company now takes on retail, residential, wastewater and water treatment and education projects, among others.

In 2015, Contegra worked mostly on industrial and commercial projects, including completion of a new 202,895-square-foot Menards store in St. Ann. Other completions in 2015 include projects for Procter and Gamble and World Wide Technology, although Barnard can’t reveal what they were.

Contegra began a 220,000-square-foot residential project in April 2015 called the Bramblett Hills, in O’Fallon, Missouri, which includes 17 three-story buildings. The company is in the process of completing a $63 million retail development in Richmond Heights that includes a Menards store. Contegra also is currently working on a large distribution center, called Gateway Commerce Center 717, in Edwardsville.

In addition to World Wide Technology and Menards, Contegra’s other clients include Walgreens, and Lewis and Clark Community College.

Barnard said the company is projecting revenue to increase slightly in 2016, but it will include more of the same projects. The company has four primary owners, Eric Gowin, Brad Barnard, Russ Henke and Dennis Araujo, but hopes to extend some ownership opportunities to the next generation of leaders at Contegra soon.