In 1956, Leonard Woodruff and Jack Evans founded Woodruff-Evans Construction, a general contracting firm that served Fort Dodge and the surrounding communities. Since opening its doors, Woodruff has continued to grow as a result of its client relationships, skilled employees, safety culture and best practices. It expanded to four offices in Ames, Fort Dodge, Iowa City and Waterloo. Each office has a primary geographic region, roughly a 60-mile radius, so that their workers can be home at night with their families.

The company has seen two generations of leadership over the past 66 years, with current President Don Woodruff overseeing the company his father helped found. In 2020, Woodruff transitioned from a small ownership group to an employee stock ownership plan. This ownership change was driven by the company’s mission of building the future of its families, clients and communities. For Woodruff employees and their families, it means ownership interest in the company and additional qualified retirement plan. For Woodruff clients, it means further cultivation of customer service. Employees at all levels of engagement have a vested interest in client success.

“All of our employees now own Woodruff Construction,” Don Woodruff said. “Through their hard work, dedication and focus on improving our company, this has earned us the ability to own it together. Moving forward, we’re going to make it an even better company by creating a stable foundation to build up our existing employees and hire others of like mind who will want to work for a company that they own a part of and can impact the outcomes.”

Not only does Woodruff Construction provide general contracting services for project types, it also self-performs several trades. Woodruff employs a skilled workforce, which provides in-house carpentry, concrete and steel work, allowing for tight control on project schedules and maintaining consistency of high quality work. This also helps keep costs down for the project owners.

Woodruff encompasses a unique set of core values — family, service, purpose, dependability, and enjoyment — through everything it does. Whether it’s keeping job sites close to home, volunteering with organizations such as the local Boys and Girls Club or Habitat for Humanity, or offering their employees continued education and training, the company does it all with those values at the forefront.

For more information, visit, www.woodruff.build.