Pease Construction Celebrates 25th Anniversary
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| Patty Candiotta and Loren Pease at Pease Constructions 25th Anniversary party |
Twenty-five years ago there was an addition to the Pease family when Pease Construction was born.
Pease Construction spun-off from Pease & Sons Inc. in 1984 to capture federal small business contracts mainly for the Army Corps of Engineers at Fort Lewis and McChord Air Force Base. After a quarter century the firm has grown into one with a diverse portfolio of military commercial and industrial work. Their contract delivery methods are design/bid/build and design/build in both the public and private sectors.
Family elders Joe Jim and David Pease were mentors that helped Pease Construction off to a successful start. The firm is owned by several 3rd generation family members and is led by cousins Patty Candiotta (President) and Loren Pease (Vice President and General Manager).
“My cousin Patty and I spent lots of time together in our youth with other family members at the Family Ranch on the Skookumchuck River in Tenino” said Loren. “We always got along great and after 25 years in business together we still do.”
Pease Construction celebrated the anniversary with a party at the firm’s Lakewood office on Nov. 20. Scores of friends family members and colleagues enjoyed good food and wine and talked about the company’s achievements and future plans.
Loren says the secret of the firm’s success is hiring well. “You know the old adage about hiring people smarter than you are? That’s what we’ve done” he says. “We’ve hired a bunch of excellent people; many have been here for more than 20 years.”
Those employees have helped Pease Construction develop a reputation for both excellence and a willingness to take on unusual projects for owners ranging from Army to Zoo.
Loren’s personal favorite project is the Combined Arms Collective Training Facility (CACTF) at Fort Lewis the largest training facility of its kind in the nation. The project involved the creation of “Leschi Town” a village with 52 structures. The town is used to stage battles to improve the Army’s urban fighting capabilities.
Pease Construction received a Build Washington Award from AGC of Washington in 2004 for the CACTF project. This was one of several Build Washington Awards the firm has won over the years the most recent being last year’s Green Building honor for the LEED-gold Annette B. Weyerhaeuser Early Learning Center at Tacoma Community College.
Other high-profile projects completed by Pease Construction are the Wild Wonders Amphitheater and Zoo Hub at Pt. Defiance the Thea Foss Waterway Esplanade in downtown Tacoma and the South Puget Sound Community College Performing Arts Center.
Patty was a partner in a residential construction company when she started Pease Construction and worked at both companies for awhile and then sold her share in the other firm. Loren started in the family business when he was a teen and he worked four years as an apprentice carpenter after graduating from Western Washington University. Another major element of his professional growth has been his active participation in AGC.
“Uncle Joe was President of the Tacoma chapter of AGC” Loren said. “When we started the new firm he told me that the first thing to do is join the AGC and he said I would be going to the meetings. I didn’t know anyone but Uncle Joe said ‘You will!’ When I went to my first meeting Martin Kist of Mar-Jon Construction shook my hand and took me around the room and introduced me to everyone. It felt very warm and welcoming. I have learned so much not just about the industry but also about the personalities and how smart contractors are. I learned how to run a meeting from John Woodworth and how to raise money from Mark Perry. It’s good to have a group to belong to.”
A major value of Pease Construction is giving back to the community. Rebuilding Together South Sound has been a companywide endeavor for years and the firm is an annual supporter to Mary Bridge Hospital and WWEE (Washington Women Employment and Education). Loren also supports the community through his leadership of the AGC Education Foundation. He is Immediate Past President of the Foundation and has been on its Board for 12 years. “I’m a big advocate for education and believe it is the solution to most of society’s problems” he says. “I think you have to give back to your industry and the construction industry has been very good to me.”
Congratulations to Pease Construction for 25 years of construction excellence!