3 min read September 2022 — Minneapolis-St. Paul’s effervescence is a boon to local contractors and subcontractors. In an interview with Invest:, Paul Edlund, CEO of J. Benson Constructions, shared his team’s transition to Downtown Minneapolis, the efforts underway to get more people involved in the industry to meet demand and his outlook.
What have been some of the highlights and milestones for J. Benson Construction over the past year?
I have been the owner of J. Benson Construction for two years now. I bought the company in 2020, and it has been in business since 1971. For most of that time prior to my acquisition, the company had been doing residential insurance work — fire damage, storm damage, water damage on residential homes. I bought the company to get out of that business and to pivot to a totally new market: commercial construction. We have been making that pivot ever since I acquired the business.
One of the major changes in the last year is we joined the carpenters union. On one side, there are significant cost increases in being a union member. On the other, it also allows us to play in some markets and some opportunities that otherwise would not be available, namely working with some of the large major contractors in town like Ryan Construction, Kraus-Anderson and Mortensen. All of those firms are union shops. For us to work with those firms, which is part of my vision for the company, we needed to join the union. It was a leap of faith that we took in December 2021. The transition has been overall positive, but not without challenge.
One of the projects that I have been most excited about for our business is First Independence Bank, a black-owned, Detroit-based bank. They were invited to come here from the other large banking institutions post George Floyd’s murder. We were fortunate enough to be asked to be the contractor on their project. Their first branch opened in April. There was a grand opening ceremony here that got some local fanfare. We are completing their second branch now, which is also in Minneapolis. We expect to finish that project in September. It has been a really great experience to be a part of that team and experience knowing what it means for the local community.
What are the benefits for a construction company to be located in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area?
In August 2022, we moved our office from the suburbs to Downtown Minneapolis. The suburban locations were less expensive. We were able to get more space and they would have worked geographically well for what we were doing. But I felt it was important for us to be in Minneapolis for who we are as a company and who we want to be as a company, particularly as I hear more about people concerned about crime or the decline of Minneapolis and things of that nature. I can tell you I am not seeing that from where I sit, and we want to be part of changing that perception. We are doing that by showing up, being present and spending our dollars here. We’re sending the message that we are here and here to stay. Our team was very excited about coming Downtown. It is an invigorating place to be and exciting for our business, becoming a part of the growth and what’s ahead for the city.
Which among your construction services are experiencing the most demand?
We are general contractors but also work as a subcontractor to other larger firms. On the subcontracting side, the largest demand we are seeing is for our carpentry services. As union carpenters, folks are looking to hire us to be on projects where we would be performing rough and finished carpentry. That can be inside apartments and condos going up all over the metro area or commercial projects. This demand surge in carpentry is mainly due to the labor shortage that prevails in the market. It is even more acute in the construction industry.
Over the last several decades there have been fewer and fewer people entering the construction and the trades. The amount of people going into four-year degrees and getting college educations has left this dearth of construction trade workers. As we are able to build and grow our talent pipeline we are able to place those people on projects, not just on our own projects but also projects for other construction companies who are too short on personnel.
How is your company tackling the talent shortage issue?
What I am most passionate about is not just building projects but building opportunity for people. We work with Summit Academy, a local workforce development organization here in Minneapolis. We have hired several Summit graduates, and that is really our talent pipeline of the future: folks who are unemployed or underemployed who get some basic skills training and are looking to work in the trades. The construction space is one where you can make good money if you show up, work hard and bring a good attitude. You can make six figures, and that is such a game changer for these folks. The target market for us is the people who have traditionally been left behind or left out of the economic gains of the Twin Cities marketplace. If you can get those folks and get them working, that can change their life. They bring that back to their household, change their family’s trajectory and change their local community, and that has a larger effect. My experience has been that when given a chance, these individuals show up with a great attitude, hungry to learn and make some of the best employees that we have had.
Another way we tackle the talent shortage issue is through our connection to the Community Productive Day program through Hennepin County, the largest county in the state of Minnesota. It employs people that have been convicted of a criminal offense, who are placed on probation or have come out of prison. They provide them with a six-month construction training program that includes classroom time through union-trained carpenters, where they are learning that trade and they are also provided on-the-job projects. It allows us subcontracting firms to place some of those people on our projects and potentially hire them full-time as we have the need. What is unique about this program is it is on the contractor side that works with small, minority-owned contracting firms. My peers in that program are black-owned, relatively small construction firms. This allows us to have an opportunity for some set-aside projects through the county and to engage with these probationers in a unique way. It is a win-win for the county, where the county gets to help employ some of these people and they also get to promote some of these minority-owned construction firms, helping them develop and grow.
What is your outlook for the construction sector in Minneapolis-St. Paul and your company for the next three to five years?
As a small business owner it is never easy, but it is always interesting and exciting. The opportunity is amazing out there. In three to five years, I would expect that we would be able to expand our footprint beyond the Minneapolis area and into other markets around the country. Our business strategy is to do great work here in the metro, build great relationships and partnerships and then allow that to grow organically into opportunities in other markets. Some of the large contractors we are working with have offices around the country. Part of our growth strategy is to do such a great job here locally that they want us to work for them in Denver, Phoenix or Tampa, to name a few. To get there, it takes a whole lot of showing up and doing a great job today, tomorrow and making every day the next best day. That is the vision that I have.
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