Brothers excel in building solid reputation

Troy W. Thompson Jr. laid the foundation for Thompson Construction Company in Thibodaux, but it has been the dedication of his sons Troy III and T. Benton that has kept the family business alive.

The elder Thompson started the construction company in 1958, two years after he earned his engineering degree from Louisiana State University. However, a stroke in 2000 forced him to retire. Troy III, 50, and T. Benton, 38, have been the driving force behind the business ever since.

“My dad started the business building houses in the Thibodaux area,” Troy Thompson III said. “Then we moved into commercial construction and started building shopping centers and public works like the Houma-Terrebonne Civic Center and Terrebonne Parish Main Library.”

“We built just about everything in that little corridor,” he added.

Troy is the president and T. Benton is the vice president of the company. Like their father, they both earned their civil engineering degrees from Louisiana State University.

Troy said he and his brother knew that LSU had a top engineering program.

“A civil engineering degree particularly deals with construction,” he said. “Professionally, it’s probably the highest education you can achieve in the construction field. In construction management, the degree lends itself to being more toward the design end rather than the practical application of construction.”

As business owners, the brothers said they have taken a lot from their father.

“My dad was a wonderful person and he was very business savvy. His attribute was his personality,” Troy said. “He can hold a conversation with anybody and he was always positive.”

From the inception, the Thompson family has strived to establish a solid reputation as a general contracting and construction management company that specializes in commercial, industrial and private construction.

It is typical for the Thompson brothers to get into business with corporations that have multiple building plans. The 50-year-old company has a strong performance history in food and retail store construction, holding longstanding contracts with Wal-Mart, Winn-Dixie and governmental bodies.

“That is probably what our expertise is,” Troy said. “We travel with Wal-Mart whereever they want us, and the same goes for Winn-Dixie.”

The family owned business is licensed in seven states, and has completed nearly 9 million square feet of construction all together over the last five decades.

“We actually built the largest grocery store in Cape Cod, Mass. during the last downturn of the oilfield industry in the 1980s,” Troy said. “There was not a lot of work in this area, so we had some clients that wanted us to go build two shopping centers on Cape Cod. Then, we went on to build another shopping center in New York City.”

Thompson Construction has 32 full-time employees. The company does nearly $50 million of work a year; therefore, they have to hire a lot of subcontractors.

“As a general contractor, we handle all aspects of the project,” the 50-year-old business owner said. “We hire electricians, plumbers, air conditioner technicians, laborers and carpenters. Thompson Construction does not pay them, but they work under our company. We direct it and we are the force that talks directly with the owner.”

“Our business is all about the team approach, and our success has been built on the strong teamwork between clients, design professionals, contractors and subcontractors,” he added.

The company’s expertise lies in the process of design building and completing turnkey construction projects. Troy said complete turnkey construction involves taking a job and giving customers one price for the entire project.

“We pay all the bills for the project and you pay us as the project goes along,” he explained. “Turnkey means that we include everything: taxes, equipment, labor and materials. Let’s just say we were asked to build a $5 million Wal-Mart. The $5 million would be our bid.”

On the design-build side, the brothers have in-house designers if owners do not want the extra task of hiring an outside architect.

In the Houma-Thibodaux area, the company is the largest general contractor that does public works. However, Troy said the construction market is filled with competition.

“Obviously, we work all over the Southeast of the country, but we consider home the Houma-Thibodaux area,” he said “We won’t necessarily go to New Orleans and build Superdome type buildings because that’s another market. Same thing for Baton Rouge, you won’t see us doing a major project at LSU.”

With the way the economy is putting a strain on some local businesses, Thompson Construction believes they can weather the instability of the economy.

“We are fortunate to have had a tremendous year last year that is carrying over,” Troy said. “I do see a change, and I can see a definite slowdown in the market. But I think we are in a position, with our past experiences, that we will be able to ride through the storm.”

“The difference is there is a lot of work in this area with the oilfield,” he said. “There will be a lot of competition, but we can compete being a general contractor with a base of subcontractors that works solely for us. What we can’t compete against is desperation.”

Regardless of what the economy looks like ten years from now, Troy said he finds gratification in working in the construction business. Thompson Construction’s newest task will be constructing a new library near H.L. Bourgeois High School.

“This is probably one of the only businesses where you can pass by something you built and see that it’s still standing 20 to 50 years later,” he said. “There is no feeling like that in the world.”

Thompson Construction Company in Thibodaux was started by Troy Thompson Jr. 50 years ago. Today, the business is run by his sons Troy III (pictured) and T. Benton. The brothers specialize in general contracting and construction, including commercial, industrial, and private construction. * Photo by SOPHIA RUFFIN