Delivering Customer-Centered Building Solutions: Austin Industries

Austin Industries is one of the nation’s largest, most diversified U.S.-based construction companies. With more than 6,000 employee-owners, Austin Industries provides nearly every type of civil, commercial and industrial construction services through the expertise of our operating companies: Austin Bridge & Road, Austin Commercial and Austin Industrial.

Today, Austin has an annual volume of $2 billion. Our company prides itself in delivering exceptional service on large, highly complicated projects with particular emphasis on qualified teams and performance. Our core values include safety, service, integrity and employee-ownership.

The success path

The Austin name first became known in the Texas bridge building field when George Austin came to Dallas in 1889 as an agent for the George E. King Bridge Co. of Des Moines, Iowa. His brother, Frank, joined him in 1894, and they formed Austin Brothers Bridge Company. In 1900, when the brothers’ business increased, they hired Charles Moore to help in the office as a stenographer. He was later made traveling agent, contracting agent and chief engineer of the company.

In 1918, Moore purchased the contracting part of the company when the Austin brothers wanted to focus primarily on bridge fabrication. He dropped “Brothers” from the name in 1924. The company became known as Austin Bridge Company and Associated Companies until 1974 when the parent company, Austin Industries, was formed. Since then, Austin Industries has continued to enter diverse markets.

It entered the commercial construction field in 1975 when Austin Commercial was established. In 1983, Austin Industrial was formed to meet the growing maintenance and construction needs of the petrochemical, power and manufacturing industries. Austin Bridge merged with two other operating companies, Austin Paving and Austin Road, in the late 1980s to form Austin Bridge & Road. 

In 1986, William T. Solomon, Charles Moore’s grandson, established the Austin Industries Employee Stock Ownership Plan, transferring 60 percent ownership of the company to its employees at no cost. He also set up a plan for the company to become 100 percent owned by its employees by 2000. That plan was completed on schedule.

Austin Industries today provides nearly every type of civil, commercial and industrial construction services through the expertise of our operating companies. Today, Austin prides itself in delivering exceptional service on large, highly complicated projects with particular emphasis on qualified teams and performance. Austin Industries provides nearly every type of civil, commercial and industrial construction service, capitalizing on the depth of expertise in our three operating companies – Austin Bridge & Road, Austin Commercial and Austin Industrial.

The Commitment; In CEO David Walls’ words

Our Commitment to Each Other: As employee-owners, we recognize that the growth of every person on the Austin Industries team benefits not just the individual, but also the whole company. To ensure that employee-owners increase their knowledge and develop their skills, the company encourages classroom and online training, provides tuition reimbursement for business-related courses, and makes opportunities for advancement possible. On a day-to-day basis and throughout our careers, we are committed to supporting each other in everything from personal health and wellness to flexible benefits and professional development.

Our Commitment to Our Customers: To build safe, to build well, to build green, to be on time and to be on budget. Austin Industries remains totally committed to the needs of its customers.

Our Commitment to Our Community: More than 90 years ago, our founding family instilled in the company culture the importance of serving and giving back to the communities where we live and work. Our commitment to making a difference one employee-owner at a time is demonstrated in everything we do: from sponsoring an important charitable cause, to volunteering in a community engagement event, to using green building principles. On average, Austin donates more than half a million dollars in cash and in-kind donations to programs that support youth, education, health and the arts.

We serve as a community partner and leading advocate on a number of national, regional, and local causes such as homelessness, youth mentoring and environmental initiatives. Our Commitment to Our Industry: We are committed to being an industry leader, setting the standard for excellence through continual innovation and adhering to best practices.

Construction at its best!

Austin bridge and road: A leader in the heavy highway and transportation infrastructure industry for more than 100 years, Austin Bridge & Road has built many transportation landmarks including complex urban highway interchanges, toll ways, runways, port facilities, border crossings, specialty bridge, and rail projects. Its core capabilities include concrete and asphalt paving / production, earthwork and structures. Customers rely on its expertise in construction management on conventionally bid and alternatively procured projects, including design-build, construction manager at-risk and construction management/general contracting.

Austin commercial: Austin Commercial is one of the largest, most diversified builders in the United States. We are nationally recognized for our exceptional safety records, diversity-inclusion program and our innovative construction solutions in the following markets: advanced technology, aviation, corporate/office, healthcare, hospitality, mission critical, mixed-use/retail/residential, public assembly and sports, and university.

Today, Austin Commercial is a recognized leader in commercial and institutional building, well known for delivering projects in diverse market segments ahead of schedule and under budget. Recognized for landmark projects such as the LAX Tom Bradley International Terminal expansion, the new Parkland Hospital, Hunt Consolidated Headquarters, the Dallas Arts District Museum Tower, Toyota’s North American Headquarters, the Circuit of the Americas Formula 1 Race Track and many more, Austin continues serving customers with innovative construction solutions and effective cost management strategies.

Austin Industrial: Austin Industrial is a merit shop, employee-owned company and has been a provider of construction, maintenance, plant services, turnaround and specialty services to the oil, gas and chemical, energy (power and ethanol), and manufacturing industries for more than 50 years. Austin Industrial approaches all your contracting needs with a focus on driving out waste and driving down total cost.

Austin Industrial has a clear-cut goal when it comes to safe practices – zero incidents. While other companies regard safety and quality as separate goals, the company knows that quality is rooted in safety. Because of this, four of its ten basic beliefs regarding quality are dependent on company safety.

“Our management team asserts remarkable accountability for safety, which is our number one criterion for evaluating job performance and project success. Safety execution plans and job safety checklists are required on all Austin Industrial projects, and our Safety Performance Improvement Council allows us to consistently improve practices and reinforce the importance of safety,” says David walls.

Noteworthy safety achievements by Austin Industrial include multiple Houston Business Roundtable Safety Excellence Awards, National Petrochemical and Refiners Association Awards of Merit, and continuous participation in OSHA Voluntary Protection Programs.

“Our pioneering efforts in demonstrating that a contractor can successfully apply all the requirements of the OSHA Voluntary Protection Programs (VPP) have gained recognition by local, regional and national OSHA offices, as well as our customers. Austin Industrial has six VPP STAR sites, continues to be a leader in this program and is one of the only contractors in our industry that serves on the National Board of Directors,” adds Walls.

The ultimate success factor; In David Walls’ words

Our success relies on a foundation of service and building relationships with the customers and the communities we serve. We are honored to be able to maintain long-term relationships and the loyalty of our repeat customers.

Servant Leadership: We also believe that service shouldn’t be just about serving our customers. Service is easy when you get something in return, but we believe we were created to serve, regardless of whether we reap any benefits from doing so.

The greatest leaders that have ever existed are the greatest servants, and at Austin, we employ a servant leadership model at all levels of the company. This philosophy is promoted in the various leadership development programs we have, and it is our desire that Austin is and continues to become a place where everyone exists to serve.

Serving the Community: Because it’s the right thing to do, Austin Industries has a best in class Diversity Affairs department that seeks to serve the communities we work in. By partnering with local minority-owned businesses, Austin generates a ripple effect to the local economy and the people that live there. Investing in the local minority owned businesses leaves the communities we serve in a better place than when we arrived.

For their work, Austin’s Diversity Affairs department has received more than 100 awards from the Associated Builders and Contractors, the Associate Minority Contractors of America, the Black Contractors Association, the Hispanic Contractors Association and the Minority Business Development Council, to name a few. Austin also has a mentor/protégé program to train individuals and small minority-owned business how to do business with larger companies.

Man behind the success

David Walls, President and Chief Executive Officer: Walls is president and CEO of Austin Industries, the parent company to Austin Commercial, Austin Bridge & Road and Austin Industrial. He began his career with Austin Commercial in 1980 as a project engineer. He advanced to become one of Austin Commercial’s premier field project managers before being named vice president and director of operations in 1988. He has served as president of Austin Commercial and president of Austin Bridge & Road, in addition to his current CEO position. Mr. Walls currently serves as a trustee of Baylor Scott & White Health Care System and as a director on the TEXO board. TEXO is the largest commercial contractors’ association in Texas (serving North and East Texas) and one of the largest affiliated with the national Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) and The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC). He also serves on the board of the Dallas Regional Chamber.

Walls holds a B.S. in Construction Technology from the University of Houston, an M.S. in Building Construction from Texas A&M University, and a Ph.D. in Leadership from Dallas Baptist University.

“Austin employee-owners consistently meet and exceed customer expectations with superior performance. Customer service is a day-in day-out effort. A key to our success is maintaining steadfast focus on our customers’ needs, and they know that we have a vested interest in the success of their projects.”