Doug Woods, cofounder of Redwood City, Calif.-based DPR Construction, passed away peacefully at his home on May 19, according to a statement released by the company. He was 70 years old.
The cause of death and the names of family survivors were not immediately available.
With partners Peter Nosler and Ron Davidowski, and $750,000 in pooled resources, Woods launched DPR as a self-performing general contractor in Palo Alto, Calif., in 1990. (The firm’s name derives from the initials of the founders’ first names.) “When we started DPR, we wanted to be a customer-focused organization,” recalls Woods, who always saw DPR as a service business. “We’re not a hard-bid general contractor; we’re a negotiating, self-performing general contractor that takes care of our customers. To do that, we need great people, who are happy and willing to work hard. That’s one of the things that started us, making us different from the very beginning.”
By 1995, DPR ranked third on Inc. Magazine’s national fastest-growing private companies listing. And over more than 30 years, Woods, Nosler and Davidowski watched their business expand into one of the industry’s largest GCs, with roughly 6,500 office and craft employees worldwide and more than $6 billion in revenue in 2019, the latest year for which sales information was available.
Woods stepped back from day-to-day management of the firm in 2015, but stayed on DPR’s Management Committee until 2017. He served as CEO on the firm’s board of directors until his passing.
CONSTRUCTION IN HIS BLOOD
DPR Construction's Doug Woods emphasized team building and customer service.
Born in Ontario on January 27, 1951, Woods was the son of an engineer. His family built or remodeled every house that Woods lived in growing up, and his father worked in construction and real estate. “Being in the construction field is in my blood,” Woods was quoted as saying.
DPR’s first ground-up project was a skilled-nursing facility for The Terraces in Los Gatos, Calif., and healthcare has since been one of its primary practices. The firm hit $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time in 1998. But Woods wasn’t interested so much in milestones. “For us, there has been no single defining moment but a series of opportunities and challenges that have impacted the company DPR is today and made us stronger.
The company’s unregimented management style—“No titles, no ties, no org chart,” Woods told the San Francisco Business Times in 2015—found its success in collaborative teamwork, which is palpable in the reminiscences of several colleagues and employees.
TEAM BUILDING MORE WORDS
“I only had the privilege of meeting Doug maybe six times. From a guy who came up from the field and had limited education, Doug really showed me what ‘no rank in the room’ meant: ‘Don’t ever forget, we exist to build great things,’ ” recalled Robbie Thomason, a senior superintendent who has been with DPR for more than seven years.
David Ibarra, a 25-year company vet who directs the firm’s mission-critical group, remembers meeting Woods as a new employee doing electrical on a complex project. Woods wanted to know if Ibarria was getting the management support he needed in the field to execute his job. “If not, he told me ‘just call them out.’ I had a founder talking to me directly, and ensuring that I was empowered to do my role.”
Kurt Wallner, a Project Executive at DPR, first encountered Woods in May 2000, when the latter was laying out the firm’s 2030 Mission. “Hearing Doug talk about a vision for DPR, decades into the future, I knew right then that I was joining something very, very special.”
Woods served on the Construction Industry Roundtable and was a board member with U.S. Green Building Council. And his legacy at DPR could, in part, be defined by Mission 2030, the firm’s strategic focus to be recognized as one of the world’s most admired companies by that year.
Related Stories
| Mar 24, 2014
Snøhetta unveils plans for serpentine mountain hotel
The winding hotel and apartment building will be built between the mountains and the sea in remote Glåpen, Norway.
| Mar 24, 2014
Frank Lloyd Wright's S.C. Johnson Research Tower to open to the public—32 years after closing
The 14-story tower, one of only two Wright-designed high-rises to be built, has been off limits to the public since its construction in 1950.
| Mar 21, 2014
Forget wood skyscrapers - Check out these stunning bamboo high-rise concepts [slideshow]
The Singapore Bamboo Skyscraper competition invited design teams to explore the possibilities of using bamboo as the dominant material in a high-rise project for the Singapore skyline.
| Mar 20, 2014
D.C. breaks ground on $2B mega waterfront development [slideshow]
When complete, the Wharf will feature approximately 3 million sf of new residential, office, hotel, retail, cultural, and public uses, including waterfront parks, promenades, piers, and docks.
| Mar 19, 2014
How to develop a healthcare capital project using a 'true north charter'
Because healthcare projects take years to implement, developing a true north charter is essential for keeping the entire team on track and moving in the right direction.
| Mar 18, 2014
How your AEC firm can win more healthcare projects
Cutthroat competition and the vagaries of the Affordable Healthcare Act are making capital planning a more daunting task than ever. Our experts provide inside advice on how AEC firms can secure more work from hospital systems.
| Mar 17, 2014
Coin toss decides who gets $4.4 million construction contract
When two builders submitted identical bids for the Gretna (La.) Police Headquarters, the city council decided to choose the winner through a coin toss.
| Mar 17, 2014
Rem Koolhaas explains China's plans for its 'ghost cities'
China's goal, according to Koolhaas, is to de-incentivize migration into already overcrowded cities.
| Mar 13, 2014
Austria's tallest tower shimmers with striking 'folded façade' [slideshow]
The 58-story DC Tower 1 is the first of two high-rises designed by Dominique Perrault Architecture for Vienna's skyline.
| Mar 12, 2014
London grows up: 236 tall buildings to be added to skyline in coming decade, says think tank
The vast majority of high-rise projects in the works are residential towers, which could help tackle the city's housing crisis, according to a new report by New London Architecture.