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
| Feb 25, 2013
AISC seeks proposals for development of BIM best practices guide
The American Institute of Steel Construction seeks assistance from BIM users in identifying and documenting best practices to facilitate the long-term standardization of BIM in structural steel construction.
| Feb 25, 2013
Turner employs rare 'collapsible' steel truss system at Seattle light rail station
To speed construction of the $110 million Capitol Hill Station light-rail station in Seattle, general contractor Turner Construction will use an unusual temporary framing method for the project's underground spaces.
| Feb 22, 2013
Westlake Reed Leskosky will renovate training center for Cleveland Browns
Local firm Westlake Reed Leskosky has been chosen to design renovations to the Cleveland Browns' Training and Administrative Complex in Berea, Ohio.
| Feb 22, 2013
Dutch team's 'bioconcrete' can heal itself
Two researchers from Delft Technical University in Holland have developed a self-healing cement that can stop microcracks from forming in concrete.
| Feb 22, 2013
Defense department report: Green design saves taxpayers money
An independent report on energy efficiency and sustainability standards used by the Pentagon for military construction affirms the value of LEED-certified high performing buildings to America’s military and U.S. taxpayers.
| Feb 22, 2013
Zaha Hadid to help plan new London-area airport hub
The Mayor of London has appointed Zaha Hadid Architects to help create a major new airport in southeastern England.
| Feb 21, 2013
Female construction executives launch professional organization for women in construction operations
Sarah Creighton and Holly Cindell of McCarthy Building Companies, Inc. of Newport Beach are among a group of pioneering women from Southern California construction, architecture and engineering companies to begin WiOPS—a new professional organization geared specifically toward women in construction operations.
| Feb 21, 2013
BD+C's 2011 White Paper: Zero and Net-Zero Energy Buildings + Homes
We submit our eighth White Paper on Sustainability in the hope that it will inspire architects, engineers, contractors, building owners, developers, building product manufacturers, environmentalists, policymakers, government officials, corporate executives, officeholders, and the public to foster the development of net-zero energy buildings and homes.
| Feb 21, 2013
BD+C's 2008 White Paper: Green Buildings + Climate Change
In this White Paper, we provide concrete ways in which AEC professionals can have a positive role in addressing climate change.