When he first opened his tiny basement office in March 1946, Fred Wright had only one other employee -- his wife, Maxine. Even so, he managed to win and complete several large church construction projects, supervising each one personally from start to finish.
Every year has signature events that make the history books, and 1946 is no exception. In that year, Winston Churchill coined the term “Iron Curtain”; the United Nations General Assembly met for the first time; the Atomic Energy Commission was created; the Xerox® machine was invented; the Cardinals beat the Red Sox in the World Series; the electric dryer and Tide®, the first detergent for automatic washing machines, were introduced; and Americans ate a record 714 million gallons of ice cream.
Of course, 1946 also had its share of significant events that did not make the record books. One of those took place in Elkhart, Indiana, when 25-year-old Fred G. Wright started a construction business in his basement. Out of that small beginning grew a company that would eventually move to Florida and become one of the top-rated and most successful construction firms in the state.
When he first opened his tiny basement office in March 1946, Fred Wright had only one other employee -- his wife, Maxine. Even so, he managed to win and complete several large church construction projects, supervising each one personally from start to finish. In 1954, the Wrights had done well enough to move to a new residence about a half mile from the site of the original basement business.
They opened a “real” office in that building and hired a full-time secretary and a part-time estimator. The estimator also worked as a carpenter foreman and soon found himself with a full-time position. 1954 also included the addition of a young 17-year-old mason tender by the name of Ron Edman, Fred’s next-door neighbor. As it turned out, it was one of the best hiring moves Fred ever made. Things kept getting better, and in 1959, Wright decided to incorporate. That’s when Wright Construction officially came into being.
Wright directed his company from this second location for about eight years, taking time out each year to shut down the current construction projects and treat all of his foremen to a fantastic one-week fishing trip in Minnesota. In 1961, he moved the company to a new home in Elkhart, a structure large enough to serve as both office and warehouse. Wright Construction stayed there 12 years. During that period, the company expanded the warehouse and upgraded the office facilities, adding a computer and an operator/bookkeeper to do the accounting.
That cumbersome, early technology could not keep up with the company’s rapid expansion, however. After many long nights (four years of them, to be exact) of struggling to keep up with administrative and accounting tasks, Wright sold the computer to another company and turned his paperwork over to a more reliable source for his accounting needs. The bookkeeper had to go with the computer because she was the only one that knew how to use it.
In 1973, Wright Construction made its last move in Indiana, to a new two-story office. In the same year, Ron Edman moved his way through the ranks to become Vice President; since coming on board in 1954, he held positions as a Mason, Superintendent, Estimator, and Project Manager. In 1983, Wright added another Edman to the field payroll as a laborer. Prior to this time, young Fred was relegated to mowing the grass at the office. This marked Fred Edman’s humble beginning with Wright Construction.
In 1981, Fred Wright took his family and his business to Fort Myers, Florida. At the time, it was almost like starting over. Wright Construction worked out of a second-story office complex on Fort Myers Beach, employing just one estimator at first. Bigger projects were already in gear, however, including Jerry’s Shopping Center on Sanibel Island and a renovation project at Edison College. Wright built the current office in 1985 and the business thrived.
Ron Edman moved to Fort Myers in the same year and became President of Wright Construction Corporation. Fred Edman graduated from Purdue University in the fall of 1987 and immediately moved to Fort Myers to begin managing school construction. In 1998, after spending 52 years building a very successful business and a solid reputation, Fred Wright sold his interest in Wright Construction to Ron Edman, and finally began to pursue his interests in fishing, tennis.
Over the next several years, Ron also began pursuing semi-retirement, training his son, Fred, to assume the role of President, which he assumed in 2001. Fred soon began implementing changes in the corporate structure, adding a civil division, developing quality control processes, and adding more of an emphasis on the marketing ability of the company.
Since that small basement in Indiana and those initial church construction projects, Wright Construction has enjoyed tremendous growth and built a solid reputation for excellence. The company, now under Fred Edman’s leadership, provides full construction management and building services on multi-million-dollar commercial, retail, institutional, recreational, and multi-family projects, focusing all of its efforts on building client loyalty through exceptional service and complete satisfaction.
It’s a terrific success story, one that exemplifies God’s blessings on the diligent efforts of the leadership of Wright Construction as well as the vision, expertise, and drive behind every great business. Everyone involved with the company, past and present, can be assured that, even if they haven’t made the history books, they have indeed made history.
