DPR Construction

About DPR Construction

DPR Construction is a technical builder, self-performing commercial contractor and construction manager operating globally. Ranked among the top 50 general contractors in the United States since 1997, the firm has grown alongside its customers by concentrating on complex, technically demanding work. Its purpose statement is deliberately plain: we exist to build great things.

Whether the project is a multi-million-dollar technical facility or a conference room renovation, DPR describes executing every job with relentless accountability - listening to client goals, developing strategies around their business and tracking its own performance against them.

History

DPR was founded in 1990 by Doug Woods, Peter Nosler and Ron Davidowski, whose initials give the company its name. The founders set out to build a different kind of company in an industry resistant to change - one they describe as surprising, personal and family-like without being family-owned. More than three decades later the firm serves customers worldwide.

Core Values

Four values are treated as inviolable beliefs rather than marketing language.

• Integrity - conducting business to the highest standards of honesty and fairness
• Enjoyment - work should be fun and intrinsically satisfying
• Uniqueness - being different from and more progressive than other construction companies
• Ever Forward - continual self-initiated change, improvement and learning

These support an entrepreneurial structure in which staff are empowered to make decisions and challenge traditional ways of working.

Markets Served

• Healthcare - hospitals, acute care and medical facilities
• Life sciences - laboratories, cleanrooms and biotech manufacturing
• Advanced technology - semiconductor and high-tech production environments
• Mission critical - data centres and continuously operating facilities
• Higher education - academic and research buildings
• Commercial and office - workplace construction and fit-out
• Manufacturing, research and development, and hospitality

How DPR Builds

Self-Perform Work

Self-performing is central to the DPR model. By employing its own trade crews rather than subcontracting everything, the company retains direct control over quality, schedule and safety on the most critical elements - a meaningful advantage on projects where a single delayed trade can stall an entire programme.

Preconstruction and Design-to-Build

Early involvement lets DPR shape cost, constructability and programme while design decisions remain open, rather than reacting to a completed design.

Prefabrication

Components are manufactured off site in controlled conditions, improving quality and compressing site schedules - particularly valuable in healthcare and life sciences, where site access is restricted and tolerances are tight.

Virtual Design and Construction

Collaborative virtual building and BIM are used to coordinate complex mechanical, electrical and process systems before installation, resolving clashes digitally instead of in the field.

Special Services Group and Sustainable Construction

A dedicated group handles smaller, fast-turnaround and specialist work for existing customers, while sustainable construction practices run across the portfolio.

Mission 2030

DPR has set itself the goal of becoming one of the most admired companies by 2030, with explicit benchmarks: people practices as influential as Hewlett Packard's, quality and innovation doing for construction what Toyota did for the auto industry, and a brand as consistent as Disney's. Publishing comparisons at that level is a demanding standard to set publicly.

Market Position

DPR competes at the top of the US technical construction market, particularly in healthcare, life sciences and advanced technology, where process requirements and commissioning complexity favour builders with genuine self-perform and VDC capability.

Why AEC Teams Should Know DPR

For owners and designers planning laboratories, hospitals, data centres or semiconductor facilities, DPR is one of the most significant technical builders to understand in the built environment.