The Washington Business Journal has honored 51-year-old Steele Foundation LLC, an AGC of Metropolitan Washington DC member, as one of the top multi-generational family-owned businesses in Greater Washington, in its fourth annual Family-Owned Business Awards competition. Steele Foundation is one of only 15 family-owned businesses in this region to receive this year’s honor, which exemplifies “overall excellence, innovation, ethics and philanthropy.”
Steele Foundation LLC of McLean, Virginia, was one of just 15 Greater Washington, D.C. area companies recently honored in the fourth annual Washington Business Journal Family-Owned Business Awards competition. Accepting the award are President J. Andrew (Andy) Steele (second from left) and his father Ronald Steele (second from right), who is the company’s Founder and Managing Member. Flanking them are Washington Business Journal Editor-in-Chief Douglas Fruehling (far left) and Publisher Peter Abrahams (far right). Award recipients were honored at a recent event in Washington, D.C.
Steele Foundation occupies a tight vertical portion of the marketplace in which “there are only about five firms that specialize in engineered foundation construction,” says President Andy Steele. “Ours is a particularly hazardous business because dealing with difficult ground conditions is one of the riskiest parts of any construction project. Our work requires highly trained, licensed and experienced professionals to design and implement excavation support and shoring systems for large underground basements and parking facilities.”
Steele Foundation is the classic American success story of a small, family-owned niche construction company that has flourished for more than half a century--despite recessions, changes in technology, building booms and busts, industry competition for talent and skills, increasingly difficult permitting processes and expanding government regulation. Steele Foundation has established itself as the go-to firm for architects, engineers, contractors and developers who know that engineered foundation sheeting, shoring and underpinning can make the critical difference in the success of their projects.
Steele Foundation has completed more than 1,600 projects during its five decades in business.
The company that would become known as Steele Foundation was founded by Andy’s father, Ronald Steele, and a partner in 1968. Over the years, Steele Foundation has “endured the peaks and valleys in the marketplace because of our broad base of professional experience, our drive to keep up with building trends and technology, our commitment to retain the best and brightest employees and young engineers, and our long-standing and trusted relationships with colleagues in the construction business,” says Ron Steele.
Building on its sterling reputation within the construction industry, the Steele family has a tradition of generously sharing its blessings with local social welfare charities via direct donations from the company and through its family foundation.
Recipients of the 2019 Washington Business Journal Family-Owned Business Awards were honored at a recent event at the Intercontinental Washington D.C. – The Wharf Hotel.
The engineers and craftsmen of Steele Foundation LLC work closely with project designers, developers and owners to provide cost-effective and safe design/build solutions for sheeting, underpinning, shoring and foundation projects. With nearly 100 years of combined design and construction experience amongst the firm’s professional engineers, Steele Foundation LLC provides quality engineering and construction to clients in and around the Greater Washington, D.C. area.
Associated General Contractors of America