Oswald Company Celebrates 30 Years
February 19, 2021 marks Oswald Company’s 30th year in business. The commercial development and construction firm, headquartered in Cincinnati, serves the Southern Indiana, Northern Kentucky, and Greater Cincinnati markets. Much has changed for the company over its 30 years. From a company that started with one individual, one small project and seed money from a serious car accident, the firm has grown into a leading development and construction firm in the Greater Cincinnati region. Oswald credits its 30 years of success to its core focus of building long-term partnerships and a commitment to a Kaizen (continuous improvement) culture.
The company was founded in 1991, when Ken Oswald received a settlement after finding himself in a serious car accident. When discussing the inception of the company, founder Ken Oswald expressed, “I had a vision of company that valued long term relationships, collaboration and taking ownership. I built this company with hard work, dedication and a goal of doing things the right way.” That vision lives on today through Oswald’s “Building Your Way” process. This process streamlines the construction lifecycle for clients of all sizes, bringing their visions to reality by providing a unique and customizable construction project for each and every client. This customized process has led to three-fourths of Oswald’s annual revenue coming from repeat clients.
Oswald initially focused on commercial construction and commercial retail roll outs, serving clients such as Walgreens and Kroger. As the firm has evolved, Oswald has completed several mixed-use and site development projects for clients like Austin Landing in Dayton, Ohio. More recently, Oswald completed two multi-family projects in Greater Cincinnati for The Provident and One30 @ Stonegate. The firm continues to excel at healthcare and laboratory projects for several clients including Mercy Health, TriHealth, CEI, Pilot Chemical and AtriCure. Oswald has also expanded regionally with a presence in Lexington, Dayton, Wilmington and Indianapolis.
Thirty years ago, Oswald’s services and technologies were simple – construction. Over the years, Oswald has been an early adopter of new construction technology. These technologies include Building Information Modeling (BIM), Virtual Reality (VR), and 4D Scheduling. With the building process becoming more complex and with shorter schedules and tighter budgets, these technologies allow clients to see, quantify and analyze their new facility, all before construction begins. Oswald services have also expanded since the company’s inception. The company no longer solely focuses on construction, but now provides development, preconstruction, and design-build services. By integrating these technologies and services into the building process, the collaboration between the client, design team and Oswald creates communities where people will live, work, and play for years to come.
Over the recent years, Ken Oswald focused his time on developing his next generation of leaders. The team is comprised on industry veterans with diverse experience including Wayne McMillian, VP of Operations, Sara Jones, Senior VP of Accounting and Risk Management, Bryan Riehle, Director of Preconstruction, Tammy Riddle, VP of Commercial Growth and Development and Kevin Mire, Vice President. As Oswald Company looks at the next 30 years, this executive leadership team will continue to lead and guide the company. Ken states, “This leadership team has exceeded my expectations and led us during the challenging year of 2020. Their collaboration and fortitude have kept Oswald on track and will continue to bring us success for years to come.”