Rockford Construction Co. remains at the top of Crain’s list of largest construction companies in West Michigan, while downtown Grand Rapids-based WDG Construction LLC experienced the highest percentage of year-over-year growth last year.

Led by CEO John Wheeler, WDG Construction is the 26th largest construction firm in West Michigan, ranked by revenue in 2024, but experienced 209.7% year-over-year revenue growth. The company posted revenue of $22.3 million in 2024, up from $7.2 million in 2023.

The largest West Michigan construction companies, by 2024 revenue, are:

1. Rockford Construction Co. ($575 million)
2. Pioneer Construction ($477 million)
3. Owen-Ames-Kimball Co. ($444 million)
4. The Christman Co. ($420.88 million)
5. Wolverine Building Group ($240 million)

Other companies with the largest revenue gains were Granger Construction Co. (89% increase) and Rohde Construction Co. Inc. (51.1% increase).

Subscribers can access the full list at the Crain’s Grand Rapids Business Data Center.

A big part of WDG Construction’s revenue increase last year stemmed from the company hitting its stride in working alongside its related, but independent, companies: Wheeler Development Group, Pure Real Estate Brokerage and Pure Real Estate Management.

“(The growth) is reflective of the efficiency that we’ve created by having all our companies work in tandem,” said Jason Wheeler, vice president of marketing and communications and partner at WDG Construction. “They’ve started to synergize over the past six months. We’ve noticed that as a team, we have a much more knowledgeable base when we’re starting a project, and we really have dialed our product in.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has had lingering effects on the construction industry, including longer lead times and high construction costs since 2020. Wheeler said the company now has a better idea about how market factors affect prices and factoring in lead times to projects.

“Our construction company is flowing through our multifamily work a lot quicker, and we also adjusted to some of the industry gaps, pricing changes and things like that and have worked all those things into our budgets,” Wheeler said. “We’re getting more and more looks at our multifamily product and that’s our specialty, our niche.”

WDG Construction and its affiliated companies moved its corporate offices to 300 Ionia Ave. NW in downtown Grand Rapids last year, which previously housed Owen-Ames-Kimball Co.’s offices.

One of WDG’s more prominent recently completed multifamily projects was the 92-unit Village East of Ada that opened at the beginning of 2024. The company is currently building a 54-room boutique hotel in downtown Rockford called Hotel Rose, which is expected to be completed this year.

“The (Hotel Rose) project is going really well and people can now visualize what it’s going to look like,” Wheeler said. “It blends in really well and we’re getting great feedback.”