The Benchmark Staff. Photo by Jim Varbel

Benchmark Construction A Standard to Be Measured By By Seth Allen

Webster's Dictionary defines a benchmark as "a standard by which others may be measured,"  and this certainly applies when it comes to Benchmark Construction in Nampa.  The high performance that this company demands of itself and its excellent reputation sets a standard by which others in the industry can be measured.  Few equal and none exceed this standard.  This can be confirmed throughout Treasure Valley by talking to over 50 years of satisfied clients.

Benchmark Construction, Inc. began as Keys Construction Co. in 1948 and throughout the 1950s and 1960s it was involved, as a general contractor, in residential, light commercial and industrial building projects.  Burt Brennan and Larry Doser, who were longtime employees of Keys, purchased the company in 1986.  Then, in 1995 Burt and his wife, Susan, became the sole owners of the company.

Under Burt's leadership the company expanded its markets and gained a reputation as one of the best general contractors in the Valley.  Since then they have been involved in numerous office buildings, warehouses, school buildings, retail stores and many controlled atmosphere buildings for the food processing industry.  In fact they are known as the leader in the field of farm produce storage facility construction.  The company builds large and small buildings and continually has both under construction at the same time.

Boise Office Equipment building, Boise.

In Burt's own words: "We are proud of our strong reputation and high level of integrity within the industry.  At Benchmark we enjoy a good relationship with our subcontractors, lending institutions and others involved in our business.  We know and appreciate the fact that we are only as good as the members of our team.  We are well known in the building community for completing a project on schedule and for treating everyone involved fairly.

Treasure Valley Gastroenterology building, Nampa

"The services we offer our clients are: 1) As a general contractor, we bid from your plans and specifications; 2) We do complete design/build construction; 3) We do construction management.  We have worked with many of our clients from the early stages of design through the time the building is occupied.  Many of our former clients return to have us build new facilities, make additions to, or expansions of their facilities and they continually refer others in their industry to us.  This, we feel, speaks well of our performance and the relationships we establish with our clients."

The term "design build," which Benchmark prefers to be involved in, has come into construction parlance to describe a process that involves the builder in a close working relationship with the owner from the time the project is conceptualized.

Burt came to Idaho from Fargo, ND, as a young man when he and the long-haul truck he drove were transferred to Boise.  He started at Keys Construction as an estimator in 1976.  He met Susan in Boise and they were married.  Susan, a Boise native, had graduated from Boise State University with a degree in business management.  She then spent 10 years as wholesale lumber salesperson, so when the Brennans acquired sole interest in Benchmark, it was logical that she came to work in the family business.  She now coordinates marketing, human resources and insurance.  Burt is president and general manager.

Their dual interests—other than the company—include camping, fishing, hunting and spending time at their cabin at Cascade.  Their individual interests vary quite a bit.  Susan loves to golf, drive her restored 1966 Mustang convertible, and get involved in photography, while Burt's love is old farm machinery.  He specializes in the renovation of old John Deere tractors, flywheel engines and other antique machinery.  He has been called a "John Deere Junkie" and "Tractor Man"; by his friends and family.

Burt Brennan with restored 1959 #730 John Deere Tractor

Their business-related activities are varied as well, Burt is active in the Sunrise Rotary Club and is a member of the AGC.  Susan is past president of the Boise Chapter of  The National Association of Women in Construction.

The Telephone Exchange building, Boise.

Benchmark is very proud of their relationship with Butler Manufacturing Company.  Even though preengineered steel is, by far, not the only construction Benchmark does, they work closely with Butler, who is the largest preengineered steel building manufacturer in the county, and Benchmark likes to share in their very solid reputation.

In other types of construction Benchmark recently completed the new office building for a firm that they work with on many of their projects, Stapley Engineering.  Others include a new 20,000 square-foot retail store for CompUSA on Milwaukee Street near the mall.  Others, either recently completed or under construction, include a Burger King restaurant, an office warehouse building, a Super-Clean laundry building and many others, too numerous to mention in this article.

CompUSA building, Boise.

At the time I interviewed Susan Brennan in July, Benchmark had 32 employees and she told me they like to maintain the staff at about that level.  She made it very clear that their employees are the real builders in their company and with these fine people and the outstanding subcontractors they have been able to attract, they can see great things for the company in the future.

The Teleconn building, Boise.

There are a number of key employees that should be mentioned because of what they contribute to the success of the organization and because of their importance in the new approach to management responsibility.  Terri Capshaw, the controller, is the one who "keeps score" at Benchmark.  She, along with Danyell Burrup, handles all of the accounting and record keeping activities.  Terri is pretty much self-taught in her accounting skill and is now furthering her education at BSU.  Paul Wilhelm, senior estimator and project manager, is responsible for all day-to-day activities for estimating, proposal writing, generating drawings, contracts and all project management activities.  Richard Barton, general superintendent, coordinates all field personnel and equipment and directly manages all of the field superintendents.  His experience and skills in field management have proven to be very valuable to Benchmark.

Valmarie Price and Carmen Hayden are project managers, and there are also five superintendents: Larry Doser, Donald Hennessey, M. Shane Hotchkiss, Alan Reasor and Ronald O'Neal who contribute to the company's success.

Recently, Burt and Susan Brennan have taken a step back from the day-to-day activities to allow Paul, Rick and Terri to step forward in running Benchmark Construction, Inc.  Through Burt is still president and general manager, he and Susan seem to be very comfortable with their new managers' abilities to assume more responsibility in the overall operation of the company.

When you see a Benchmark truck on a job you know that job is being done right.  You can reach Benchmark Construction, Inc. by calling (208) 466-9400.