McGough Construction wants to invest in Rapid City. In an era of remote work, the Minneapolis-based company has opened a brick and mortar storefront in the heart of downtown. But the group is also bringing a level of technology and innovation unique to West River, placing them on the cutting edge of the region’s massive building boom.

The general contractor wants to be a permanent presence amid Rapid City’s booming economy and growing development. They’ve designed and built massive buildings using innovative technologies like drones and digital construction programs. And the company is hoping to replicate its growth and impact in the area like it has in Minnesota, North Dakota, Texas and Iowa.

McGough is a family-owned company and has built advanced healthcare facilities, educational campuses, state-of-the-art data centers and science facilities. Their first project in South Dakota was the Terex Utilities Replacement Facility in Watertown. The more than 446,000-square-foot building houses manufacturing and corporate offices for the global construction equipment manufacturing company. 

President of Dream Design International, a major land developer in Rapid City, Hani Shafai is working with McGough on future projects in Sioux Falls and the Black Hills. Because of the sophistication of their methods, he said McGough offers a new dimension to construction processes that is not currently offered locally. 

“Our local contractors do a great job, but McGough is different because of the expertise and depth of the company and the technological methods they are using,” Shafai said. “They showed the sequence of construction from start to finish in a simulated model. It’s pretty cool but it really does help to ensure that schedules are met and the tasks are coordinated properly.”

McGough uses drones that can accurately plot job sites for increased efficiency. By measuring the exact amount of dirt that has been removed from a site, it can ensure crews are not doing excess work. This increased labor productivity gets the job done sooner and the building gets built better. This gives McGough a competitive edge to offer developers the best possible bid price for a project.

Though general contractors compete to work on projects, Shafai said there is plenty of room for McGough because the local industry is operating at capacity, meaning there is more available work than local companies have the capability to pursue. Additionally, McGough’s growth model doesn’t attempt to wedge themselves into a market.  

When opening an office in a new area, McGough follows a growth strategy that focuses on first building relationships with developers, trade partners like plumbing and electrical companies, and then hiring local leaders to place a staff around. They will pursue incrementally bigger opportunities with their eyes focused on major future projects. 

McGough Chief Operating Officer Brad Wood said this growth model recognizes long-standing relationships between contractors and developers in local markets. But since Rapid City is growing so rapidly, McGough can find work without taking work away from local contractors. This is especially true for larger projects worth hundreds of millions of dollars that typically go to out-of-state contractors that have the capacity to complete them.

“Now developers won’t have to bring someone from Denver or somewhere else,” Wood said. “We can do their small work, we can do a lot of their ongoing maintenance work and then when big projects come we have the capability to mobilize workforce and do the project with a high level of sophistication and capability.”

McGough Development Strategist of South Dakota Rich Naser said out-of-state companies that do large projects simply leave when they are finished. Instead, McGough is investing in Rapid City’s future by becoming a permanent player.

“Other companies of our caliber don’t come in and set up shop. After a project they don’t stay and make the long-term commitment to the community,” Naser said. “We want to do that big project, but we’re here for all the other projects. We want to build a team that stays.”

McGough opened an office in Sioux Falls in 2021 with three employees. Using the same organic growth strategy, the workforce of that office has grown to 17 permanent employees. Though Sioux Falls and Rapid City are seeing similar population growth, the Rapid City office might grow faster than its East River counterpart.

Though it is not entirely confirmed, Shafai said Dream Design and McGough will soon be working on a project in Box Elder worth about $30 million. The project will consist of two five-story, multipurpose buildings. Naser said their office in Sioux Falls did not handle a project this size at a similar time in its growth. 

“We certainly didn’t land one this fast so we’re incredibly excited about it,” Naser said. “Its a very substantial project, and we haven’t even had our open house yet.”

According to McGough Executive Vice President of Regional Markets Nate Wood, by setting up shop in Rapid City, the company can have immense local impact. The first step to community involvement was becoming a member and investor of Elevate Rapid City. Next they plan to work with South Dakota Mines, Western Dakota Technical Institute, and other local resources to develop the local trade professional workforce. 

“Our presence and the population growth here is going to attract tradespeople and construction professionals that the community and industry need to continue creating opportunities for Rapid City,” Wood said. “We want to help to make sure people interested in a career as an electrician, plumber or carpenter have career paths within our company.”

Previously, tradespeople might have had to leave the area to pursue the next step into leadership roles with a general contractor. McGough aims to offer more roles like foreman who typically supervise and delegate tasks to their team of construction workers and superintendent who oversees every step of the construction process from planning to completion.

McGough Senior Superintendent Shannon Erickson is an example of someone who pursued this career path. Raised in Sturgis, Erickson spent 15 years as an electrician, then another 15 at a general contracting company. He worked mostly on complicated hospital projects all over the country. He had been wanting to return to the Black hills but never found a proper role. 

“I had been wanting to come back for about a decade, but it’s becoming a very technology-driven industry. I couldn’t find anybody with the resources, management systems and as sophisticated as McGough,” Erickson said. “With McGough, I carry an iPad to job sites and can show where every wire conduit, every pipe, every duct work and the light is going to fit into that building. The days of superintendents walking around job sites with a tool belt are done.”