CUSTOMER| A SALUTE TO AN CUSTOMER |
MINNOWA CONSTRUCTION, INC.
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"We like the ones where the degree of difficulty is fairly high," said Al, president of the firm he founded with his brother, Steve. "We seem to do well on those. Some jobs are harder than others, and some people don't like to do the hard ones. We do." After working for another contractor, the Thorsons started Minnowa Construction in 1984 with 12 people. "When we started out, I was pretty much doing the operating and field work," said Steve, who now oversees the company's operations in the field. "We were a smaller operation then. As we grew, I was taking on a lot of our larger projects. I like the field work, so I stayed out here."
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Experience is Minnowa's strong suit. "We were doing bridges for the other company, and when we started our company, we learned and grew with it," noted Al, who has an engineering degree and runs Minnowa's office. "And we have good people, eight of whom have been with us since 1984. We also acquired some good employees over the years who've worked elsewhere." All aspects of bridge work Today the Thorsons and their 60 employees tackle "bridges, culverts, small grading, mostly in conjunction with bridge work, bridge concrete and precast concrete culverts," listed Al. "We work year round except for extraordinarily cold days. We find projects in which we can work on the substructures, setting beams and forming bridge decks during the winter for early spring deck pours." Minnowa Construction also handles bridge demolition, reconstruction and widening projects. "We also do coffer dams where we drive sheet piling prior to excavating it, digging it down, de-watering it and building the piers," explained Al. In addition to its five bridge crews, Minnowa also has two crews that concentrate on culverts and small grading work. The Thorsons took their company name, Minnowa, from their location in Harmony, "right on the border between Minnesota and Iowa," Al noted. The name also describes the firm's territory. "We are prequalified in Wisconsin and South Dakota, but we mostly, if not exclusively, work in Iowa and Minnesota," said Al. "We prefer to stay within 200 miles of home, if that's possible. Crews basically spend the week on the road unless they're close to home. We have people who live all over the territory." Jobs span wide range The Thorsons estimate they have built or worked on 400 or 500 bridges during their 17 years in business. "We've done everything from 18-inch |
Al and Steve Thorson,
founders and owners of Minnowa Construction, Inc., are choosy when it
comes to the projects they bid on for their Harmony (Minnesota) bridge
contracting company. 
"We do a lot of work that apparently is not that desirable
to other contractors," agreed Steve Thorson, Minnowa's vice president.
"But those jobs bring a better profit. We've been doing difficult things
for so long that we're capable of figuring out how to handle them." 