Missouri-based general contractor TW Constructors has a colorful company history that has shaped its role in today’s construction landscape as a full-service general contractor. The business began operations under the name of Legacy Building Group, which got its start in 2002 after owner and Chief Executive Officer Todd Weaver took out a loan from his father to pursue his own business goals—and paid it back in only six months.
Prior to Legacy Building Group, Weaver worked for many years at North American construction firm Clayco across several of its divisions and within its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. Through that work, he began to hear more about diverse firms getting into private sector construction work; he found that many of them could conduct business well either inside the office or outside of it, but could not do both exceptionally well, which seemed to him to be an intriguing challenge.
Weaver says that his experience in contracting and negotiating, as well as his understanding of how to best compete in private sector work, helped him believe that he could excel in both areas, a belief that became the impetus for his construction endeavors. He notes that World Wide Technology (WWT) was both a big inspiration and a huge reason for the success that TW has seen in the construction space.
A fellow Missouri-based services provider, WWT Founder David Steward has been a mentor and supporter of Weaver and his business endeavors for a long time; Steward, ranked on the Forbes list of notable American billionaires, is a trend-setting Black entrepreneur in his own right. World Wide Technology gave TW Constructors the platform it needed to diversify its operations, which empowered the firm to take on projects for a varied clientele including office buildings, data centers, renovations, clinic space, and more.
After a successful start-up period in the early 2000s which included the establishment of Todd Weaver’s second company, Mechanical Solutions, in 2006, the 2010s saw a time of considerable growth and more change for the company. Weaver separated from his initial business partner at the end of the 2000s and renamed his business TW Constructors in 2012. Near the end of the decade, Weaver and his team made a conscious decision to change from this being a strictly regional company to expand operations beyond its St. Louis, Missouri home.
In more recent years, TW has further expanded by founding Fire Solutions in 2015 and acquiring Midwest Consulting & Services LLC in 2020, now doing business as Glazing Solutions. Weaver says that not many St. Louis-based construction firms have taken that same initiative to branch out and expand into other markets. “The tentacles have stretched out and [the company has] taken more risks,” he says, and this is an environment in which TW Constructors thrives.
TW is, at heart, a company that is all about diversity, especially given its identity as the second-largest Minority-Owned Business Enterprise (MBE) in the St. Louis area. The company’s commitment to that value, as well as the quality of work that it brings to the table, is what Weaver says helps it stand out from most construction outfits in its area and of its size.
In just the last two to three years, TW has worked for customers in states like Ohio, South Carolina, and Oklahoma, especially within the mission-critical space, serving businesses that provide fundamental services like healthcare, finance, and data. Weaver says that work within mission-critical and advanced manufacturing businesses and sectors has helped to put the company on the map.
Currently, he says, TW Constructors is in a strong position despite financial tightness in the market and a low pool of talent for construction firms to draw from. As a full-service firm, it can be nimble regarding the needs of its clients, whether that means design-build projects, renovations, interior work, or construction management services. Working across a diverse network of industries, the company’s segments dedicated to mission-critical, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare are still thriving, with more work burgeoning in areas like artificial intelligence and at least another three to five years projected for continuing work.
Although the focus of the business has broadened in recent years, the company remains steadfast in supporting its hometown. TW involves itself with many organizations around its home base of St. Louis to promote construction to its communities and extend a helping hand. Charitable work with organizations like CID (Community Improvement Districts), KIDstruction (an opportunity for St. Louis contractors and firms to support children’s hospitals), and the Hard Hats for Cancer initiative, along with holiday celebrations like Juneteenth, allows the firm to maintain strong ties to its community and promote construction as a community-minded endeavor.
The company donates monetarily, as well as through the time and effort of its personnel, to these organizations annually, as well as to community and faith-based programs like the St. Patrick Center and the food pantry Loaves and Fishes. The work that its employees do for these organizations, including stocking goods and making baskets, is well-received both inside and outside the company. “People sign up left and right [for charitable work] because of how fulfilling it is… to be engaged in outreach,” Weaver shares.
The efforts of the workforce are always appreciated but, as with so many construction outfits today, the challenge is in finding more of the best talent; it is not simply about finding bodies to fill an immediate need. “We don’t sell diversity; we do good work, and we’re a good company,” says Weaver.
For over 20 years, Weaver and the TW Constructors team have had the opportunity to learn as well as succeed in the construction space. One such lesson has been that the more diversification is present in the company, the better the opportunities to reach clients. As the rest of 2024 unfolds, the company will be looking at acquisitions in other parts of the construction market as well as other markets to get into for 2024, 2025, and beyond.
More concretely, the business is anticipating a move into new headquarters at 4500 Earth City Expressway, a six-acre and 71,000-square-foot plot acquired earlier this year and with an expected project completion date of winter 2025.
In June of this year, TW Constructors was named as one of the 50 fastest-growing private companies in St. Louis, according to Business Journal. In the last decade and a half, Weaver says that he has been astonished and amazed at where the business is at now from where it started and is very grateful for both the opportunities the company has garnered and the people who have helped TW Constructors grow to the size it sits at now.
Despite all its success, he says that the company does not plan to lose focus on its internal goals. It will keep its gaze forward while being strategic and selective about the clients for which it works.
