When Marvin Drury founded Bloomsdale Excavating 80 years ago, he created a legacy that endures to this day.
Returning home after the Second World War, the young Marvin was eager to launch his own business, which he named Bloomsdale after the small Missouri town in which it was based. Soon joined by his brother Ralph, the two grew the fledgling enterprise from excavating and delivering gravel to farmers to larger infrastructure projects, like installing public water supplies and sewage systems.
To keep up with the workload, the brothers hired staff and invested in bigger pieces of machinery. A few years later, Marvin’s six sons joined the business, and the rest is history.
Employee ownership
Family-owned for decades, Bloomsdale Excavating wrote the next chapter of its story in September 2024 when it announced that the company was to become 100 percent employee-owned through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP). Staff now have ownership interest in the company, a qualified retirement plan, and other benefits. Heptacore Inc.—a Drury family holding company providing excavation and foundation work—and subsidiary companies Bloomsdale Excavating Co., Central Fleet Inc., and Nexus Construction Service Group LLC, are all now ESOPs.
“This transition ensures that our dedicated team members, who have been the heart and soul of our success, are now also owners,” said the company in a LinkedIn post. “We’re proud to continue our legacy of excellence, commitment to our communities, and strong company culture—now with the added pride of employee ownership.”
Although the ESOP transition is new, Bloomsdale Excavating and its staff, including outside board members who contribute a different, high-level perspective, are already seeing benefits.
“The biggest impact it’s had on the business is the employee owners,” says Sales and Marketing Manager, Trevor Drury (fourth generation of the Drury family). “43 employees now own 100 percent of the company. There’s a lot more accountability in the office and out in the field. Everybody has really taken ownership of the responsibility of being an owner. Morale and efficiency have increased. There has been no negative impact in becoming an ESOP. It’s been a very positive experience up to this point.”
Some factors behind the move to ESOP included succession and buying out the company’s second generation, which was years in the making. The ESOP option became the most attractive and made the most sense. “It was about a year-long process, and we all came to terms with it,” says CEO, Scott Drury. “It surprised the heck out of our employees—we kept it quiet for about a year. We signed it over and rolled it out as a surprise.”
The Employee Stock Ownership Plan has brought a spirit of growth and has energized the entire company to get moving.
A range of projects
One of America’s foremost excavating companies, Bloomsdale’s services encompass site utilities, concrete, mining, demolition, and excavating and grading. Highly experienced, the team will take on everything from a small, $200,000 side project to data centers in the $70 to $80 million range that take 18 months to two years to complete—and any project in between. The company also does a select amount of residential work.
Markets served range from commercial (retail, healthcare, distribution centers) to mining and quarrying, energy projects, public works (municipal, transportation, recreation, education), and other projects, including federal works.
A long-time federal contractor, Bloomsdale took on small business status based on revenue, a move that has opened up plenty of opportunities for the company as a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Small Business Contractor. The company’s primary Corps Districts include St. Louis, Kansas City, Memphis, Little Rock, Rock Island, and Omaha.
The company’s many projects include the Greenville Bank Stabilization, Ste. Genevieve Levee Flood Recovery, Levee Repairs, Grand Tower, and many others. The company’s federal work includes projects for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Along with many community and industry affiliations, including the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME), the Associated General Contractors of Missouri, and the Southern Illinois Builders Association (SIBA), Bloomsdale holds several designations. These include three Small Business designations for Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction (237310, 237990, 237110), and designations for Specialty Trade Contracting (238110, 238910).
Focus on the military
“Our focus is really the Army Corps of Engineers and military base work,” says CEO, Scott Drury. Continuing to take on VA projects, the company is also seeing more opportunities with the EPA and has taken on work with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
Among the company’s many VA projects is Jefferson Barracks Cemetery Expansion Phase 5C in St. Louis, Missouri. As a subcontractor, Bloomsdale worked closely with general contractor RKE. This saw the company provide a breadth of services, including site excavation and grading, concrete paving, curb and gutter, installing storm sewers, and 2,000 feet of new roadway. “Crypt field excavation and backfill could be performed one crypt at a time,” says the company. “Once each crypt field was mass excavated, an extensive underdrain system was constructed. With the soil being excavated, Bloomsdale was to haul that material offsite and did so with little to no disruption to the Government or the public.”
Along with the Jefferson Barracks Cemetery Expansion, another large-scale government project is the Fort Leonard Wood Hospital in Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. This project saw Bloomsdale handle site grading, clearing and grubbing, erosion control, and utility extensions. This sizeable undertaking required the successful excavation of 320,000 cubic yards of earth and rock and the installation of 4,900 feet of water main and service lines, 6,000 feet of sanitary sewers, and 7,700 feet of storm sewers. This project also had a sizeable concrete package where Bloomsdale self-performed 58,000 square feet of sidewalk, 11,000 linear feet of curb and gutter, and 110,000 square feet of concrete pavement.
Steeped in safety
From government works to commercial projects, all of the company’s work has one thing in common: Bloomsdale’s commitment to employee safety, health, and wellness. For the company, the goal isn’t to reduce injuries, but to eliminate them. “Our safety plan is top-notch,” says Scott of the company, which has its own safety personnel (including a full-time Safety Director) and safety monitors in the field. Different people are appointed as safety monitors week-to-week, and this results in more tradespeople being directly involved in safe work protocols.
Bloomsdale Excavating is frequently recognized for its work by its customers, the community, and the broader industry. In 2025, the company secured a spot in the ‘Top Workplaces, small’ category by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “That’s a local award that companies strive for that reflects our culture and happiness in the workplace,” says Scott. “We received that award the past two years, hopefully three going on this year.”
80 great years
While the company appreciates recognition, one of its greatest rewards is continuing the work of founder Marvin Drury. Forming an 80th anniversary committee, the company created a special logo, which it is using on documents being sent out, proposals, internally, and on social media posts.
The team will mark the monumental occasion internally for staff members and their families in July with a big carnival-style celebration, including bounce houses, inflatable slides, a live band, and “a heavy equipment rodeo, as we call it,” says Trevor. “This is where kids, teenagers, and even adults can hop on some smaller equipment, run them, and play some mini-games, like getting a basketball from a cone into a trashcan with the bucket of an excavator.” The company expects up to 500 people will attend the event. Bloomsdale will also throw a three-hour-long customer and vendor/supplier appreciation event in April with giveaways and the opportunity to thank others for their commitment to the company.
As Bloomsdale Excavating turns 80, the team looks forward to what the future will bring, including further diversification of its services, adding more equipment, and possibly even geographic expansion, “all to support good, solid, profitable growth, wherever that leads us,” says Scott. “We are definitely looking at diversification of services and geographic expansion into different areas.”
