Ciminelli Construction Companies
Ciminelli Construction Companies epitomizes the successful family business venture. Founded more than four decades ago, the company has enjoyed a record of solid growth and remained strong because of continued family dedication and involvement.When Frank L. Ciminelli founded the firm in 1961, it was a concrete subcontracting company that worked primarily with concrete driveways and residential foundations.
As the company’s reputation grew, the firm shifted its primary focus from residential to commercial work and by 1972 had expanded to provide general contracting services and self-performed services in concrete, carpentry and site work.
Frank Ciminelli’s eldest son, Louis, joined the company in the early 1980s and helped to expand the company further, to include heavy highway and bridge construction. In 1989, Louis Ciminelli founded a construction management division, Ciminelli-Cowper Co., Inc. By that time, the firm’s full-time staffing levels had grown to more than 50 employees.
Louis Ciminelli took over as company owner and president in 1996 and under his guidance the firm continued to grow. The company now employs more than 150 full-time professional staff, with field personnel numbering over 300 during the peak construction season.
The company has come a long way from putting in driveways and foundations. Today, it provides a full range of commercial construction services, including general contracting management, design and construction, and program management to clientele in the public and private sector. The company’s projects include health care facilities, kindergarten-12th grade schools and institutions of higher education, correctional and justice facilities, recreation and entertainment complexes, retail and distribution centers and heavy manufacturing facilities.
“It came from a combination of things,” Ciminelli said of his firm’s success over the last 41 years. “We’ve remained dedicated to our customers and have built the company on long-term relationships. Our success is really a tribute to the people who work here.”
Family involvement in the company won’t end with Louis Ciminelli. His son, Frank Ciminelli II, joined the firm last year as a project engineer. Two younger children, daughter Christina, who works in New York City, and son Matthew, a student at Boston College, may some day join the company. “I’d be pleased and honored if they did,” Louis said.
What sets family businesses apart from privately-held firms?
“Family firms are more hands-on. There is more contact between ownership and employees. The spirit of the owner more easily permeates the company,” Ciminelli said. “Public companies can be pretty faceless, except for the board of directors. We understand our roles as stakeholders in the business and the community.”
The firm contributes to the local community through its support of more than 100 civic and charitable organizations, including the Langston Hughes Institute, King Urban Life Playground Project, Salvation Army Back to School Program, Tour de Cure, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and the Roswell Park Cancer Institute.