
DPR Construction
Employee-owned American general contractor founded in 1990, headquartered in Santa Clara, California, with $14.1 billion in 2025 revenue.
Company Type
private
Founded
1990
Headquarters
Santa Clara, California, USA
Revenue
$14.1 billion (2025)
Employees
Approximately 13,500
Primary Market
United States
About DPR Construction
Is DPR Construction publicly traded?
No. DPR is privately held and wholly owned by its employees. There are no outside shareholders and no stock listing.
Who founded DPR Construction?
Doug Woods, Peter Nosler, and Ron Davidowski founded the company in July 1990 in Redwood City, California, pooling $750,000 of their own savings. The name comes from their initials.
Where is DPR Construction headquartered?
DPR is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It moved from its longtime Redwood City base into a new 113,702-square-foot campus that officially opened in February 2026.
What is DPR Construction's revenue?
The company reported $14.1 billion in revenue for 2025 and employs more than 13,500 professionals across its family of companies.
What does employee owned mean at DPR?
It means the company's workers collectively own the business. Profits and company value flow to employees through the ownership structure rather than to external investors, a model the company says drives its culture and retention.
History of DPR Construction
In 1989 Doug Woods was told by his employer that he would never lead the firm he had spent fifteen years building. He called two colleagues, Peter Nosler and Ronald Davidowski, and the three resigned. In July 1990 they pooled $750,000 in savings and launched DPR Construction in Redwood City, California. The name comes from their initials: Doug, Peter, Ron.
The founders made the company employee owned from day one, tied compensation to performance, and removed job titles from business cards. Their stated mission, set with Jim Collins in 1992, was to be a truly great construction company by the year 2000.
Revenue reached $1 billion in 1998, two years ahead of that goal. Growth came from Silicon Valley's expansion: cleanrooms for Rockwell International, hospitals, biotech plants, and data centers for eBay and Facebook, alongside offices that became early LEED certification landmarks.
The 2000s and 2010s brought national expansion into offices across the US, plus international work. The company built a reputation in technically demanding niches rather than commodity construction, concentrating on advanced technology, life sciences, and healthcare clients with complex delivery requirements.
Recent years have emphasized vertical integration. DPR added prefabrication capacity, equipment services through OES, electrical through EIG, and structural engineering through GPLA. In 2025 the company reported a record $14.1 billion in revenue. In February 2026 it opened a new 113,702-square-foot headquarters in Santa Clara, consolidating its Redwood City, San Jose, and self-perform operations into a single campus that also houses a Prefabrication Assembly Facility.
DPR Construction Sustainability & Ethics
DPR was an early adopter of green building, delivering some of the first LEED-certified offices in the country. Its sustainability posture centers on mass timber, low-carbon concrete, and prefabrication-driven waste reduction, all of which appeared in the design of its new Santa Clara headquarters. It publishes sustainability commitments aligned with the broader contractor movement toward lower embodied carbon. Its employee ownership model also earns consistent recognition in workplace rankings.
Awards & Recognition
DPR is a perennial presence on Fortune's 100 Best Companies to Work For list and Great Place to Work certifications, and it ranks among the top ten on the ENR Top 400 Contractors list. It has collected numerous AGC Build America awards and regional safety and design honors for complex healthcare and technology projects.
Controversy, Regulation & Public Scrutiny
No material regulatory actions are on record against the company. Like all large general contractors it manages construction defect claims and jobsite safety incidents as a matter of routine business, and OSHA citations appear periodically in its history at individual project level, none rising to material company-level scrutiny.
Brands Owned by DPR Construction
DPR Construction owns 1 brand in our database. Explore the ownership tree below — click categories to expand and see individual brands.
DPR Construction
private · Founded 1990 · Santa Clara, California, USA
1
brands
DPR Construction Ownership: Pros & Cons
Advantages
- +Employee ownership drives retention and aligned incentives
- +Deep specialization in the fastest-growing construction niches
- +Self-perform model gives schedule and quality control
- +$14 billion revenue scale with strong backlog visibility
- +Prefabrication capacity reduces dependence on tight labor markets
Considerations
- -Employee ownership limits access to outside capital for major expansion
- -Construction margins remain structurally thin even at scale
- -Cyclical exposure to technology and commercial building demand
- -Concentration in complex projects raises single-project risk profile
- -Succession and profit distribution complexity inherent to broad employee ownership
Frequently Asked Questions About DPR Construction
Is DPR Construction publicly traded?
No. DPR is privately held and wholly owned by its employees. There are no outside shareholders and no stock listing.
Who founded DPR Construction?
Doug Woods, Peter Nosler, and Ron Davidowski founded the company in July 1990 in Redwood City, California, pooling $750,000 of their own savings. The name comes from their initials.
Where is DPR Construction headquartered?
DPR is headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It moved from its longtime Redwood City base into a new 113,702-square-foot campus that officially opened in February 2026.
What is DPR Construction's revenue?
The company reported $14.1 billion in revenue for 2025 and employs more than 13,500 professionals across its family of companies.
What does employee owned mean at DPR?
It means the company's workers collectively own the business. Profits and company value flow to employees through the ownership structure rather than to external investors, a model the company says drives its culture and retention.





