Stronghold Construction is a veteran and first responder owned organization founded in 2022 with a vision that holds strong today – to leave Oklahoma, and in particular its large community of tribes and nations, a little better than how it found it. The ownership team at Stronghold is made up of Zach Simmons, who comes from a construction background, Roy Lewis, who also hails from the construction world but more on the corporate structure side, and Danny Wanner, who is backed by over 17 years of banking experience. “We’ve set ourselves up in a way that our strengths don’t cross over each other,” Zach says, “so we very much rely on each partner’s expertise.” Zach and Roy both agree that Stronghold Construction was started out of frustration. “Projects are set up for failure from the beginning because they are handed to architects with ideas of grandeur,” Zach says. “Architects attempt to put a cost to the project, but it’s just not something they do well. We come into projects that are over designed or designed too large, and the client has already fallen in love with the design. They’ve run through multiple iterations, multiple renderings, and so when we tell them it’s 150% above their maximum budget, we’re automatically the bad guys and the relationship is adversarial from the start. We thought there had to be a better way to do this.”
“We thought there had to be a better way to do this.”
In delivery methods that offer an alternative to the low-bid approach that’s been the default in Oklahoma for over fifty years, Stronghold Construction has found that better way. “We focus primarily on CM/GC and Progressive Design Build (PDB),” Zach says, “which are effectively accelerated versions of the traditional design build model.” Both methods are relatively new to the market and not typically offered by construction companies. “CM/GC is a new concept coming out of Florida State University. It’s a method that was only very recently approved for federal procurement, and that has opened a lot of different projects that can be performed using it.” Collaboration is at the forefront of CM/GC contracts, under which Stronghold Construction act as CM, with a separate Design Manager (DM) Team contracted to the owner, and a separate team of Independent Cost Estimators (ICE). “We as the CM drive the full design process. The DM team produces a relative concept, we validate that as reasonable for the budget, and then it’s approved and the design team can start drawing it. The intent is that we are validating step by step, so by the time we get to a 75% set of drawings, the project is truly construction ready. This process allows the design team to be finishing up after the project has already started, and that’s the acceleration portion of this. We’re kicking jobs off as early as a 50% set of drawings, depending upon the project. You save money in pre-construction, and you shorten your schedule overall.” Because a lot of Stronghold Construction’s work is federal procurement, a team of Independent Cost Estimators is required to act as an objective third party to ensure a fair market rate. “They go through our bids from stem to stern and every penny, and then they give an acceptable range for every division of work that we price. If it’s out of range, they will recommend that the client not proceed with the project until pricing is either thought through more or rectified to a lower value.” Zach says that the method “opens up a collaborative think-tank between our teams, the design team and the ICE team,” allowing them to come up with solutions that will present efficiencies or savings that can then be translated back to the client.
“Progressive Design Build is very similar to CM/GC,” Zach says, “but it’s an encapsulated model. The CM and DM are a separate contract, like with traditional Design Build. The Design Manager would be under us, so we’re still directing and validating the design in the same manner. They are effectively just working for us as opposed to working directly for the client, and the Independent Cost Estimator is still contracted directly to the to the client.” Both CM/GC and Progressive Design Build offer an opportunity for client education that is lacking in more traditional methods. “Educating our clients about what is available in the industry, what means and methods we can use to make these projects more effective; that’s one of our primary goals. We educate clients about the true processes of construction, teaching them that their projects don’t have to be over designed and over budget, and that there is a method to approach that from the onset of the job.” Reflecting on three years in business, Roy says that “it’s been one major milestone after the other.”
One of the company’s earliest successes came with a project at the Normal Transit Center. This project involved the renovation of an old bank into a bus station in the Greater Oklahoma City metro area. “We were awarded that job seven or eight months after our founding, going up against companies that have been established in our market for more than 50 years,” Zach says. “At the time we only had one employee outside of the ownership group, so before the job closed, we had the opportunity to hire two more employees who are now the backbone of our company.
From hiring its first employee to landing its first real job and developing relationships with tribes throughout the state, Stronghold has been on, and continues on, a steady path of growth and progress. “The first package that we got invited to with the Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, was our first official program under this new method, was a huge achievement. It was a moment when I realized that we were not accidentally working this method, but purposefully working it. We were in a room full of experienced, talented, and sure-footed people, and it was exciting to be a part of that and to prove ourselves.” The first Seminole contract Roy speaks of was born out of a relationship the company had previously established with one of its contractors, Williams Dirt Service. “When WDS were awarded the program, they called and asked if we’d like to help them run it,” Zach says. “Little did we know that entity had just run a CM/GC method project with the exact same people we were going out to Pawnee Nation with. We got to learn from them in our own encapsulated project with our own design team. That’s what exposed us to the method, and right after that we were awarded our first tribal project. Those projects, the Pawnee Nation and the first package with the Seminole Nation, were really our defining moments in this method.” Of the company that introduced them to the method that defines Stronghold’s business model today, Roy says, “We count ourselves very fortunate to have found WDS. They are a professional bunch with decades of experience to back up their worth, but what has consistently wowed us is their integrity. They take their projects to heart, and they have treated us as though we were a part of their company. That is remarkable and rare in today’s professional world.”
Not long after those first projects with Pawnee and Seminole came CM/GC Package #2 with Seminole including 4 projects Civil & Vertical, and then a 20 Project package for the Kickapoo Tribe of Oklahoma. As Zach explains, these projects have been transformative in the company’s growth. “We’ve grown substantially every year since, exceeding even my wildest projections on what we might be able to achieve.” With over half of Oklahoma being Native American land, the state is widely agreed upon as one of the largest consolidations of tribal nations in the United States.
“Historically, you don’t get tribal work if you are not tribal owned, which we’re not,” Roy says. “In that first package we were awarded with Pawnee we told them blatantly that we’ve grown up around these communities, we’ve seen the level of construction that’s been provided, and we know we can do better. As we navigate these projects from the initial outset the immediate perspective of nearly all our clients is that we’re construction guys and were going to try to take advantage of them, that we’re going to try sneak money into the budget anywhere we can, so being bluntly transparent in everything we do is our shock and awe factor. The CM/GC or Progressive Design Build method requires a company and a client that’s willing to do the trust fall.”
Though in a position of strength as the name suggests, Stronghold Construction is not immune to making mistakes, but as Roy says, mistakes are often an opportunity for a company to rise to its full potential. “We make mistakes just like any other CM Firm would. The difference is we really take it to heart when we do. Our ownership groups, the various nations, the various municipalities that we work with, their representatives that have been designated as the decision makers for these different projects, they see firsthand how it affects us. But we never show up empty handed. We’re already three steps down the road, and we already have possible solutions. Our mentality is to have something that we can stand and be proud of next to the ownership group, and those fail points are great opportunities for them to see us for who we are. And word travels. The Tribal Nations are very close, and we’ve been afforded a lot of opportunities because we’ve had to prove ourselves and rise to the occasion.”
“We could go build Starbucks and grocery stores and retail centers,” Zach adds. “A lot of our market relies on that as the basis of their revenue, but we get the opportunity to affect true change to these communities. These projects have meaning, and as soon as we’re done, it’s not a drive through line for somebody to go get coffee, it’s a community center, or it’s a place for someone to better their health, or it’s somewhere children go to grow and learn. It’s providing a true revenue stream to these nations that is going back out to their members as additional financial support. We see the immediate effects of what it does to these communities when we finish a project, and we take a lot of pride in that. Our team becomes truly invested and truly cares about the people that we’re working with and the success of these jobs, and I really think, to Roy’s sentiment, that is what has spread about us.”
With the Kickapoo project actively in design, as well as a first-of-its-kind solar farm project for the Pawnee Nation, Stronghold Construction looks to the future with hopeful anticipation. “We want to increase our capabilities and our presence within these nations throughout the state,” Roy says. “These communities have a need and thankfully, so far, we are the people that are able to fulfill that need. Every time we enter a new Nation, it’s a completely different need, a completely different culture, completely different circumstances and different demographics. It’s an opportunity and a challenge each and every time, and our team really thrives on that. We would love to continue to do what we do, to spread the good word about the new process that we’ve fallen into and to show people the benefits of it. And while we’re at it, build some really cool things, leave a lasting legacy, and leave Oklahoma a little better than we found it.” With similar enthusiasm, Zach mirrors this sentiment. “It’s fun to be at the forefront of what hopefully repairs a lot of the issues affecting modern day commercial construction,” he says. “This is our name. This is our livelihood. This is our legacy. So, outside the revenue and the recognition of the projects, what we leave in Oklahoma is something we’re proud of, and that’s the primary focus of the company from its inception to its last day.”
