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P.O. Box 791290 San Antonio, Texas 78279-1290 Change Service Requested
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San Antonio
CONSTRUCTION NEWS The Industry’s Newspaper
www.constructionnews.net H (210) 308-5800 H Volume 24 H Number 2 H FEBRUARY 2022
30 years later...
Cooling it for 40 years
Mike Leonard, Leonard Contracting Inc.
Mr. Erwin Inc. celebrates 40 years in business.
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fter graduating from Texas State Technical Institute (TSTI) in 1986 with a degree in building construction management, a young Mike Leonard hit the pavement in search of a job. It was a hard time for the new graduate, especially in the construction industry. It was the heart of the Savings & Loans crisis and the construction industry was in a slump. He finally found work as a carpenter helper for a local San Antonio contractor. Working in the field for about a year, Leonard moved into the office where he began estimating before being promoted to project manager. In 1992, Leonard’s situation had shifted and he found himself at a crossroad, but
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perating out of the living room of their family home in McAllen, TX, Darrell Wilson started D. Wilson Construction in 1957 with his wife Sally and brother Gerald by his side. He started out doing a mix of residential and commercial work. Growing up in the Rio Grande Valley, Wilson applied his knowledge of the area and the people of the region to build a successful business in South Texas. In 1992 when Wilson passed away, his sons Bill and Mike purchased the company from there and renamed the company D. Wilson Construction Company. By the year 2000, the company was owned by the D. Wilson Construction Company Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) with the brothers financing the note for 20 years in which they sold 100 percent of the shares to 25 employees. Seven short years later, the note was paid in full.
starting his own company was not in the cards. “I had no desire to go out and start my own business,” says Leonard. “It was not in the game plan. I needed to find another opportunity and I just wasn’t finding the right one for me. Three different people told me I needed to go out on my own. I was a young guy. I was 27 years old, actually 26 when these discussions started.” After warming up to the idea, Leonard decided to give it run. After all, being so young he didn’t have a whole lot of financial responsibility despite the fact he had a wife and a young son to provide for. But he felt, if it didn’t work, he could easily find a job to pay the bills.
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s a young man, Erwin Lehmann, Jr. was in the Air Force and worked with liquid oxygen. He learned refrigeration in the LOX plants and when he got out of the service, he went to work with a plumbing company Peru, IN where he worked in their air conditioning division. Fifty years ago he moved his family back to Texas and went to work at Wickes Lumber Co. in New Braunfels doing heating and air conditioning work with them. He later went to work for Gibson Plumbing where he opened and ran the heating and air conditioning part of the company. In 1982, Lehmann decided to go out on his own to start Mr. Erwin Inc. After giving Gibson notice that he was leaving, Gibson decided they didn’t want to do heating and air conditioning anymore. He
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brought with him his heating and air conditioning crews. As the mid-‘80s came about, things got pretty tight, construction went down and Lehmann was forced to cut way back. At one point, Mr. Erwin Inc. was down to Lehmann, one of his sons, Butch Lehmann and two other employees. Although Lehmann hated cutting back, it was necessary, and Mr. Erwin Inc was able to rebound. Another son, Chris Lehmann, joined the company after graduating from college. “I worked with my dad in the summers, all through high school and college to help put myself through college,” says Erwin “Sonny” Lehmann III, Vice President/Production Manager and Lehmann’s oldest son. “I knew the business, but I told continued on Page 18
An array of experience
D. Wilson Construction’s San Antonio leadership L-R: Superintendent Jordon Phillips, Project Manager Ben Matous, Leland Stennett, John Kovar and Estimator Frank Hernandez
The company expanded its footprint to San Antonio in 2010, opening an office to meet the demands of a growing market. The San Antonio office has successfully partnered on many projects for San Antonio ISD, Northside ISD, Schertz-Cibolo-Universal City ISD, IDEA Public Schools, Somerset ISD, and the cities of San Antonio, Schertz, and Boerne, the US Corps of Engineers and many more. The San Antonio office for D. Wilson has undergone some recent leadership changes to facilitate a new chapter for growing the office. In 2021, the company welcomed Operations Manager Leland Stennett to assume the role of business unit leader from retiring manager Richard Weldon. In 2022, they augmented the team with Director of Preconstruction John Kovar to lead all preconstruction and estimating activities for the region. Together, Stennett and Kovar are continued on Page 18