Second Fastest Growing Private Company: North Branch Construction

Principals, from left; Bruce Blazon, Christopher Galbraith, Joseph Campbell, and James Schwartzkopf

Three-Year Average Annual Growth: 82.9%
Rank on Private 100: 42
Headquarters: 76 Old Turnpike Road, Concord
Product/Service: Construction management, design-build and general contracting
President: Joseph H. Campbell
Founded: 1958
Total Number of Employees: 87
Website: northbranch.net

One of the best things about being in the construction business, according to Joe Campbell, president of North Branch Construction, is the pride shared with family and friends while driving through a community. “We drive past a building our company has built with my family in the car and I say to my son, ‘Dad built that,’ and our employees do the same thing,” he says.

And the company has much to be proud of, with enough projects to allow North Branch to actually grow through the pandemic. The company completed several high-profile projects in the past year.

The graduate student housing complex at Dartmouth College in Hanover was a $66 million project completed over two years.

“Our largest one on record in our 64 years,” says Campbell.

Add to that a $21 million, six-story, 90-unit apartment building on Elm Street in Manchester; the $13 million SIG Experience Center on the campus of gun-maker Sig Sauer in Epping; and $5 million in renovations to Sylvia Trottier Hall at Rivier University to transform the building into a Nursing Simulation and Clinical Education Center.

“The average project size in the small state of New Hampshire has grown significantly. Our average project size five years ago was in the $3 million range. Today it’s closer to $10 million,” he says, noting the company usually completes about 25 projects annually.

“Another factor I’m seeing,” he adds, “is despite the overall rise in cost of construction, our clients still believe there will never be a better time to build because the cost of construction rarely goes down.”

The company’s workforce has grown to just under 90, with hiring coming largely from displaced workers in the hospitality industry, says Campbell. “We’re hiring them based on personality and work ethic,” he says. “The crafts and skills we can teach.”