Glen Carbon man watches construction firm grow

By Steve Rensberry
Edwardsville Intelligencer

Glen Carbon resident Charles "Chuck" Poettker knows construction. As the owner and CEO of Poettker Construction Company, he has spearheaded and watched the company he founded in 1980 grow to one of remarkable size and accomplishment.

It's a success story worth revisiting given the gyrations of the current housing market and general economy.

Poettker himself is licensed to practice the trade in nine Midwestern states as a certified professional constructor and licensed general contractor. 

The company, meanwhile, has earned a reputation that smaller operations can only aspire to. Operating out of Breese, its expertise is concentrated in four general areas: negotiated general contracting, construction management, design-build and program management.

 Over the years, it has completed hundreds of projects, among them are:

• Projects at 48 schools and universities.
• The construction of more than 60 Wal-Mart stores in seven states.
•  Work at nine hospitals and specialty healthcare facilities. 

One of its most recent projects, in which it served as general contractor, was the construction of a $10.3 million, 46,000-square-foot liberal art building at Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville. 

"In my long, long career  I have been involved in a lot of building projects and this one went as smoothly and quickly as any one I have ever been involved in," SWIC President Elmer Kirchoff stated in a news release after the project's completion. The SWIC building includes faculty offices, 16 classrooms, a computer lab and a Barnes and Nobel bookstore expansion.

Current projects also include an 80-acre Wal-Mart Superstore development in Springfield, a Home Depot site in Belleville and a JC Penny store in Washington, Mo. In Edwardsville, Poettker was behind the 1998 expansion of the Esic Center YMCA, along with the $20 million refurbishing of the Morris University Center on the campus of SIUE. Completed in 2003, the SIUE project was unique in that it required working and jockeying around numerous cycles over a period of time. "This was a multi-year project," Poettker said.

Changes included a remodeling of the Meridian Ballroom, an expansion of the food court and new kitchen, new study and computer labs, remodeling of the University Restaurant, renovation of several offices and the construction of two additional restaurants — Starbuck's and Auntie Anne's.

Other projects which bring pride include the construction of a new Health and Professional Careers Building at Kaskaskia College near Centralia and an administrative and classroom facility at Covenant Theological Seminary in St. Louis. The Kaskaskia project, at roughly $11 million, was completed last year. The seminary project is due for completion this August. 

The fact that this is the fourth project in which Covenant Theological Seminary has enlisted Poettker as its general contractor is a good indication of the quality of its work. "Last year was good," Poettker said. "And we're on target to beat it this year."
The company employs approximately 60 people, including seasonal employees. It has had as many as 140 during peak times. 
It opened an office in St. Louis in 1990, however, it made the decision to close it in 2004.

"As the economy changed and business changed, a lot of barriers started to come down," Poettker said. He referred to a time when the Mississippi seemed as though it was 10 miles wide. Of his four children — three sons and daughter — all have stayed connected to the business in some manner. His oldest, Kevin, works for a supplier which does business in the area; his second oldest, Keith, is Vice President of Business and Development; and his third, Ryan, is a Project Manager. His daughter, Kimberly, is an assistant corporate secretary with the company and is working on her bachelor's degree at SIUE. Both Keith and Ryan are graduates of SIUE's construction management program.

Tom Albers, the company's Vice President of Field Operations and Safety Officer, also has played a key role and has been with the company since its founding. While they have not taken any direct hits from the housing downturn, it has affected some of their subcontractors, Poettker said, many of whom are involved in both commercial and residential work.

How has the company weathered the topsy-turvy, competitive world of business going on three decades? Poettker cites several things. "One of the things that I always promoted is to go where the work is," he said.  Although he estimates that about 50 to 60 percent of their revenues come from work done in the immediate region or metropolitan area, the company has conducted a substantial amount of work in the Chicago suburbs and in such places as Springfield and Effingham, as well as in the neighboring states of Missouri and Indiana.

Keeping up with technology also is important, he said. "I was one of the early birds with a cell phone," Poettker said. He remembers taking part in a promotional spot involving one of the very first cell phone companies in the area, which used a photo of him as he leaned over the hood of a vehicle. Next to an eye for quality, the values and vision that breathed life into the company during its very inception also deserve a fair share of credit. Poettker tells of a commitment and prayer he made after events he experienced in 1971 while in Vietnam, for which he earned a U.S. Army Bronze Star. 

After following a brother into carpentry, he became excited about the possibilities and longed at first to become a project manager.
"I remember thinking, wow, this is a tremendous industry," he said. Poettker said he valued the work ethic passed on to him from his parents, as well as the guidance he received from one of his early mentors — Al Rakers of Rakers Electrical Supply Co. in Aviston, now deceased. "Early on, that foundation was poured for ethical standards," Poettker said.

There may be a lot of opportunities to do things shady in the industry, but a firm's reputation is not something to be squandered, he said."Our focus has always been on quality work, attention to detail, responsible financial management and the development of lasting relationships," the company's mission statement says.

Poettker Construction Company was recognized with the State of Illinois Thomas H. Madigan Award for Construction Excellence in 1993 and 2000. It received the St. Louis Construction News and Review Excellence Award in 2001. It has memberships with the Association of General Contractors of Greater St. Louis, Edwardsville Chamber of Commerce, Central Illinois Builders Association, Southern Illinois Builders Association and a long list of other civic and professional organizations.