Platt’s path to the trades led through Vietnam and Marines

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There are a lot of things Dick Platt could have done.

He could have gone to Vietnam.

“My number was 68 when they had the draft for the Vietnam War,” explained Platt, president and CEO of Platt Construction in Franklin. “I was in college and I said, ‘Well, I don’t want to graduate from college into whatever service they were going to send me to.’ So, I decided to get into shape and join the Marine Corps.”

He served stateside until he was deployed to serve in Vietnam.

“On my flight over, they changed my direction – Camp Hauge (in Okinawa) versus going to the front lines of the Vietnam War. I got lucky.”

He also could have played football for the San Diego Chargers.

In fact, he was two games away from his National Football League debut in 1973. But he was headed back to the huddle when a cheap shot left him unable to play.

Yeah, there were a lot of things Platt could have done. Instead, in 1974, he took his destiny into his own hands. He started his own business.

And he has never looked back.

Platt started alone. Within a year, he had two regular employees. By his second year, he had eight. Today, the general-contracting company has up to 80 employees, including his son, Tony, an executive vice president at Platt, and his daughter, Nikki, executive assistant and director of marketing at the company.

“My two children are very, very important, but my company is my firstborn in business because I started it. And everybody who works for Platt Construction I consider in my family, from the field to the office. At this point, I’m working to make sure they’re successful.”

After 41 years in business, Platt acknowledged that he has considered retirement, although his daughter predicted he won’t ever be able to totally walk away from the company, which does everything from carpentry and concrete to tunneling and safety training. His crews have even worked on veterans hospitals in Madison, Milwaukee and Tomah.

For now, Platt said, he’s got no plans to leave his people.

“I’ve committed to each individual person, and they’ve committed in return to me. It’s more of a personal thing. We all have goals. My concern is making sure they’re successful. If they are successful, the company should be successful. I’m second to them; they come first.”