Thayer takes Tri-North to a national stage

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Looking back at a long and successful career in construction, Tom Thayer can say he’s still having fun.

“I love this industry,” said Thayer, president and a founder of Fitchburg-based Tri-North Builders.

“It’s a fun industry,” he added, one which seems to present a new challenge every day.

Yet, construction wasn’t always his industry of choice. In fact, he more or less stumbled into it.

Thayer started out seeking a degree in forestry at Colorado State University. That all changed one summer when he took a job in construction and realized he was pursuing the wrong degree.

“It was just getting out there and watching something being built,” he recalled. “Working with your hands, working with other guys on the job site. Just make something out of nothing. …

Watching the building go up during that summer really was kind of exciting to me.”

The next big career decision he made was to become a business owner.

Thayer and two friends, Joe Donnino and Donald Jones, founded Tri-North in 1981. What is now a national contractor started out back then with five employees operating out of a humble 700-square-foot building.

“Fortunately we had some clients that we had worked with in the past that came with us,” he said, “so we had a good base to start with.”

Thayer became president of Tri-North in 1995. Throughout that decade, the company saw its sales increase from $25 million to $100 million. It was around this time that the contractor also gained a national presence.

In 1996, Tri-North opened its Milwaukee office, followed by an office in Dallas around 2000. The company also became employee-owned around the same time; Thayer led the change.

Thayer said Tri-North has built its success on the loyalty of its clients. Tri-North, for instance, built its first Marcus Theater around 1983 and is still building theaters for the company.

“That’s what drives our growth is our clients,” he said. “We have customers that build, and they build a lot. So that’s part of what has driven our growth, is our dedication and service to them. They keep coming back to us and they keep expanding what they do with us.”