Russell Construction

Russell is a commercial general contractor and developer headquartered in Davenport, Iowa. Jim Russell started it in 1983, right out of Iowa State, with business cards and $10,000, setting up shop in Bettendorf. It now employs more than 300 people in five offices: the Quad Cities, Iowa City/Cedar Rapids, Springfield, Mo., St. Louis and Leawood, Kan. Russell says it has delivered over $7 billion of work in 34 states, for clients in healthcare, hospitality, retail, manufacturing and higher education. Its big recent industrial job is A.Y. McDonald’s 431,800-square-foot brass foundry in Dickeyville, Wis., built on a fast track. That plant won an ENR Midwest 2026 Award of Merit for manufacturing.

Five offices, and the addresses are published rather than hidden behind a form. Headquarters sits at 4700 E. 53rd Street in Davenport, Iowa. Then 11400 Tomahawk Creek Parkway in Leawood, Kansas; 1610 Des Peres Road in St. Louis; 5051 S. National Avenue in Springfield, Missouri; and 24 1/2 S. Clinton Street in Iowa City. Each has its own direct phone number, which is a small thing that matters when a subcontractor needs the right regional estimator rather than a switchboard.

Speaking of which, Russell routes inquiries deliberately. Bidder’s list requests and cost information go to estimating@russellco.com. Open positions go through the careers application, not email. Everything else goes to hello@russellco.com or the form. For a trade contractor trying to get in front of a general contractor of this size, using the right address is most of the battle.

The service list spans the full delivery range: preconstruction, general contracting, construction management, design-build, and development, since Russell works as a developer as well as a builder. The firm’s own stated differentiator is access and transparency, specifically direct access to its resources including top executives, and full visibility through a project. The team numbers more than 300 and the firm cites more than $7 billion in construction and development delivered across 34 states.

Markets are organised as a browsable set on the site, with K-12 education, multifamily housing and offices among them, each linking to services and built examples. The mission statement is unusually short for the genre: building great people, relationships and communities.

Headquartered in Davenport, Iowa, and hiring, with openings posted on its own careers page.