Built on bridges

Industrial Builders ready willing to tackle big projects

By Gerry Gilmour
Forum Business Editor

Industrial Builders workers in 1956 built the Hi Ma bridge over the Sheyenne River on Cass County highways 17 and 20. It was so-named because a farmer on the west side of the bridge had "Hi Ma" painted on his barn door.

Warren Diederich, left, and Bob Turner inspect the St. Cloud dam project spanning the Mississippi River in 1969.

Industrial Builders was the primary contractor on the Fargodome, shown under construction in 1991

The complexes - used to store war surplus grain - were spread out over a three-county area. Diederich went to a family friend, Walter Sweeney, who owned a machinery business in Fargo, for bond backing on the job.

"He had enough faith in me," said Diederich. He also lined up some war surplus compressors for Diederich.

Diederich lined up three painters, rigged a truck with the compressors and platforms, mixed the paint, linseed oil and lead and went to work.

The contract was completed in just over six weeks.

"We made some money," said Diederich, who undertook the project with the help of his wife, Irene. "We were so damn proud. Once they saw we could do it, we had an in with them." Diederich hooked up with his brother-in-law, Dick Hilden, to form Diederich and Hilden. The architecture student and pharmacy student worked their ways through school with painting contracts. Diederich said business really took off after they painted the ceiling and showroom floor of Overvold Motors in downtown Fargo.

"We worked hard and we had damn good people working for us," Diederich said.

His senior year, Diederich hooked up with Gene Bye to form a small general contracting firm. Among their projects: Sheyenne Gardens in West Fargo and the first NDSU Sigma Chi fraternity.

In 1951, when the oil industry took off in western North Dakota, Diederich and Bye Construction headed to the Tioga area.

They worked with four trucks and a portable ready-mix outfit. "There was nothing we couldn't build," Diederich said.

They had a great run until they under-bid a refinery in Tioga.

"We bid it way too cheap," Diederich said. "We made an error and we paid for it."

The partners each assumed half the debt and went their separate ways.

The Diederichs headed back to Fargo.

Diederich thought about it on the long drive back, and decided that Industrial Builders would be the name of his next business venture.

He liked the sound of it - and the fact that it didn't really set any limits on the sort of work he could take on.

"I decided I wanted to get into a business allied with building," he said. "I didn't want a business identified with someone. I wanted a business identified with industry. Something that could encompass the whole trade."

The first project he went after was a bridge construction job for Cass County. He said another builder - who had previously locked up all the bridge work - was shocked to find he finally had a competitor.

Industrial Builders wound up with the low and winning bid, even though - as the other contractor pointed out to the county board - Diederich didn't know much about bridge work. "That was true enough. I didn't," Diederich said. "But I got the job."

He bought a 10-ton Bay City crane, with 75 feet of boom, from a couple in Valley City, N.D. Then he lined up a guy from Glyndon, Minn., who had a home-made A-frame rig that had been used to drive railroad pilings.

Diederich used it to drive 40-foot pilings for the bridge abutments.

"I had no idea how to drive a piling in the ground," he said. "This guy with the rig had all kinds of experience and I was just some young guy. He was under the opinion that I would never do it right, but he showed me just exactly how to do it and I paid attention."

That first bridge job bridged the way for many more, including $240,000 worth of bridge projects in 1953 and 1954.

"We got a little bigger and a little bigger and a little bigger," he said.

Bridges eventually took him back back west, in the early 1960s, to Watford City, N.D. "Oil was hotter than a pistol. They needed bridges all over the place, because there's cricks running all over the place out there and they needed bridged to get to their oil rigs," Diederich said.

Industrial Builders continued to build on its reputation for bridge work, and built 71 bridges in three years during the early 1960s in McKenzie County.

"That was the area that really made us go," Diederich said of bridge work.

Industrial Builders soon branched out with dam, dike and levee work throughout the Midwest. Pipe work, water systems and highway and blacktop jobs were soon to follow. Diederich went a step further with the acquisition of a tugboat and several barges, for work on big water, such as Lake Sakakawea and Devils Lake.

"I bought a lot of blue sky with that one, too," Diederich said of his tugboat. The Industrial Builders marine division has grown to include three tugboats and a dozen barges. Industrial Builders recently landed a contract for construction of a pipeline across the floor of Sakakawea. Work will be done this summer, at depths up to 1,900 feet.

Industrial Builders has 12-month staff of 90 but during the construction season beefs up to 350. Many of the employees have been with Diederich for years. Bob Turner, vice president of construction, has been working with him for 40 years, while Jim Gress, vice chairman of the board, has been along for 36 years.

A number of superintendents have been with the firm that long as well, Diederich said.

All four of Warren and Irene Diederich's children are involved in the business: Paul is president; Don is executive vice president and heads up the milling operations; Michael is safety and equal employment opportunity coordinator; and Laura Carney is special projects coordinator.

Bridge work remains the firm's foundation today, but Industrial Builders also works extensively on dam, flood control, buildings and highways. The company was just awarded a $8.7 million project for the extension of 42nd Street in Fargo.

"We've had to diversify to make a living," Diederich said. "We've had extremely good experiences in construction. Believe me: we've had our share of downers and we've had our uppers. But we're growing and we're still healthy."