Our History
The roots of J.R. Kelly Company, Inc. can be traced back to 1975 from the home of Joe Kelly, a Purdue Civil Engineering graduate, and his wife, Eleanor Kelly. After many years of experience in the construction industry, Joe and Eleanor decided to move the business to a new office on Yeager Road in West Lafayette. Both Joe and Eleanor were very genuine, hardworking people who earned the trust and respect of owners, employees and subcontractors throughout the community. Starting with only a handful of employees, the company grew and became a well-known and trusted organization through those early years.
In 1981, Steve Spencer was added to the team along with Jeff Mutzl in 1988, to assist in the various aspects of the business. In the early 1990’s, Steve and Elizabeth Spencer assumed 100% ownership of the company. During this time, J.R. Kelly Company, Inc. became more widely known as it strategically expanded its business at Purdue University, local school corporations and with other businesses in Greater Lafayette.
Dave Niemantsverdriet and Rob Mutzl were added to the Project Management staff in 1992 and 1997 respectively. Also in 1997, Alesa Dienhart (Elizabeth’s daughter and a CPA) joined the company to help manage the payroll and accounting. In 2003, as the company continued to grow and evolve, Elizabeth Spencer assumed the reins as President along with 100% ownership of the business. That same year Jeff Mutzl was promoted to Vice President-Construction. Changes implemented internally in regards to the management process allowed the team to gain efficiencies in bidding and managing projects. Currently, Jeff and Rob Mutzl are responsible for bidding and preconstruction services. Project Managers on staff, providing oversight on all projects in the field, are Dave Niemantsverdriet, Tim Brigham, Jason Rakoczy, Seweryn Ciskowski, Cody Christopher and Zach Seibert. The benefits of this structure are many, and include, increased efficiencies in preconstruction services, competitive and comprehensive bid compilation, while allowing the Project Managers to focus on quality work completed in a timely manner and on budget; both of which are critically important to our clients.
To ensure the future of J.R. Kelly Company, Inc., Elizabeth started transferring ownership to Alesa Dienhart and Rob Mutzl in 2008. To this day, the management team of Elizabeth, Alesa, Jeff and Rob is focused on running the business as Joe and Eleanor Kelly would have wanted. Honesty, professionalism, tremendous work ethic, quality craftsmanship, and always taking care of their employees are at the very core of J.R. Kelly Company, Inc. Treating their employees fairly and with the utmost respect, performing for their clients in all aspects of the job, and taking great pride in all that they do are what makes J.R. Kelly Company, Inc. successful every day!
Each year, J.R. Kelly Company, Inc. successfully completes jobs ranging in size and scope with an average volume of $40 million annually. They have bonding capabilities ranging from $20 million for a single project along with an aggregate limit of $40 million for bonded work in progress.
Over the years, J.R. Kelly Company, Inc. has grown from a handful of employees to an average of 60 – 100 employees during their peak season. They are proud to contribute to the local economy by conducting business in their community while employing skilled craftsman that live in and around Tippecanoe County.
J.R. Kelly Company, Inc. can proudly say it is not only a Woman Owned Business (WBE) but also assists other diverse businesses in receiving bid opportunities from them when the opportunity presents.
With honest and respectful roots gained from Joe and Eleanor Kelly, J.R. Kelly Company, Inc. promises to continue to provide the best construction services to all of their clients in the coming years ahead.
J.R. Kelly Company, Inc. looks forward to the opportunity to earn your business!
High Safety Standards!
- Our company promotes the highest standards when it comes to safety.
- Our pledge to each employee is to structure the worksite to be as safe as possible.
- We communicate potential safety and health hazards and provide training along with other measures that minimize the possibility of accidents, injury, or illness on the job.
- We employ a highly qualified safety company to perform random safety audits to keep our safety standards at this high level.
- Employees are very valuable to us and so are their families. We always want them to exercise safe practices while on our jobsites so that they can go home each night back to their families.
- Each job has its own safety plan to ensure all of our employees and subcontractors are aware of potential hazards on the job.
- J.R. Kelly Company, Inc. contracts Safety Resources to monitor and audit our safety program.