As one of the Midwest’s largest employers in construction, we specialize in crafting sustainable and impactful spaces where people live, work, learn, and thrive. Our success hinges on our unwavering commitment to people — from clients and employees to subcontractors and industry peers. At Wilhelm, fostering meaningful relationships and supporting others is ingrained in our culture. At Wilhelm, we stand behind our work, guided by a set of standards and values that lay the foundation of our efforts.
Wilhelm works the plan, no matter the barriers, to deliver what is expected. Looking forward, we are committed to delivering that same excellence, while investing in our people, their growth, and our community. We stand behind our work and our clients.
Wilhelm is client focused. This means the client is involved from the start, the process is transparent, and Wilhelm reliably delivers what is promised. Honesty is core to our work. From the start, clients know the plan and Wilhelm works that plan. When the unexpected happens, clients know and are a part of the solution forward. We stand behind our work.
Wilhelm has over 100 years of experience and have built a reputation for reliability. And still, we continue to invest in our people through training, skill building, and providing opportunities to grow. Mentoring at Wilhelm has always been central to employee development. We invest in our people with skill building, training, opportunities, and support.
Safety is ingrained in Wilhelm’s structure, from the top down to field operations. While leadership and dedicated safety personnel play crucial roles, it’s the commitment of every team member that truly ensures Wilhelm’s success. Each day on a Wilhelm site starts and ends with rigorous safety protocols, including meetings, equipment checks, and plan reviews.
Community is important to Wilhelm. From direct support for local organizations to championing safety and quality initiatives, funding scholarships, tree planting, mentoring, and volunteerism, Wilhelm continuously seek opportunities to build and support the communities in which we live and work.
With 100 years of experience, and a range of capabilities, Wilhelm takes on complicated, landmark projects. We are continuously innovating our capabilities to complement a century of construction knowledge and experience.
Since 1923, our dynamic team has been at the forefront of the construction industry, pushing boundaries and setting new standards for safety, responsibility, and integrity. Today, with over a century of experience, Wilhelm continues to redefine construction value through versatile delivery methods such as construction management, design-build, general contracting, integrated project delivery, and specialty contracting services.
Francis A. Wilhelm, much like his father, started his construction career laying brick foundations on the southeast side of Indianapolis as a means of providing for his growing family. He was a man who established our Wilhelm Construction because of a dream to build better buildings and a better life for his family and community. This is still the Wilhelm way. Our dedication to delivering high-quality projects has earned us a reputation for excellence in the industry, and our enduring reputation for honesty, integrity, and industry-leading quality has been built by generations of employees who are driven to serve their communities every day.
In 1923, Francis built a concrete porch for his neighbor, starting Wilhelm Construction as a Masonry Contractor. Assisted by his business partner Al Baldwin, Fran's earlier projects focused on building and renovating churches around the Indianapolis area.
Wilhelm landed a construction deal with International Harvester Company, building a foundry and an engine plant on 75 acres. This was a big boost for the fledgling Wilhelm Construction Company, allowing them to develop the credentials to go on to build similar large projects as a General Contractor.
The 1940's brought huge growth to both the construction industry and Wilhelm's manpower capabilities. The company hit the 100-employee mark and also expanded our headquarters with the construction of our yard garages.
Wilhelm was increasingly becoming a central Indiana household name during the 1940s, as we became known for building quality commercial, institutional, and industrial projects. Wilhelm also entered the Higher Education space with the construction of Clare Hall at Marian College.
The 1950's proved to be a decade of exponential growth for F.A. Wilhelm Construction. Not only did our company grow to over 500 employees, but we also reached $100 million in revenue thanks to working with clients such as Purdue University, Indianapolis Power & Light, and RCA.
F.A. Wilhelm Construction traveled to Salinas, KS for our first out of state job in 1951. Scope of work included carting raw limestone all the way from Bloomington, IN to Sacred Heart Cathedral and setting up a fabrication shop to cut the stone into blocks.
F.A. Wilhelm Construction completed work on several local Indianapolis High Schools during the 1960s. Schools included: Anderson High School, Arlington High School, Ben Davis High School, Bloomington High School, Cardinal Ritter High School, and Culver Academy.
In 1964, F.A. Wilhelm Construction was involved in completing the Indiana War Memorial steps in downtown Indianapolis. Construction began on the Memorial building in 1926 and has underwent several renovations since then.
From 1967 to 1972, F.A. Wilhelm Construction served as the General Contractor for Indiana University's Assembly Hall (now Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall), which features 4,650 pre-cast concrete slabs and seats 17,000 Hoosier fans.
The 1970's brought leadership changes to Wilhelm, as James "Tippy" Wilhelm (son of Francis Wilhelm) took over duties as company president in 1974. Tippy was very forward-thinking in his new role, and even had his entire estimating department create new estimate charts to adjust for technological advances of the time.
In 1983, F.A. Wilhelm was awarded our largest concrete project to date with the construction of the Hoosier Dome (RCA Dome). This significant project became a staple of the Indianapolis skyline until its closure in 2008 and made Wilhelm a bona fide concrete contractor.
Wilhelm began pursuing projects in additional markets such as historical renovations and parking structures. As a result, we established our affiliate companies under the Wilhelm umbrella. These additional resources in electrical, fire protection, prefabrication, and mechanical piping allowed us to go beyond our usual workload and tap into new markets.
F.A. Wilhelm Construction was involved in many of Indy's landmark projects that were built during the 1990's, including Circle Centre Mall, the Canal and White River State Park, NCAA Headquarters, Convention Center, and Conseco Fieldhouse to name a few.
The 1990's brought continued growth for F.A. Wilhelm Construction. Wilhelm grew to 1,000 employees and reached $500M in revenue.
In 2001, Phil Kenney stepped into the role previously held by his grandfather and uncle to become president of Wilhelm, continuing the long-standing legacy of exceptional service and community involvement that was established since the firm’s inception. Under Phil's leadership, Wilhelm has grown to become the largest contractor in Indiana.
F.A. Wilhelm Construction worked alongside Axis Architecture to build the first public-sector design-build project in the state of Indiana. The Indiana University Service Building was constructed in eight months, and served as office space for the university architect, engineer, and additional plant functions.
Wilhelm entered the water/wastewater markets with two heavy civil projects for City of Lafayette Public Works in 2009. The first consisted of four cast-in-place junction chambers that tied for the new CSO tunnel under downtown Lafayette. The second included decommissioning the lift station and final tie-in to the new tunnel.
Wilhelm served as the concrete contractor for the 22,000-seat KFC Yum! Center arena and the adjoining 760-car parking structure that opened in 2010. In 2016, Wilhelm provided preconstruction and construction management services for the expansion of the Speed Art Museum. Its expansion doubled the building’s overall footprint.
F.A. Wilhelm Construction experienced significant growth in 2021, as we reached the $1 Billion mark in revenue. Wilhelm also won its largest dollar amount project to date with the IU Health Academic Health Center in Indianapolis, IN.
F.A. Wilhelm Construction continued to expand in 2022, not only at our corporate office in Indianapolis but also out of state. Wilhelm opened our new office and warehouse in the heart of the Research Triangle Park in Durham, NC.
Wilhelm was extremely proud to mark our 100th anniversary in 2023. Reflecting on the long history of this company, we acknowledge Francis A. Wilhelm and Tippy Wilhelm, the patriarchs who build this company from a small masonry contractor to one of the nation's most respected construction management and general construction
With the need for more office space to accommodate growing employee numbers, Wilhelm relocated our Steel shop and renovated the existing shop into new office space for our corporate office in Indianapolis, IN.
Reflecting the communities in which we live and work, creates optimal environments for all businesses. Wilhelm is committed to diversity inclusion throughout each aspect of our endeavors, strategically providing relationships, resources, mentoring to promote, celebrate and engage talented individuals across all diverse business spectrums.
Our industry is highly dependent on the talents and capacity of a diverse workforce. Wilhelm’s Diversity Committee works directly with minority, women, and veteran owned (M/W/V) businesses and industry organizations to identify opportunities and provide avenues for engagement. Also, working together with global clients on diversity initiatives, Wilhelm actively leads programs designed to support and grow diversity participation.
“We have the utmost respect for the Wilhelm team. Their dedication to ethics, community, diversity, and inclusion far surpasses others.”
We want the employees of F.A. Wilhelm Construction to be reflective of the communities in which we live and work as do our clients. For decades, the construction industry has been comprised mostly of males, particularly white males. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 94% of the people employed in the construction industry are male. Progress is happening as more women and other diverse populations join the industry, but growth has slowed.
Diversity in the workplace employs representation from a variety of areas including gender, race, religion, sexual orientation, culture, education, and age to name a few. Having a diverse workforce benefits our company and industry by bringing a variety of different perspectives together to be more creative and innovative.
Leveraging Wilhelm’s top-tier construction management and self-perform team yields tangible benefits across schedule delivery, quality, safety, and finances. Integrating our self-perform expertise throughout design, preconstruction, and construction phases offers unparalleled insights into labor availability, diversity, workforce development, prefabrication, and safety standards. This blend of experiences fosters innovative solutions for our clients’ toughest challenges.
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