110-year-old firm builds on past success
A contractor and distributor of insulations, roofing and building materials, Wood’s company was instrumental in helping Fort Worth develop and grow. The list of well known commercial and residential buildings that used Wood’s services during his firm’s first 35 years reads like a virtual Who’s Who.
Among the historic structures are Downtown’s United States Post Office built in 1930, the Texas & Pacific Railway terminal and warehouse, the Tarrant County Court House and the Tarrant County Jail, the Sinclair Building, the old Armour and Swift meat packing plants and Cowtown Coliseum in the Stockyards, Texas Christian University, numerous public school buildings and churches as well as homes in Rivercrest and Westover Hills and additions in between.
Today, 110 years later, E.O. Wood Co. Inc. is still a leader in the growth of the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex. Recent high profile projects include the new Dallas Cowboys Stadium – E.O. Wood also installed insulation in the old stadium – and the Omni Fort Worth Hotel.
The reasons for the company’s longevity and success are no surprise to Merry Kaastad, chief executive officer of the family-owned business.
“Hard work and dedication to principles. We stand behind our work and our name,” Kaastad said. “Mr. Wood based his business on the Golden Rule and we still follow that. We are still honest. We treat our employees honestly, we treat our customers honestly. We’re very straightforward and up front,” she said. “I’m really very proud of this company and the smoothness with which it’s weathered changes in style and in the business climate. Fort Worth is a great place to do business and I think this is a great business to be in.”
E.O. Wood Jr. joined his father’s business in 1933, gradually taking over general management. Wood Sr. died in 1954, a year after Kaastad’s late husband, Morris Kaastad, came on board as the company’s manager of the insulation department. He and Wood Jr. formed a partnership in 1970 and incorporated the business in 1982. After Wood’s death in 1985, the Kaastads bought the majority shares in the corporation.
Merry Kaastad, who took the reins in 1988, said the corporation is one of the oldest ongoing business concerns of its kind in the area.
“I’ve been in this business since I was a kid. I grew up and grew old in the insulation business,” Kaastad said, with a laugh. “There weren’t any women in the industry at that time – even when I took over. There are no women business owners today that I know of,” she said. “What is it that men can do that women can’t do except maybe in some cases physical?”
When Kaastad took control, she immediately dissolved the company’s roofing division. E.O. Wood remains an insulation manufacturer – its Rigid-Wrap family of products is made in house – an insulation contractor and an insulation distributor for major brands including Johns Manville, Owens Corning and Certain Teed.
Kaastad said she has never considered selling the business, even when she had the opportunity 21 years ago. All four of her children worked for the company at various times over the years. Son Todd Kaastad is Wood’s executive vice president.
“It never entered my head to sell,” Kaastad said. “My family’s been involved in it since they were babies. It was designed by the Woods and Morris to be a continuous business, and it never occurred to me to not carry it on.”
Recently, the company moved its headquarters from its former location on Beach Street to an industrial area on the edge of downtown alongside Interstate 35 North. The relocation is part of a strategic growth plan for the business to help stretch it well into the next century, according to Kaastad and Tom Carlisle, vice president of sales and marketing.
“Our plans are to continue expanding and become more successful. We are successful. We had a very good year last year,” said Kaastad, adding that the firm’s 2008 revenue was about $17.5 million. “We plan to continue being competitive and to be the No. 1 insulation company in the Metroplex. Our goal is always to be No. 1.”
The recession has resulted in a slight dip in the company’s contracting profit for 2009, said Carlisle and Kaastad, but the executives already see improvements for 2010.
“We consider that a temporary glitch,” Kaastad said. “We expect next year to be fine again. We’re optimistic and are not the least bit discouraged. Contracting is variable – you expect the roller coaster.”
Carlisle said the economic slowdown has given the corporation an opportunity to fine tune its expansion plans.
“We’re blessed to be in this area,” Carlisle said. “We’ve felt the economy the last 12 months but there are other areas of the country that have been hard hit. We’re blessed to have had several big projects and we have several good projects on the horizon. We’re in the right spot and planning ahead for the future.”
Kaastad said the company, even in its early years, stays ahead of the curve in adding new services and more energy efficient, sustainable products to fulfill the needs of its customers. Insulation, she said, continues to be the wave of the future, and E.O. Wood will continue to help make sure the world is healthy and green.
“I think this is the greatest answer to green. Insulation keeps it hot, insulation keeps it cold. It helps with noise pollution and air pollution; it helps keep the air clean,” Kaastad said. “We were green before they invented green. Insulation is the basis of green. Not only are we 110 years old, we are 110 years ahead of the future.
“Ordinary people really do want a clean, healthy environment and that’s part of our general focus – to make sure the world is cleaner than when we found it. That may not happen but we do our part and hope everybody else does the same.”
