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Ken Throgmorton carefully places his fingers on a joystick console attached at his waist and calls to his crew.

“I’m going up on it! OK, ready? Say when!” he calls out.

And with the slight maneuver from his hands, a 5-inch pipe of concrete springs to life, pumping material that will become concrete pads in a mechanical room at the new Springfield High School building. Around him, his crew moves quickly to place and smooth the pour.

Ken, who has come to be known as Frog thanks to his last name, has been operating pump trucks with robotic controls since 2008 – and prior to that, he worked pouring floors walls and footings, starting in 1993.

“I saw a young kid with a robotic remote, so I picked it up and learned it,” he recalls. “But I’d say if you’re going to be a decent pump operator, know your concrete and do the concrete pours first.”

O’Shea acquired a pump truck in 2024 and has steadily expanded our concrete services since, under the leadership of Frog and his assistant, Logan Llewelyn – who, much to his delight, has been dubbed Tadpole on the crew.

Springfield just became home to a record-breaking addition: the largest air-supported sports dome on the planet.

Spanning 190,000 square feet, the new Springfield Clinic Sports Dome at Scheels Sports Park supports year-round play for soccer, baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball and even pickleball. The dome itself reaches more than 710 feet long, 275 feet wide and 98 feet high at its peak.

But what you won’t see from the outside is the powerful foundation beneath it, built by O’Shea.

It started with a slow drip.

A local business noticed their second-floor water fountain was leaking. But instead of investigating further or calling for a repair, they did what many people do: they grabbed a pan and placed it on the first floor to catch the water.

Problem solved? Unfortunately not.

Over the weekend, that small leak turned into a major issue. And by Monday morning, what could have been a $1,000 fix ballooned into more than $50,000 in damages.

“You’d be surprised at how many people just put a pan underneath to catch it, including roof leaks,” says Jeff Jarrett, Building Services Director at O’Shea Builders.

“But we have a common saying: water always wins!”

If you’ve ever seen a giant concrete wall or the floor of a parking garage being dropped into place by a crane at a construction site, you were probably watching precast concrete in action.

When you think about construction projects, you probably picture the big stuff: cranes with steel beams going up and heavy machinery moving dirt. But before any of that happens, there’s a whole lot of groundwork (literally) that needs to be done. At O’Shea Builders’ Civil division, we’ve got a guy for that!

The clock is ticking down until the bell rings for the final day of school.

The end of school might not feel close if you’re working inside those hallways, but those of us making preparations for summer construction projects know that we need to start now!

In central Illinois, where winters are often harsh, a frozen pipe in your commercial building can mean costly damage.

Celebrating Scott Steiner and his many years at O'Shea!

Please join us in welcoming another addition to the O’Shea team, Victoria Chiaro!

Our warehouse team is excited to welcome Tom Vicari!

Devon Armstrong has joined our Operations team as a Project Manager.

Join us in welcoming Craig Smith to the Project Development team!

Dave Travous recently joined the O’Shea Warehouse team as a warehouse technician.

Alicia Erickson recently joined O’Shea’s Accounting team as an accounting systems analyst.