Born to Build Blog

Get to know one of our "super" Superintendents, Gene Alexander!

Twelve years ago this summer, O’Shea Builders’ biggest fan and some say its toughest advocate passed away. That was Helene O’Shea, Bud’s first wife and mother of David, Maureen, Linda, and Mike.

Bud met Helene after high school through a local group for Catholic youth. The group had regular social events like picnics and dances. At one dance, it was Helene’s birthday and Bud requested the song “The Old, Gray Mare” be played for her. She was always fondly teasing him and he returned the favor. It worked. “That was the start of us,” Bud says.

Get to know one of our newest Estimators, Keagan Dooley!

Everything.

At O’Shea, our word -- or our promise - is how we measure our work and ourselves. It’s a value that originated with Bud O’Shea’s grandfather and O’Shea founder, John Timothy O’Shea, more than 100 years ago. He started the business in 1900 when he listed himself in the Springfield City Directory as a “contractor.”

As Austin Barton was growing up, dirt bikes were the ideal mode of transportation on his family’s farm in Nebo, Ill.

“I started riding at six years old; it was the best way to get around the farm,” he says. “I got bigger bikes as I grew older and eventually I started racing them when I was 15. I raced throughout high school and college.”