Company History
The Early Years
Venus Construction began in September 1967 in Venus, TX on the insistence of Geraldine McAda. She wanted her husband, Samuel McAda, known by all as ‘Big Mac’, to be home and closer to the family. After years of persistence, Big Mac, with the help of his wife, founded Venus Construction Company. It started where most great companies do: in the family home.
Samuel “Big Mac” & Geraldine McAda
Big Mac went down to Clemons Tractor Supply on Main St. in Ft. Worth and purchased our first piece of equipment, a 4500 Ford Backhoe. The salesman, Mr. Sprad knew what a hard worker and visionary Big Mac was and worked with him to secure this first tractor.
From the beginning, Venus Construction was a family affair.
The McAda twins, Sammy and Sandra, were some of our first employees along with the McAdas’ neighbor, Coy McCormick.
Sammy and Sandra were Seniors at Venus High School the year the company was founded. When the twins were not in school, they were hard at work. Sammy would help his dad out in the field while Sandra and Mrs. McAda would help keep the company’s books.
Some of our first lines of work included installing septic tank water service in sub-divisions for general contractors; anything to pay for that 4500 Ford Backhoe.
The Twins: Sammy & Sandra
Venus Construction began to grow.
Big Mac, having worked the ground of North Texas for many years, had a vision to dig further, deeper, and faster to make the company more efficient. A decision was made to purchase equipment that could handle the different soil conditions–especially the hard rock found in North Texas. That decision set Venus apart, and lead us down the road to become a leader in the underground utility construction industry of North Texas.
Sammy with Jake & Dee Dee
The 70's, 80's, and 90's were a time of transition and growth.
In the mid 70's our first trencher was purchased; a Shield Jetco 7337. It’s first use was for a large project in Mineral Wells, Texas. This trencher greatly aided in laying a water line stretching miles in the deep hard rock found in this area. The trencher was paid for with this one project. This introduced a new threshold. Previously, only dynamite could break through the hard North Texas rock.
Now WE could too.
The Shield Jetco 7337
In July of ‘81 the U.S. entered a recession.
All development came to a crashing halt. Home builders were not building. Venus was forced to look into doing utility work that had not previously been done; the majority of our doing projects for housing developments. We had to start doing work for local municipalities and commercial contractors. This introduced us to lines of work that we had not previously performed, but have remained a integral part of our company ever since.
With the guidance and direction of Big Mac and Mrs. McAda, Sammy and Sandra continued to serve the company and grow in their responsibilities. Both eventually got married, and soon Venus Construction had many new sets of hands to put to work.
On April 4th 1994, Big Mac passed away and Sammy and Sandra took over the responsibilities of running the company. At this time, all of the McAda children had their hands dirty and were regular workers on our projects. When not at school, a sporting event or a family function, they were working. Along with the McAda family, Venus Construction had grown to over 30 employees.
Over 50 Years of Venus Construction
North Texas experienced great growth in late ‘90s & early 2000s.
On August 31, 2001 Sammy suddenly passed away. His eldest son, Josh, became President of Venus Construction. Josh brought great experience and hard work with him to this new position. Having filled every role in the field, he knew first hand the operations of the company. He soon had the help of his two younger brothers. After graduating college, Sam and Jake joined the team full time and served as foremen and superintendents.
The brothers had only a few years to get comfortable in their roles before the 2008 recession bared down on the US economy. The housing market and commercial construction market popped and new projects became hard to come by. With the constant reminder from Aunt Sandra that Venus had survived a recession before and would survive this one, the McAda brothers pressed on and lead our company out of those trying times.
From Left to Right: Jake, Josh, & Sam McAda
Today, Venus Construction has 300+ team members working all over the Dallas/Fort Worth area.
Our work load is diverse, with a mixture of commercial, residential, municipal and TxDOT projects. We have been recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in Dallas three times (2009, 2014 & 2015) by the Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business. We are also proud to be recognized as one of the fastest growing companies in the nation by INC. Magazine in 2014 & 2015. In 2015 Venus Construction, for the first time in company history, was ranked on the Engineering News-Record's list of the Top 600 Specialty Contractors in the nation. We ranked number 502.
We are a company rooted in our history and dedicated to family. It is our hands on approach and vast knowledge and experience that allows us to continue to be a leader in underground utility construction in DFW. We make sure all of our customers are satisfied and take pride in every project we have the privilege to be a part of. This is how we have been doing things since 1967 and how we will continue to do things moving forward.