By Joe Kertzman, managing editor, Badger Common’Tater
Overseeing all steps of the building process, McGowan Rice Construction is known to farmers across the United States and in Canada for its agricultural buildings, potato and produce storages, food processing plants, warehouse facilities and other commercial structures.
Owners Mark Rice and Brady McGowan, who have more than 30 years of combined experience in agriculture and agri-business construction, wanted to take ownership of their products and the pride that comes along with building long-term builder-client relationships.
McGowan and Rice proposed to parent company Hansen-Rice Construction that they spin off an agriculture-focused business. It made sense, and McGowan Rice Construction was born.
A full-service design/build firm working primarily in agricultural and industrial buildings, the McGowan Rice team takes a no-nonsense approach to building and refuses to compromise on strong ethics, accountability, safety and efficiency.
Company President Mark Rice says, in short, the construction company is focused on quality, cost and timeliness, believing that none of these things must be compromised for the other.
Services include front-end planning, pre-construction, design, general contracting, maintenance, and tenant improvements and remodels.
Mark, what is your background, and how did you initially get into the construction industry, particularly working with agricultural and potato storage buildings? My father, Ivan, and Dan Hansen founded Hansen-Rice in 1983, so I have been around construction and the potato industry basically my whole life.
I worked on my first potato storage when I turned 18, back in 1997, and continued to work construction throughout college summers.
After college, I lived in Seattle for about 10 years doing various professional jobs and then moved back home in 2010 to work for Hansen-Rice in a business development capacity. I gravitated immediately to potatoes and just fell in love with the people and ag industry.
