Feb. 21, 2022

This paid piece is sponsored by Concrete Materials.

Nate Limoges saw a need and built a business around it that now has grown to one of the industry’s leaders in the Sioux Falls area.

A longtime project manager for the late Don Dunham Jr., he recognized the opportunity to bring quality concrete construction to the projects he was overseeing.

He went out on his own in the late 1990s, acquiring some concrete construction business from Dunham and growing the rest beginning with an old truck, rented skid loader and lofty vision.

“We’ve grown tremendously with the boom we’re seeing in construction in Sioux Falls,” said Limoges’ daughter, Erica Schmitt, who serves as project coordinator.

“In the last five years, we’ve really increased our business, become more specialized and taken on some very large projects.”

For Limoges, which specializes in the newest concrete designs, commercial construction and applications, having access to a quality, reliable supplier is key.

That has been accomplished through the company’s relationship with Concrete Materials, which has worked extensively with Limoges on multiple large projects.

“We’ve been their primary supplier since 2007 when I think they were ready to grow and saw us as a supplier who could support their growth,” said Stu Horsted, vice president of sales for Concrete Materials.

“They’ve really risen up as a commercial concrete contractor in Sioux Falls. When it comes to concrete, Limoges is thriving. Nate is very much involved, and it’s grown because of that and because of the team they’ve built.”

In the past year, Limoges and Concrete Materials have worked together on major projects at Foundation Park, including part of the new Amazon fulfillment center and an expansion at Lineage Logistics.

“Concrete Materials installed an on-site batch plant, which worked out great because our work on Amazon involved 4 acres of exterior concrete,” Limoges project manager Ryan Senst said.

“And it came right from the plant to the project, so it was really timely. And then with Lineage Logistics, the pours were interior flat work that involved pouring concrete into concrete buggies, which isn’t nearly as fast as pouring from the back of a truck, so with the incredible amount that we needed to pour, it was thanks to having the plant there that they could keep rotating trucks in.”

Large projects that began last year and are continuing into this year include the new location for Children’s Inn on East 10th Street and The Carlton, a major apartment complex at Dawley Farm Village.

Other signature projects have included the new headquarters for Gage Brothers Concrete Products  in northeast Sioux Falls, which “still to this day is one of our favorites because it was such a complex project and a treat to work with everyone involved,” Schmitt said.

This year, the majority of the company’s work already is in line, which is “extremely rare,” Limoges said.

A key project will be The Steel District development, where concrete work is underway on two of four structures that will need to be poured.

“It’s a huge project, and our relationship with Concrete Materials is critical,” he said. “In the winter, we’re pouring in some adverse conditions, but we have so much work we can’t shut down. And you have to have the additives in there to be effective. Concrete Materials is still the best and most knowledgeable to get the mixtures right, and you really see it in commercial projects.”

At The Steel District, Limoges is pouring concrete for the parking ramp and the nine-story office building. The total yards needed would equal a regulation football field that is 12 feet thick of concrete.

All four structures, including the Canopy by Hilton hotel and the apartments that will wrap the ramp, require nearly 1 million pounds of rebar, or roughly 500 tons, Limoges senior estimator Dan Block said.

“It’s going great, and the teams have been managing very well,” Block said. “We know Concrete Materials is supplying a tremendous amount of concrete for the region, but we’re getting what we need when we need it.”

The Limoges team can even track its concrete delivery through a Concrete Materials app on a phone or tablet, “so they can see exactly when the truck is batching, when it will be on-site, they can call dispatch if they see a truck isn’t going the right way, so they have really figured it out with technology, which makes it easier for our team on-site.”

The proximity to the Concrete Materials quarry and ready-mix plant in west Sioux Falls is key too.

“It’s 2 miles from us,” Horsted said. “We’ve done multiple large projects downtown – Washington Square, the newest parking ramp – so our drivers are accustomed to that, and it definitely helps that we’re so close.”

Concrete Materials and Limoges are close in other ways too.

“We just continue to do business with them because they’re honest people,” Limoges said. “If you can’t work with somebody that’s honorable and you can’t trust them, then I don’t want to work with them. Relationships are key in this industry.”

Many Concrete Materials drivers have been driving ready-mix trucks to Limoges work sites for more than 20 years, Schmitt said.

“And that’s created a special friendship with our foreman and crew members. Same goes for their sales and dispatch team all the way up to their plant operators,” she said. “We have a mutual respect and want the best for each other’s business. They really are the real deal when it comes to a supplier that authentically cares about their community and relationships.”

Horsted agrees.

“It’s a really collaborative relationship. We talk about our businesses broadly, our families, as much as we talk about any specific project.”