Regional construction firms and public works shape local projects

Baton Rouge, Louisiana, October 8, 2025

News Summary

Three Baton Rouge-area construction firms and several public programs illustrate how labor, materials and planning are shaping regional building work. A firm that started in 2012 has expanded from multifamily housing into commercial projects; a family-owned contractor is blending long-standing client relationships with modern management tools; and a major electrical contractor has pivoted from oil and gas into large energy and tech projects. Rising material costs are pressuring school budgets, voter-approved road taxes are funding many infrastructure projects, and large energy and data center developments are driving workforce and regional growth.

Construction update: Local contractors, rising costs and major projects reshape region

A trio of Baton Rouge area builders and contractors are shaping new housing, public works and large energy and tech projects while dealing with rising materials costs and shifting markets. Grant Ethridge Construction, a hands-on local firm founded in 2012, and long-established family business Wesley Construction operate alongside fast-expanding national contractor MMR Group, which is broadening from oil and gas into LNG, semiconductors and hyperscale data centers. At the same time, school renovation budgets and voter-approved road projects are being affected by inflation, tariffs and long timelines.

What matters most now

The immediate pressure is cost escalation. Rollover inflation from the pandemic, combined with President Trump’s tariffs on wood and steel, has driven material costs significantly higher and complicated public and private budgets. That squeeze shows up in school projects where initial bid estimates no longer match final construction costs, and in public works that depend on long-term voter funding. Meanwhile, local and regional contractors are responding by adapting jobsite practices, investing in training and pursuing work in new sectors.

Grant Ethridge Construction: growth, standards and community roles

Grant Ethridge Construction (GEC) got its start in 2012. Partners Grant Ethridge and Carter Terral lead the firm and take a hands-on approach; Terral and Ethridge are often found on job sites from Louisiana to Alabama. GEC’s original focus was on multifamily new construction and renovations, with commercial construction work following. GEC has worked on housing projects including Progress Park and Hollywood Acres, and has done work at three Baton Rouge restaurants: Jubans, Soji and BLDG 5.

GEC worked on Les Maison de Bayou Lafourche apartment homes in Lockport. Les Maison de Bayou Lafourche received the first Fortified Gold Multifamily Designation from the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety and was designed to withstand a Category 3 hurricane. During Hurricane Ida in 2021, a Category 4 storm, Les Maison de Bayou Lafourche saw minimal damage. Grant Ethridge described the project as a model for resilient, storm‑adapted housing.

On process and safety, GEC assigns a field superintendent and a project manager to each project and conducts biweekly owner, architect and contractor meetings for each project to keep all parties informed. GEC uses Procore software for project coordination and partnered with Essential Safety Partners to ensure safety remains a company core value and daily practice on every project. The company also runs an internship program that trains construction management students and develops them into project managers, often resulting in interns receiving permanent positions at GEC.

GEC supports community causes as the presenting sponsor of the annual Maddie’s Footprints – Footprints Forever 5K race and plays an active role in the annual Maddie’s Footprints fundraising gala. Maddie’s Footprints was founded by GEC General Manager Lori McGrew and is dedicated to supporting families in the Greater Baton Rouge Area who have experienced the loss of a child.

Wesley Construction: family roots, steady service and selective modernization

Wesley Construction was started by Steve Wesley in 1984. When the company started in 1984 there were no computers and business records were kept as paper files; early Wesley Construction checks were written out by hand and business was conducted in person or by telephone. An email address was eventually added to Wesley Construction’s operations. Vice President Bryan Wesley says his dad has never had a computer at his desk and that they remain a people-first business. Bryan Wesley joined the family business in 2019 after working in Houston and initially learned his father’s methods before making changes.

Bryan has added modern touches including direct deposit, social media, and Procore construction management software, joking that the company finally stopped handwriting checks while continuing to prioritize relationships. Wesley Construction is based in Baton Rouge and has done work in 33 states, including a recent project in Eugene, Oregon. Bryan’s vision for the company’s future is organic growth, focusing on building lasting client relationships and being the first and only call clients make for new construction, renovations or maintenance. Wesley Construction’s address is 10182 Patriot Drive | Baton Rouge 70816 and the company phone is 225.753.5600 and website is wesleyusa.com.

Among Wesley Construction’s notable projects are renovations to the New Orleans Roosevelt Hotel and multiple projects for the same client in locations from Baton Rouge to Nashville and Oregon. Bryan described his personal connection to the work and the company’s service role in the community.

MMR Group: rapid expansion into LNG, semiconductors and data centers

MMR Group was founded in 1991 by James B. “Pepper” Rutland and is headquartered at a campus on Airline Highway in Baton Rouge. The company grew from its oil and gas roots into one of the largest privately owned electrical and instrumentation contractors in the U.S., with more than two dozen offices across North America. MMR’s historical core sector is oil and gas and the company has “cut its teeth” in that sector, but in recent years MMR expanded from energy work into multibillion-dollar infrastructure projects in the tech sector.

MMR’s annual revenue grew by 75% in 2024 to more than $2.3 billion, up from about $705 million in 2015. The company has worked on major LNG projects, including serving as an electrical contractor on the Venture Global Plaquemines LNG export facility, and on Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass projects and the Calcasieu Pass 2 mega-project now under construction. MMR has also taken on semiconductor and hyperscale data center work, overseeing electrical installation at a Micron Technology $15 billion complex in Boise, Idaho, and completing a major hyperscale data center in Boydton, Virginia.

MMR opened a new regional headquarters in Salt Lake City earlier in the month to oversee projects in the West. The company launched MMR University in 2023, a two-year workforce development program that teaches prioritized skills and aims to accelerate graduates’ readiness for field work. MMR recruits heavily from LSU, and Rutland has supported LSU initiatives through donations, including a seven-figure gift to LSU’s NIL collective and a $7.5 million donation to LSU’s new stand‑alone construction management building.

Public projects and budget pressure

East Baton Rouge Parish school projects are reflecting the broader cost pressures. Judith Anderson is the CSRS Architectural Program Director and oversees contracts for East Baton Rouge Parish Schools. She says they ensure the budget is aligned with the scope of work before starting projects and that unforeseen factors such as tariffs can disrupt initial cost estimates and cause final prices to exceed bid amounts.

Adam Bourgeois, a general contractor with Milton J. Womack, Inc., which works with East Baton Rouge Schools, said increases are occurring predominantly in wood, cabinets, upholstery, and some raw materials. Bourgeois said roughly a 25% cost increase occurred months ago and they appear to be facing another increase of 10–25%. Specific school project cost increases cited include Brownfields Elementary, which was initially bid at $25.1 million in 2023 and now has a budget of $28.9 million, and the Baton Rouge Center for Visual and Performing Arts, which was budgeted at $28.1 million in 2023 and has increased to over $34.4 million. At Banks Elementary, demolition costs rose from $290,000 in 2021 for similar work to expected demolition and remodel costs exceeding $500,000 by completion. The full impact of steel tariffs and other economic pressures on school infrastructure projects in East Baton Rouge remains uncertain.

MoveEBR road work and sales tax funding

East Baton Rouge Parish voters in 2018 approved a half-cent sales tax for 71 road projects under the MoveEBR program. The sales tax went into effect April 1, 2019 and will remain in effect until March 31, 2049. Proceeds from the tax can be spent only on the approved list of projects. Some of the original 71 MoveEBR projects were broken into smaller related projects, creating a total list of 139 MoveEBR projects. As of the reporting date, 27 MoveEBR projects have been completed. The most recent MoveEBR project completed had a ribbon-cutting on August 1 and was a new two-lane road from Picardy Avenue to Constantin Boulevard. Four projects are now under active construction or will be soon.

Bottom line

Local builders and a growing regional contractor are balancing community-focused work, training and safety with rapid expansion into energy and tech markets. At the same time, publicly funded school and road projects face price uncertainty driven by inflation and tariffs, requiring careful budget alignment and coordination among owners, architects and contractors.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Key features at a glance

Deeper Dive: News & Info About This Topic

Additional Resources

• Business Report: Wesley Construction — Company Insights
• Wikipedia: Wesley Construction
• Business Report: Grant Ethridge Construction (GEC)
• Google Search: Grant Ethridge Construction
• WAFB: Rising construction costs challenge school projects in East Baton Rouge
• Google Scholar: construction cost inflation schools
• The Advocate: Baton Rouge road projects (MoveEBR)
• Encyclopedia Britannica: MoveEBR
• NOLA: MMR Group expands into data centers, LNG and energy projects
• Google News: MMR Group Baton Rouge

Author: Construction TX News

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