Foreman JD Louvier Builds on a Strong Family Foundation
At the age of 15, Jeremy "JD" Louvier began his on-the-job training for a full-time career in construction.
“As soon as I was old enough for manual labor, I worked on weekends and anytime I needed to make some money and help out my dad,” he says.
It was a perk of growing up in a family that owned a construction company: Louvier Construction, which specializes in house raising. “If your home gets flooded or the foundation is cracked, we lift the home off its foundation and raise it on a new foundation above the 100-year flood elevation,” he says, noting that most of the firm’s work involves FEMA disaster recovery along the Mississippi River. The family also owns a separate real estate business—Louvier Properties—that operates Airbnb rental properties in five states.
Raised in the small town of Orchard Farm in St. Charles County, Louvier joined the labor union at age 18, spending the next 20 years honing his skills in concrete flatwork and heavy highway bridge construction. By 2016, he was ready for a change. "The night work was getting the best of me," he admits.
He learned about an opportunity at Castle from Foreman Roger Bone, one of Castle’s earliest employees and someone Louvier had previously worked alongside. “Roger and I have been friends since 1996, and he still does work for our family business to this day,” he notes.
Within two weeks of joining Castle as a laborer on the Mercy Hospital Jefferson project in Festus, Louvier earned a promotion to foreman.
Since then, he’s made his mark on high-profile projects across the St. Louis region, including the Forsyth Pointe office development in Clayton, the Market at Olive retail development in University City, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) campus in north city and several assignments at Washington University in St. Louis.
Large and in Charge
Louvier enjoys working on large projects and seeing them through from start to finish. "I like the thrill of knowing that I was a part of a big job," he explains.
His expertise ranges from overseeing dirt work and mass excavation to utility installation and finish grading. “On bigger projects, I usually have multiple crews, so I’m a resource to make sure we have the proper equipment, answer questions and put out any fires that we run into,” he says.
Despite those daily demands, Louvier still finds time to help with both family businesses, which are now managed by his older brother, Dan. “I try to fill in anytime they need help or if I have some spare time,” he says.
He values Castle’s family-oriented atmosphere and appreciation for its craft professionals. “When somebody recognizes those in the field for working hard, it goes a long way,” he says.
Moscow Mills is the location of Louvier’s current home, and he also has a cabin in the woods in Steedman, Missouri. “That's where I spend a lot of time riding side-by-sides and playing in the woods,” he jokes.
He and his brother are in the process of building a new house at the Lake of the Ozarks, where he spends time fishing, boating and riding motorcycles.
