Ben Gibbs Specializes in Large, Remote and Renewable Energy Projects
Whether he’s managing the grading of a site to accommodate a facility expansion or overseeing excavation activities on a solar farm, Ben Gibbs enjoys working on jobs that involve large volumes of dirt.
“My specialty is big projects where there's a lot of dirt to move and equipment to manage,” says Gibbs, a project manager who joined Castle in 2015.
He discovered his love of hands-on construction work while installing residential irrigation systems in St. Charles during the summers of his high school years.
Gibbs earned a construction management degree at the University of Central Missouri, then worked his way from field engineer to superintendent with Crossland Construction, a contractor based in southeast Kansas. “I relocated to northwest Arkansas and worked mostly on highway projects that involved moving millions of yards of dirt,” he says.
A few years later, he reached out to a friend who worked with an electrical contractor in St. Louis to inquire about local construction job opportunities. Gibbs’ buddy encouraged him to look at Castle and McCarthy, two companies that had recently joined forces.
After checking out McCarthy’s website, he decided to apply for a project manager position. While Gibbs’ civil and transportation experience didn’t align with the vertical construction opportunity at hand, McCarthy connected him with Castle…and the rest is history.
Gibbs relocated to St. Louis in April 2015 to join Castle as assistant project manager. “Initially I started out working on small grading and utility projects in St. Louis and just learning how to be a project manager,” he says. “Now I’ve managed projects all over the country—Tennessee, Colorado, Virginia, California, Alabama, Michigan and Georgia.”
His current jobs include the largest solar farm in Michigan, the second phase of a manufacturing plant expansion for The J.M. Smucker Company in Longmont, Colorado, and a new Hampton Inn hotel development in St. Charles, Missouri. He’s also finishing highway improvements for the delivery of windmill components for a wind farm north of Kirksville, Missouri, and recently completed a wetland mitigation project at Creve Coeur Park in St. Louis County (featured in photo above). Soon, he’ll start managing the self-perform civil work on a new solar farm project in southwest Georgia.
Gibbs splits his time between the office and visiting jobsites. “I like the mobility of the job,” he says. “There's really no downtime.”
And he’s always on the lookout for opportunities to improve the speed and efficiency of projects. “We performed a large earthwork job at the old Chrysler plant in Fenton, and I found a new type of a machine to use,” he says. “It ended up working well and I’ve actually used those machines on multiple jobs since then.”
When Gibbs isn’t managing Castle projects, there’s a good chance he’s spending time at his property north of Montgomery City. He enjoys improving the property, preparing for hunting season and getting away from the city. Deer, turkey and waterfowl hunting are Gibbs’ favorite hobbies. He also likes working on home construction projects for himself or friends.
Gibbs and his fiancée Melissa are also planning a September 2021 wedding.
