Family-Owned Business Awards 2024: Strum Contracting Co. Inc.
Michael Richard, Loreice Knight, Dee Dee Strum, Teaera Strum, Mary Strum, James Strum, Krista Alestock, Kerra Strum and
Lori Strum of Strum Contracting Co.
ERIC STOCKLIN FOR BBJ
By Debbie Funk – Contributor, Baltimore Business Journal
Teaera Strum’s father, James, launched his welding and light fabrication business in 1987 as a way to provide for his family. Thirty-seven years later, it continues to do so, and now is run by the second generation.
”We’re very much a niche market, so there is a lot of opportunity,” said CEO Teaera Strum.
Strum Contracting Co. works heavily in infrastructure, from bridge remediation, to port improvements, to wind power, and on water, sewer and steam lines. Currently, the company is putting metal decking over a bridge for MTA’s light rail purple line, which, when completed, will take people from Bethesda to New Carrollton. Strum Contracting also worked on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge early in this millennium. Foul weather, such as fog and high wind, severely limited when they could work, and turned a two-year contract into four years.
”That was the bridge we couldn’t get off,” Strum said.
Besides Maryland, their projects have taken them to Washington, D.C., Delaware, Florida, Texas, Indiana, Ohio and Louisiana. All of their welders are certified. The company also holds a certification that allows it to manufacture products throughout the world. Multiple family members have worked at Strum Contracting in a range of jobs, including project management, media, labor and administration. A third-generation member who is in a welding program works a summer job as a laborer at the family business. He is being groomed to work there full-time after he graduates. Strum joined the company 11 years ago, when her father already had a strong reputation.
“When I came on board it was about legacy, building something and standing on my father’s shoulders,” she said.
She has her MBA and was brought in to grow the company and organize the back office, such as ensuring it had correct paperwork and appropriate insurance. “I have found a lot of times it’s the back office that can really make or break a company,” she said.
About three years ago, she was promoted to CEO, and her father, who now is president, has eased back from day-to-day operations.
Read about the rest of the 2024 Family-Owned Business Awards honorees here.