Clouse Construction is thrilled to be celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. We will host an open house for all past, present, and future customers, employees, friends, family, community supporters, sub-contractors, and suppliers. The event is on Friday, April 25th from 3-9 PM at the shop at 4382 West TWP RD 90, New Riegel, OH 44853. Join us for food, beverages, and door prizes.

To commemorate this milestone, we asked our founder, Lenny Clouse, to share about the company’s history. The Clouse family has deep roots in New Riegel and Seneca County, reaching all the way back to 1833. According to some family research, construction seems to be in the Clouse DNA, so maybe it’s no surprise that Lenny ended up in construction!

The Founding of Clouse Construction

“As a small child, I always liked building things,” Lenny shared. “I believe God gives everybody different talents and things that they enjoy doing—could be a painter, mechanic, banker, whatever—and I just always liked building.”

Lenny’s parents were a major influence in his life. He grew up one of 10 kids on a 120-acre dairy farm. His parents instilled in him the values of caring for each other, discipline, and hard work, all of which he still applies to this day.

Lenny’s love for construction began early.

“I remember before I went to grade school, our neighbor, Don Bishop, who was an excellent craftsman. He helped my dad build a livestock shed on our dairy farm,” Lenny said. “I was following Mr. Bishop around. I liked how he was doing things and loved watching what he was doing.”  Don always gave me small jobs to keep me busy and encouraged me often.  At New Riegel High School, the principal left me in the shop instead of study hall; he thought it would be better time well spent.

“After graduation from high school, I started working for Paul Kramer, a local home builder. Paul was a good builder and I learned a lot. After four years, I planned on getting a factory job and helping dad farm.  Jobs were scarce, and my parents always wanted to attach a garage to their home, so I told myself, ‘while I’m trying to find a job, I’ll just get Mom and Dad’s garage built.’ Before I finished the garage, other nice folks in the New Riegel area were calling wanting projects completed.”  Betty Lauer hired me to build a 24’ x 32’ garage with an overhead door, concrete floor, and electric, all for $5,000.00.  Betty couldn’t say enough good things about us.

It was March 1975. So much of the Clouse business has been built on solid relationships, trustworthiness, and respect, stretching back to the beginning. 

In 1976, Lenny hired Jerry Kirian and Mike Boes. Both of them had just graduated from high school and were good workers with a lot of talent. The first home the team built was a split-level house for Kenny Tiell.  Ken recommended us for many other jobs.

With the Help of Healthy Relationships, Clouse Shifts toward Commercial Builds

Clouse Construction began to shift into the commercial realm in January 1980, when they secured the Butler Manufacturing dealership. Several more commercial projects took off that year, including our first Butler building, a 20’ x 30’ garage for Lenny Theis of New Riegel, Don Stover’s 40’ x 60’ Butler Steel Building, and Carl Murray’s 80’ x 120’ shop building, both in Old Fort.

“Carl and Don were very well respected, and I believe a lot of people thought that if Carl and Don trusted me, I’d be a good contractor to hire if they ever had a need,” said Lenny. “I really enjoyed working for them and their families.”

There have always been ups and downs in construction, and Lenny faced his fair share of challenges throughout the years. But he kept going, thanks to the support and belief of family and friends, especially Lenny’s wife, Lynn.

In the early 1980s, interest rates were 18% and not many new building projects were going on.  Once, when business seemed to be drying up, Lenny felt like he’d had enough. “I talked to Lynn about it, and she just said, ‘Oh, something will come through.’ A couple of days later, I got a call, and they wanted a whole bunch of work done at the Armory in Tiffin, where the Salvation Army is now. We poured all that concrete out and finished the build. By the time we got done with that, things started picking up a little bit.”

Lynn’s support extended far beyond her belief in Lenny’s work.

“I can’t thank her enough. She was a beautician by trade, and then somebody had to take care of the books. She didn’t know much about it, and she dug in and found a way to get it done. She was helping with the invoicing and billing and all the employee forms. She just did a remarkable job raising the kids and everything at the same time.”

Throughout all these years, the company has remained true to its original beliefs and values.  Clouse stayed with Butler since 1980 and will soon have sold 90 million with Butler; their products and roof system can’t be matched.

“I was always adamant that we do a first-class job. And if something doesn’t work out right, let’s try to make it right—there are a million things that can go wrong in construction, and things aren’t always going to go according to plan or as well as you hope they are. Our view has always been, ‘Hey, we’re going to fix it, the best we can.’  Let’s do a great job today so we have another job tomorrow.”

There will always be a need for construction in the community, and Clouse Construction plans to continue following the same values and delivering excellence under Lenny and Lynn’s son Brian’s leadership.

“Brian has done an excellent job,” Lenny shared. “He has a lot of engineering experience and is more structured than I’ve ever been. We’re doing three times the business that we were when I was running things by myself.”

Looking into the future, there are only two things that Lenny hopes will remain true about Clouse: “I hope that our legacy is that we will always be remembered as a good contractor and a kind and loving and caring group of people. We enjoy supporting our communities and nation whenever we can.”

We hope you’ll join us at our 50th Anniversary open house on April 25!

Lenny would personally like to take a moment to thank all our military personnel who have helped to shape our country as it is today.  His parents for instilling all the great values it takes to become successful. His older brothers and sisters who had to give up a lot to help watch over the younger ones in the family.  His wife, Lynn, for her understanding of all the meetings and late suppers.  Their kids Brian, Nicole, and Lindsey, for all the appreciation and help.  All the great employees, like Jerry Kirian, Roger Fredritz, and Terry Shank Clouse Construction has had over the years.  All the great customers they’ve had to support them. Especially God for all the miracles He’s performed for us over the years, looking over our health and safety and well-being.  Thank You, Thank You, Thank You!

50th Anniversary Invitation