The Howard S. Wright Companies are a group of affiliated companies that provide pre-construction services, construction, construction management, and design-build services for a wide range of project types and industries, primarily within the ten Western States. The corporate staff is spread throughout the offices, each of which is run by a local manager. The companies are employee owned and privately held. In 2008, the Howard S. Wright Companies were listed in the Top 100 Contractors by Engineering News-Record Magazine (ENR).
Howard S. Wright was a cabinetmaker who founded Howard S. Wright Construction Co., in Port Townsend, WA in 1885. The company moved to Everett in 1893 and to Seattle in 1929.
During the family’s second generation, Howard H. Wright and his brother-in-law, George Schuchart, took over the firm, which built such landmarks as the Grand Coulee Dam. In the 1940s, the third generation expanded the company’s operations and operated what was then the largest group of construction and real estate companies in the Northwest. In the early 1960s, Howard S. Wright (HSW) was selected as the primary builder for the Century 21 Exposition in Seattle. It was for this event that the company built the Space Needle - now a world landmark. Medical, hospitality, higher education, residential and commercial construction characterized the HSW’s work during the 1970s as the company extended its operations throughout the Western United States. High-rise, office building, and hospitality construction dominated the company’s work in the 1980s.
In 2011, Howard S. Wright was acquired by Balfour Beatty.
Coordinates: 47°37′24″N 122°19′45″W / 47.62347°N 122.329299°W