As the son of a son of a son of a mason, David Thompson’s future was settled for him long before he was born. Even as he went off to Shippensburg University to study Finance, David always knew he would come back to the family business. “I’ve always loved being part of the building process,” he says. “It’s an amazing feeling to take a plot of dirt and turn it into a beautiful building that will outlast us all. I knew I wanted to be a part of it all.”
While in college, David spent his summers working for his father and learning the trade in the field. Upon graduation in 1991, he joined the firm full time, and began learning the “inside” part of the business—operations management—from bidding, bookkeeping and payroll, to insurance, bonding and more. Today, as president, David does all of this and more, communicating with clients and coordinating all the hands on the job to make sure that “everyone is rowing in the same direction.”
Clients appreciate the fact that David is micro-managing the job – so they don’t have to. “I think that’s one of the things general contractors like most about Thompson Masonry,” he says. “They know they can hand the ball off to us and then forget about it. We’ll take it from there. They also know our word is our bond. If we tell you we are going to do something, we do it. We operate with a code of honor our clients can rely on.”
When not helping clients build beautiful buildings, David is either spending time with his three daughters, or watching the Phillies and Eagles play.
Thom Heck shares the same masonry lineage as his cousin David Thompson: their great-great- grandfather founded a brick manufacturing company in the late 1800s. “We didn’t learn the masonry trade,” says Thom. “It was born into us.”
After high school, Thom pursued other careers, but the lure of the family business was too strong. “I kept looking at masonry because ever since I was a kid I wanted to be a part of it.” Inevitably, he joined Thompson Masonry in 1987. He started in the field and worked his way up from laborer to apprentice to brick layer to foreman, and spent eight years overseeing the jobs in the field. He then moved into the office as Operations Manager for several years.
Today Thom handles the “outside” field operations—overseeing all the foremen and their projects—while David handles the “inside” operations, although both agree the lines often blur. They work as a seamless unit stepping in wherever is necessary to ensure that clients get the turnkey service they seek. “Once a client turns over a project to us, they can forget about it,” says Thom. “No matter how large or complex a job might be, they can feel secure that we’ll get it done right. We won’t let them down.”
That’s because masonry isn’t just a job for David and Thom. It’s their legacy and their life. “It’s really something to put an addition onto a building your great-grandfather built 100 years ago,” says Thom. “We couldn’t be more passionate about what we do.”
Outside of the business, you will find Thom relaxing by spending time with his wife and three young adult children. He enjoys traveling and watching his favorite sports teams play.