Twenty-five years of public work,
now veteran-owned.
Gottfried Construction has built for government owners since 2001. In 2026 the company was acquired by Erik Cooper, a service-disabled U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran, who owns and controls it directly.
Continuity, not a reset.
The change in ownership did not change the crews, the license, the qualifying parties, or the way the work gets built. The project managers who delivered the Hurricane Ida repairs, the Gautier lift stations, and the Camp Shelby runway are the same people who will deliver yours. What changed is that the company is now a certified Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business — which gives federal, state, and municipal buyers a procurement path to a contractor with a twenty-five-year record instead of a start-up.
That combination is unusual. Most SDVOSBs are young companies still building past performance. Most contractors with a twenty-five-year public-work record are not SDVOSB-eligible. We are both.
On site in PPE, not a studio headshot.
Who you will actually deal with.
Small business means the owner answers the phone. Use it.
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Erik Cooper
Owner / President
Service-disabled U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran. Owns and controls the company directly and holds authority to bind it. Government point of contact for market research, sources sought, and teaming inquiries.
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Ben Keller
General Manager, Field Operations
Runs the work in the field — crew deployment, self-perform production, and day-to-day execution on active installations and occupied facilities.
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Jana Teston
Chief Financial Officer
Owns contract accounting, certified payroll and prevailing-wage compliance, billing and pay applications, and the financial reporting public owners and sureties require.
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Ryan Baldassaro
Estimator
Prices the work — quantity takeoff, specification review, subcontractor and supplier solicitation, and the bid-day judgment that determines whether a job holds its margin.
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Damian Brockhoeft
Project Manager
Carries projects from award through closeout — submittals, RFIs, schedule, phasing on occupied sites, and direct communication with the owner and inspector.
We hire people who want
to build public work.
Government construction is a discipline: specifications you actually read, inspections you actually pass, and owners whose buildings stay in service while you work in them. If that is the kind of work you want to be good at, we are interested. We are especially interested in veterans.
Faces visible. Warmer than buyer-facing shots.