At the start of the 20th century, an enterprising Swedish immigrant named Peter Manson looked at the bustle of harbor traffic in and around Seattle and saw an opportunity. He put together a floating pile driver and by 1905 he was engaged full-time in the pile driving and waterfront construction scene around Puget Sound. Through good times and bad, Manson Construction formed an enviable reputation for good, honest, hard work which was completed in a timely manner.

Early jobs included numerous docks that served Puget Sound’s “Mosquito Fleet” of ferry boats, along with fish traps and bulkheads. It then grew into providing ferry landings, small bridges, and foundations. In time it became evident that larger equipment was necessary for new technology steel and concrete structures. Part of Manson’s innovation and imagination included expanding the size and number of his floating equipment fleet.

At the same time, the company reached out from Puget Sound to use its fleet cost effectively. It found work in Alaska, Oregon, California, and a number of other places around the world. Offices in Northern and Southern California and more recent operations in the Gulf of Mexico and on the East Coast, plus temporary offices in other locations, now manage the work that keeps Manson humming throughout the year.

The original pile driver grew into five scow pile drivers, and today the Manson fleet has grown into 19 floating derricks, 4 hydraulic dredges, 4 hopper dredges, dozens of barges, 7 towboats, 5 tenders, 10 survey/crew boats and miscellaneous equipment of pile hammers, clamshell buckets, and land equipment such as truck cranes, crawler cranes, dozers, loaders, trucks and other equipment.

One aspect of the company has not changed, however, and that is its family-oriented leadership. Peter Manson passed the mantle to his son, Harry Manson, and subsequent company presidents have included Elmer Edwards, Peter Haug, Glenn Edwards and today’s Chairman E. P. Paup and President Eric Haug. Many of the employees of Manson Construction are second, third or fourth generation workers who share pride in the reputation and accomplishments of their company.