World Class Development Services, Locally Scaled to our Community When Aaron and Kelsy Ausland, owners of their Grants Pass based commercial construction company Ausland Group, are asked what keeps them excited to build in Oregon, their answer is simple, “we are passionate about helping our clients grow and succeed.” For them, each project is so much more than the bricks and mortar, it’s about understanding each client’s goals and their vision. “The best measure of our success is the success of our clients. For most of them, the project we build is a huge step in their business and a huge expense. We are honored to be that trusted partner for so many important businesses and institutions,” said Aaron.
More than just a builder
Ausland Group is not your traditional construction company, which quickly becomes clear when you walk through the front doors of their headquarters on Highland Avenue in Grants Pass.
Their main office building is designed in a pacific northwest modern style, suggestive of what one would find in an urban center like Portland or Seattle but is strategically tucked away in the northwest corner of Grants Pass. Kelsy explains this is by design, “we want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable walking through our doors, whether it’s a CEO or our trade staff. Our office is designed to inspire collaboration and innovation between our diverse group of design professionals and tradespeople.”
The group of professionals at Ausland is surprising to find in a construction company. Architects, structural engineers, and civil engineers all work together alongside the construction team at Ausland. Aaron explains that it takes more than just a great builder to make a great project, “every project takes an entire team – architects, engineers, project managers, tradespeople. Ausland brings together all of the necessary disciplines under one roof. Ausland is the only firm south of Portland, and one of only a handful in Oregon, that includes this breadth of design talent within a construction company.”
Celebrating 75 years of business heritage
It is not by accident that such a robust development firm is in Grants Pass. This year, the Ausland’s celebrate their 75-year anniversary of building in Southern Oregon. The Ausland family has been a staple in the Southern Oregon business world since 1947 when Bill Ausland returned from the second World War and founded what soon became known as Ausland Construction. In those early years, Bill along with dozens of employees from Josephine County built bridges, schools, hospitals, and churches from Ashland to Roseburg. During the 1980s, John “Mike” Ausland took the reins of the company where he directed resources at his passion, building bridges and roads. These large projects allowed him to spend his weekends doing what he loved – fishing and hunting with his sons and grandchildren. Today, the company has evolved into Ausland Group, led by Aaron and Kelsy Ausland who have taken the roots of the family business and modernized it to an award-winning firm offering clients state-of-the-art construction and design services in the greater Pacific Northwest Region. Aaron describes it best, “We have built a platform to help clients in profound ways. Each project is unique and requires a complete team to deliver world-class yet locally scaled solutions.” Aaron Ausland, CCM, leading with a Vision of World-Class Development, Locally Scaled Aaron Ausland was born and raised in Grants Pass, a 1995 graduate of Grants Pass High School. He worked long hot days in the summer as a concrete foreman building bridges to pay for college tuition. Aaron attended Oregon State University, where he followed in the footsteps of his father and grandfather, earning a degree in Construction Engineering management.
For several years after college, he worked for his father’s construction company. Then in 2002, he began Ausland Group with his wife Kelsy, with a focus on commercial building design. Aaron knew he wanted to do construction differently. He’d seen the ‘silos’ created in the industry that too often pitted architects, engineers, and builders against one another rather than creating collaborations. He knew that to bring extraordinary results to clients, it required breaking down those silos and developing a truly integrated team of professionals. Fast forward 20 years later and that company Aaron envisioned has become Ausland Group where all these disciplines sit around one table solving problems together. “If a client hires each part of the team separately there is a good chance each person hears something a bit different or understands the clients’ goals differently. At Ausland Group there is one unified team from
the first conversation to the last, from start to finish. Kelsy Ausland, P.E., Always an Engineer Kelsy Ausland was raised in Portland, OR with an extended family that included a math teacher, realtor, engineer, and architects. She explains how the values of hard work, innovation, and creativity, the attributes that make good engineers, were key family values. “Instead of buying me the doll house or the car for my Barbies, my parents expected me to build them. And I did.
I’ve always loved creating and building. Then by the time I was a teenager, when I wanted a phone to my room, I had to wire it myself. I never was raised with any notion that I couldn’t do something because I was a girl.”
Kelsy began her career in high school where she was selected for an internship at the Oregon Graduate Institute working in an environmental engineering laboratory. “I had the opportunity to contribute to research focused on remediating pollutants in groundwater, and I was captivated ever since. Applying science to solve real world problems ignited my passion for engineering.”
Kelsy went on to attend Oregon State University and majored in Civil Engineering, which is where she met Aaron. After graduating, she and Aaron married and moved to Grants Pass. Kelsy worked for several years as an engineer for both the Bureau of Land Management and private consultant, Rob Wiegand, before taking the reins full-time leading the design group and office operations at Ausland.
Recognized for “Family Harmony” by the Oregon State Center for Business Enterprise As husband and wife, Aaron and Kelsy make an impressive team building their company and supporting their community. As President of Ausland Group, Kelsy manages the day-to-day functions of the team while driving her enthusiasm to lead some of Ausland’s most technically challenging projects. The Oregon State Center for Business Enterprise recognized the accomplishments of the dynamic duo Aaron and Kelsy, awarding them with the 2021 Family Harmony Award.
Building Community in Southern Oregon
The pride in being part of a great construction team lasts long after the grand opening of a completed project. The team members at Ausland have the pride of seeing people enjoy their projects for years to come. The places Ausland Group builds create the great places everyone visits – for example they relish a craft beer after work at Weekend Beer Company while rocking out to local bands, families can share their experience during dinner at Hellgate Jetboat Excursions’ OK Corral after an exhilarating jetboat trip down the river, colleagues can sip signature cocktails outside at The Haul in downtown Grants Pass, music lovers relaxing under the stars listening to their favorite artists at the improvements Ausland Group made to the Britt Festivals or Pinot fans can savor a glass of wine at Simple Machine Winery.
Being able to help create iconic places is part of what drives Aaron and Kelsy. It is wonderful to drive around town and see projects that they have been able to work on such as the AllCare headquarters building, the Boys & Girls Club, the Gospel Rescue Mission, or the historic United Methodist Church. Traveling around Southern Oregon, it’s hard to find a place that has not been shaped and touched by the team of professionals and tradespersons at Ausland Group.