Our Founder - William Boyd Burgett
William “Bill” Boyd Burgett, the second son of a pair of school teachers, George Washington Burgett and Lenore (Boyd) Burgett, was born on a rented farm in Morrow County, Ohio, on May 29, 1930. Billy, as he was called from the beginning, was immediately greeted with the challenges of the Great Depression. His mother had sacrificed her teaching job to care for Billy and his brother who was two years older. To make ends meet, Billy’s father was balancing farming with his teaching position at a one-room school in the Centerburg, Ohio area. The closing of one-room schools, as a result of the consolidation movement, caused the Burgett family to move twice during Billy’s first few years; but when he was five years old, his father was able to purchase a farm in Perry Township in Richland County. This Lost Run Road farm was to become the family home for the duration. Bill Boyd Burgett still lives on this farm. From the time of his early childhood, Billy showed a strong interest in building and repairing things. High points in his young life were when he received an erector set when he was 3 and a tool box when he was 5. Whenever he had a spare minute, Billy could be found in the farm workshop feeding his natural creative appetite.
Along with a strong passion for doing things with his hands, Billy was determined to do things right. He was influenced seriously by Christian values, and as an early teenager, committed his life to doing God’s work. As Billy matured and his name eventually shortened to Bill, he wrestled with the question of just how he would fulfill that commitment. He wasn’t inclined to be a minister, he wanted to build things. Finally, after much prayer, he decided to pursue his dreams to build things, but he would apply Christian principles to his work and to his life.
In 1948 Bill graduated from Johnsville High School, took his first job, and got married. Shirley (Ackerman) Burgett is still his bride after more than sixty years and five children.
Bill’s first job was with a small construction company in Fredericktown, Ohio. The company soon went out of business, but not before Bill learned the basics of construction work, and not before he formed a relationship with fellow employee, Lester Rinehart. The reality was, however, both Bill and Lester were out of a job, and both had families to support. As it turned out, this inconvenient situation resulted in the birth of a construction entrepreneur. In 1951, Bill landed a job which eventually launched his newly formed William Burgett Builder And Concrete Work enterprise. The job involved remodeling the Perry Township Hall in Richland County. He asked Lester Rinehart to help. When the job was finished, work had been converted into paychecks, a process Bill would sponsor for the rest of his career.
More work began to come Bill’s way; unknowingly, he had discovered the secret of success. That being, a job well done brings in another, and another. William Burgett Builder Concrete Work would eventually be renamed Kokosing Construction Company; a company that started with a working relationship between Bill Burgett and the man who would become the first employee of Kokosing, Lester Rinehart.
As the company grew, Bill continued to build relationships with new employees, customers, suppliers, bankers, designers, and politicians. These relationships have always been based on the principles of integrity, honesty, caring, and hard work – which still serve as the back-bone of Kokosing Construction Company. Kokosing Construction Company – although large and still growing – remains a company that reveres its employees and their families; a company that emphasizes safety first; and a company that radiates respect from its owners through its employees to all those it serves.
Younger members of the company family now fill the leadership positions, but after nearly sixty years, Bill remains on hand as a valuable member of Kokosing.
Our Founder - William Boyd Burgett
William “Bill” Boyd Burgett, the second son of a pair of school teachers, George Washington Burgett and Lenore (Boyd) Burgett, was born on a rented farm in Morrow County, Ohio, on May 29, 1930. Billy, as he was called from the beginning, was immediately greeted with the challenges of the Great Depression. His mother had sacrificed her teaching job to care for Billy and his brother who was two years older. To make ends meet, Billy’s father was balancing farming with his teaching position at a one-room school in the Centerburg, Ohio area. The closing of one-room schools, as a result of the consolidation movement, caused the Burgett family to move twice during Billy’s first few years; but when he was five years old, his father was able to purchase a farm in Perry Township in Richland County. This Lost Run Road farm was to become the family home for the duration. Bill Boyd Burgett still lives on this farm. From the time of his early childhood, Billy showed a strong interest in building and repairing things. High points in his young life were when he received an erector set when he was 3 and a tool box when he was 5. Whenever he had a spare minute, Billy could be found in the farm workshop feeding his natural creative appetite.
Along with a strong passion for doing things with his hands, Billy was determined to do things right. He was influenced seriously by Christian values, and as an early teenager, committed his life to doing God’s work. As Billy matured and his name eventually shortened to Bill, he wrestled with the question of just how he would fulfill that commitment. He wasn’t inclined to be a minister, he wanted to build things. Finally, after much prayer, he decided to pursue his dreams to build things, but he would apply Christian principles to his work and to his life.
In 1948 Bill graduated from Johnsville High School, took his first job, and got married. Shirley (Ackerman) Burgett is still his bride after more than sixty years and five children.
Bill’s first job was with a small construction company in Fredericktown, Ohio. The company soon went out of business, but not before Bill learned the basics of construction work, and not before he formed a relationship with fellow employee, Lester Rinehart. The reality was, however, both Bill and Lester were out of a job, and both had families to support. As it turned out, this inconvenient situation resulted in the birth of a construction entrepreneur. In 1951, Bill landed a job which eventually launched his newly formed William Burgett Builder And Concrete Work enterprise. The job involved remodeling the Perry Township Hall in Richland County. He asked Lester Rinehart to help. When the job was finished, work had been converted into paychecks, a process Bill would sponsor for the rest of his career.
More work began to come Bill’s way; unknowingly, he had discovered the secret of success. That being, a job well done brings in another, and another. William Burgett Builder Concrete Work would eventually be renamed Kokosing Construction Company; a company that started with a working relationship between Bill Burgett and the man who would become the first employee of Kokosing, Lester Rinehart.
As the company grew, Bill continued to build relationships with new employees, customers, suppliers, bankers, designers, and politicians. These relationships have always been based on the principles of integrity, honesty, caring, and hard work – which still serve as the back-bone of Kokosing Construction Company. Kokosing Construction Company – although large and still growing – remains a company that reveres its employees and their families; a company that emphasizes safety first; and a company that radiates respect from its owners through its employees to all those it serves.
Younger members of the company family now fill the leadership positions, but after nearly sixty years, Bill remains on hand as a valuable member of Kokosing.