In October of 2004, four employees, Jeff DeVries, Mike Chafa and Bob Hiller purchased Midland Partners and its subsidiary, Ramark Steel.  The intent of these individuals was to bring a distinct business philosophy together to serve the construction industry by always adding true value to the project through seeing the needs of the project through the customer’s eyes, anticipate obstacles and remove those obstacles before they become problems.  The group felt compelled to add to their steel fabrication business and began to seek out additional opportunities to purchase companies from other construction divisions that would be a good fit and had a base of quality people with good value systems that their philosophy could cross over into.  In February of 2005 the partners purchased Woodcraft Architectural Millwork located in Urbandale, Iowa and Kansas City, Missouri. The two major factors in this acquisition were the quality of people and the custom nature of its product similar to Ramark.

The Midland group continued to look for the ‘third leg of the stool’ and went to their customers for input.  Midland performed its market research with a series of general contractors ranging in size from $5 million to $2 billion in annual sales.  Overwhelmingly the contractors stated that a critical pain point was doors, frames and hardware, and this division would be a natural fit with Woodcraft.  Combining a door company with our philosophy was what Midland set out to do. After an eighteen month search for the right firm that met the philosophy and quality of people requirements to fit into the Midland group, Triple B Doors, Inc was acquired in August of 2006.

Midland Partners is a true partnership among four individuals that were working in the business when they purchased it.  Jeff DeVries, President saw the opportunity to grow a business based on the values and philosophy of its people to outperform its competitors and be viewed as the preferred subcontractor. We have to be able to add value through value engineering and the quality, on-time products and services we deliver.  Mike Chafa, VP of Engineering and General Manager of Ramark, has been in the steel business for over 30 years, 25 of those with Ramark. Chafa believes in giving the customer a better product than they expected and as a partner in the business he now has taken his dedication to the next level.

Bob Hiller had 35 years in the general contracting business before joining Midland as a partner and VP of Business Development.  Bob looks at a construction project through the eyes of the general contractors providing solutions to the customers to deliver the most economical and timely product. 

Now Midland begins to bring its distinctive three-pronged product and service approach to the construction industry under the Midland Partners’ name. Midland’s philosophy is to be able to utilize all the expertise within all three organizations and use those areas to cross over where best suited to meet the customer’s needs.  This allows Midland to work with the general contractor, develop a single point of contact, and allow them (the GC) to literally work through three different construction divisions dealing with one point person with the entire expert pool of resources behind them, allowing the general contractor to increase their throughput on a job.  Midland Partners vision is to be recognized by their customers as a true partner in the areas of the product and service they deliver, and above all in the area of value add, solution based relationships.

 Currently, Midland Partners generates $25 million in revenue through its operations in Davenport, Dexter and Urbandale, Iowa and Columbia and Kansas City, Missouri. Midland provides products and services through out the Midwest and to all corners of the United States when our customers need us to.