Family is at the heart of business for Art C. Klein Construction, which celebrates 50 years of serving clients this month.

The general contractor has made its mark in Colorado Springs with custom residential homes, shopping centers, schools and places of worship, among other projects. It is also building the Trojan Arena at Fountain-Fort Carson High School and has completed notable projects involving America the Beautiful Park, Fountain Middle School and the Flying W Ranch rebuild.

CEO Art C. Klein started the company with his wife, Joan, on Aug. 25, 1972. Fifty years later to the day, the couple will celebrate their half-a-century in business with colleagues, subcontractors, friends and family at a downtown restaurant, just 5 miles from the offices they built to house Art C. Klein Construction in 1981.

The general contractor has a diverse team of construction professionals with customers and quality at the core of the mission. “It came from the years I was working in the field with the company,” Art said, “but I was pretty emphatic that we did good quality work and we also watched out for our customers.”

“We were very quality-conscious ever since the beginning,” he said.

Art was raised on a small working farm in Dell Rapids, S.D. The third oldest of 14 children, Art forged his path with a construction career after serving in the U.S. military. He married Joan — another Dell Rapids native he’d known since childhood — three days after Christmas in 1965. The couple relocated to Colorado Springs with $1,800 and big plans shortly after getting married.

The work ethic Art and Joan developed from twice-daily farm chores growing up translated into the birth of Art C. Klein Construction during their early married life. Art worked for another construction company but decided to do the work himself. The couple started the business in the basement of their home, working from the early morning to late at night after their three young children were asleep. Joan had a background in nursing but took a bookkeeping class and began keeping payroll after Art started the business with two carpenters.

Over 50 years, the business has grown to employ three generations of the Klein family and as many as 125 full-time employees under the leadership of Art and Joan’s eldest son, company President Kevin Klein.

Kevin’s son, Kyler, graduated from Colorado State University with a degree in construction management and has been with the business ever since, previously committing summers and school breaks to the company before graduation. Other members of the Klein family also have worked for the business, including Art and Joan’s other two children, Paula and Arty.

Art C. Klein Construction started out working on residential homes and began working on some commercial projects in 1979. The general contractor also introduced specialized divisions in the 1970s and 1980s to do concrete, woodwork and painting, effectively streamlining their work on projects. They also hired an architect in 1985.

Since Kevin took over the business around 14 years ago, he has had his sights on larger, commercial projects. However, Art shared that he always preferred smaller, hands-on projects during his time working in the field with his crew.

Joan said the father and son still meet to discuss the business and she still goes into the office nearly every day.

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“That’s what’s really nice, that we could turn it over to Kevin when Art is still here and help him through questions,” she said. “He (Kevin) is doing a very good job.”

The business, of course, has faced challenges. Art and Joan recalled hardships in the 1980s partially caused by the savings and loan crisis.

“We almost went broke,” Art said.

Collaboration with subcontractors and suppliers has been a key part of their success, Joan said.

“Construction is just such a team effort. It’s not just one person, one company. It’s really a team effort,” Joan said.

One longtime member of the team: Superintendent Mark Mullet, who got a job with Art C. Klein as a laborer for the summer before he planned to attend college. That was 47 years ago, and Mullet is still working for the company.

“He is so smart and so hands on,” Joan said. “To this day, he never left to go to college. He’s still with us and he is kind of self-taught.”

Today, Art C. Klein has a warehouse that a local college uses at night for vocational training, mainly carpentry.

Joan was involved with starting the first Southern Colorado Construction Career Days in the late 1980s to introduce high school students to vocational careers.

“College is not for everybody and there is a future in plumbing, electrical, concrete, carpentry. We’re very proud of that,” Joan said.

Joan has also been active with local nonprofits, including the American Heart Association, Cheyenne Village and The Homefront Cares.

“We got a lot from the community in Colorado Springs and felt it was valuable to give back,” Art said. The couple now look forward to celebrating with those they’ve worked with over the years.

“I guess I’m not real big on legacy; in other words, we do a lot of our work because we like it,” Art said. “The legacy would be that Kevin and his son could carry on to the second and third generation doing quality work that they’ve learned in the process of growing up in our family.”