Our History
Benson Companies is Benson Builders and Properties, Incorporated and Benson Construction & Masonry.
Benson Builders and Properties Incorporated was established in 1987 by its current owners, Johnny and Rick Benson. The business started out as a residential and commercial contracting company with guidance from their father, J.W. Benson, an established masonry contractor who began his business in 1946 in Jackson, Mississippi.
J.W. Benson Masonry
Johnny Benson was the Chief Operating Officer of J.W. Benson Masonry following his graduation from Ole Miss and until J.W. Benson’s retirement in 1992. At that time, Johnny became the principle of Benson Masonry and continues performing commercial and residential masonry contracting work for general contractors and for Benson Builders.
Rick Benson is the Secretary, Treasurer, and Co-Owner of Benson Builders and Properties, which he helped incorporate in 1987. His unique medical background is part of the story of why Benson Companies are so experienced building quality healthcare and medical facilities.
An active Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist (CRNA) since 1979, Rick began working at hospitals in Jackson and then forming a private anesthesia services group providing services to Central Mississippi area hospitals, including Magee General Hospital.
At Magee, Rick Benson became associated with GI Associates, a gastroenterology group from Jackson providing state of the art anesthesia for endoscopy procedures. Benson developed many long term professional relationships with the physicians of GIA and established a level of trust and competency in the delivery of anesthesia.
“Knowing how a medical facility works from the inside on a day by day basis allows one to know how it should be developed, designed, and constructed in order to have a quality and cost effective facility for healthcare delivery.”
In 1987, Rick Began the other aspect of his dual career – joining his brother, Johnny, in the construction business. They find an incredible need for someone to offer a construction service with was fair, honest, and capable of performing quality work in a timely fashion.
Rick’s career knowledge led to Benson’s recent Design-Build project just completed for GI Associates and Endoscopy Center, which opened June, 2016 in Flowood. The facility includes a medical clinic, endoscopy center, pathology, blood lab, pharmacy, radiology, administration, medical records, billing and accounting departments, and totals approximately 88,000 square feet of area. The primary need for GIA was to have all departments and employees in one location and to provide the ancillary services needed by their patients in a cost effective and convenient location, accessible from any direction.
Benson Construction and Masonry
Johnny Benson’s incorporation of masonry to Benson led to the establishment of Benson Construction in Masonry, located in Ridgeland, Mississippi, in 1998. At that time, Rick Benson became more involved in the overall business plan and headed up the commercial construction aspect of Benson.
Through many negotiated and bidding opportunities, the business continued to grow and perform larger commercial and masonry projects.
Benson Companies: The Next Generation
Additional leadership arrived from Chris and Brett Benson, sons of Rick and Johnny, respectively.
Chris is a project manager for the commercial company, and Brett is the project manager for the masonry company. Their individual involvement has helped move Benson to the next level in construction. Their innovative approach to developing working relationships and providing quality construction at a cost effective price has helped our business continue on a record pattern of growth.
The Mission of Benson Companies
Honesty and integrity are the extremely important keys to success, instilled in Johnny and Rick early on by their dad, J.W. These qualities allow them to provide full service construction services including masonry and commercial management services.