Our Story

Ballard has always been a company driven by foreseeing the needs of our clients, proposing innovative solutions, and working hard to achieve them. Ballard’s first “anchor” project, the Liberty Ship Davy Crockett Salvage, was a perfect example of this passion. Ballard teamed with the US Coast Guard to carefully engineer a salvage to prevent more than 32,000 gallons of bunker oil from escaping into the Columbia River. Ballard removed 4.45 million pounds of steel, and another 824,822 pounds of debris, including wire, bricks, and oiled sorbent materials, and 1.6 million gallons of oil and/or otherwise contaminated water. On top of this success, the very challenging and dangerous project was completed with a stellar safety record!

Evolving over the years from a regional diving contractor to an award-winning, nationally recognized heavy civil marine contractor, Ballard has perfected the turnkey offering for our clients providing technical solutions and support on all phases of infrastructure assessment, construction, rehabilitation, and maintenance.  

As the company recently celebrated 20 years of success and ownership with our founders Jesse and Shilo Hutton, we embark on our next 20 years of continuing the passion they built the company with – be safe, collaborate, challenge, inspire, and most importantly, have fun!

Our timeline

  • Ballard Diving
    & Salvage

    Ballard Diving and Salvage was formed in Ballard WA to support the commercial fishing fleet – performing salvage, emergency response and small diving projects in the Puget Sound area.

  • Northwest Underwater Construction (NUC)

    Jesse Hutton founded Northwest Underwater Construction after realizing the need for a quality contractor to support the hydro facilities along the Columbia and Snake Rivers and from there, quickly expanded into a nationwide solution for underwater dam rehabilitation work.

  • Ballard
    Acquired

    Shilo Hutton acquires Ballard Diving & Salvage.

  • Hyperbaric Services Division is Created

    Providing compressed air workers and related equipment to many of the largest and most complex tunnel projects around the world.

  • Southwest
    Expansion

    Northwest Underwater Construction expands into California and opens a Southwest Regional Office.

  • Ballard Marine Construction is Born

    Jesse and Shilo Hutton merged and rebranded their regional focused company names Northwest Underwater Construction and Ballard Diving and Salvage into a national brand of Ballard Marine Construction. The primary reason for this was to highlight the company’s move over the decades to become a full service Heavy Civil Marine Contractor.

  • Midwest
    Expansion

    Ballard Marine Construction acquires assets from Veolia and opens its first Midwest Regional Office in Wisconsin.

  • Southeast
    Expansion

    Ballard Marine Construction expands into Florida and opens a Southeast Regional Office.

  • Traylor Invests
    in Ballard

    Traylor Construction Group invests in Ballard Marine Construction. Although Ballard remains a standalone, family-owned company, this strategic partnership has given Ballard access to additional resources in crew, equipment, and increased capability, including access to large fabrication resources for things such as gates and trash racks.

  • RSD Division Created

    Ballard Marine Construction launches a Robotics and Survey Division (RSD) dedicated to remote intervention and inspection solutions for our infrastructure and utility clients nationwide.

  • Celebrating
    20 Years!

    Ballard Marine Construction celebrates 20 years of success with our founders Jesse and Shilo Hutton.

  • Mid-Atlantic
    Expansion

    Ballard acquires assets from Marine Technologies and opens a Mid-Atlantic Regional Office.

Core Attributes

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Family Culture

Ballard team members enjoy team building events outside work hours year-round. Our family-like culture is what sets Ballard apart from others – it is ranked highest amongst Ballard employees as the reason for their continued dedication and satisfaction, supporting each other beyond our careers.

Holiday Fun

Jesse (President/CEO) and Shilo (Executive VP/CAO) Hutton, at the home office holiday ugly sweater contest and potluck event.

Team Building

The Ballard team works hard and plays hard. Here, the team is having fun with some healthy axe throwing competitions.

Paint and Pinot
Ballard team members, and their spouses, enjoy a paint and pinot event with a Ballard project as the featured artwork.
Flannel Fridays
During the winter months, Ballard team members enjoy Flannel Fridays.
Midwest Summer BBQ
Ballard team members enjoyed good food, water fun, games, and each other's great company during the event.
Take Your Kids To Work Day
At Ballard, we encourage STEM learning and host an interactive Take Your Kids To Work Day for our team members kids. In this photo, a live diving demonstration is taking place and kids could view the diver working in the tank, as well as join the Dive Supervisor in the trailer to see a live video feed and talk to the diver.
St. Patrick’s Day

After a St. Patrick’s Day-themed trivia contest, the team enjoyed green beverages and refreshments to celebrate the holiday.

Southeast Pride

Ballard’s Southeast Team after a team lunch.

Aloha Fridays
Similar to Flannel Fridays in the winter, Ballard shows their summer spirit with Aloha Fridays.
Safety Week Challenge

Team members show off their winning structure constructed by blindfolded team members with instructions from those that could see.

Mount Hood Scramble
Ballard’s team members annually conquer the Mt. Hood Scramble (aka The Grandfather of Filth) 5K (6-mile) race that includes hills, creeks, rock, dirt, heavy brush, and more.
Ice Cream Day
Ballard team members cooled off with some delicious ice cream cones to celebrate the infamous Ice Cream Day.
Wacky Wednesday during Spirit Week

Ballard’s regions competed in daily activities and dressed to impress on ‘Murica Monday, Team Spirit Tuesday (wear your Ballard gear), Wacky Wednesday, Color War Thursday, and Aloha Friday.

Color War during Spirit Week

The home office brought their A-game for Color War Thursday, during Spirit Week. 

Aloha Friday during Spirit Week
Fun in the sun, home office team members went all out for Aloha Friday during spirit week.
Giving Back
Every year, Ballard gives back to our community through school events, food drives, and holiday gift drives.
Midwest Team during Safety Week

During Safety Week, the Ballard team participates in safety drills, training refreshers, and connects over food and contests.

Girlfriends Fun Run
The ladies of Ballard showed their pride in representing the company in the Girlfriends Fun Run, a race for a cure.
The Fish Fry of all Fish Fries!

Jesse Hutton, President/CEO, was the master chef marinating the fish in his famous beer batter before frying them. Team members contributed sides and desserts to the fish fry potluck lunch.

Summer BBQs 

Ballard team members enjoy a BBQ lunch to celebrate the summer sunshine.

Southeast Summer BBQ
Ballard team members enjoyed good food, water fun, games, and each other's great company during the event.
Christmas Ships
Ballard team members enjoyed some wine tasting and dinner at the Mary Hill Winery accompanied by the Christmas Ships viewing.
Summer Picnic, Aloha Style
Ballard team members brought their Aloha spirit to the summer picnic, with fun backgrounds to take pictures in front of.
4th of July in the Southwest
The Southwest team enjoys a 4th of July lunch with team members families included.
Spartan Race
Ballard team members enjoy a friendly competition - so why not throw a Spartan Race into the mix. Team members and their families competed in this ultimate challenge to test their strength and agility.
Chili Potluck
Ballard team members compete in the annual Chili Cookoff where the taste testers have the ultimate decision to make – who made it best!
M&M Day
Ballard’s Employee Activity Team (BEAT) distributes M&M’s to celebrate the fun day. Which M&M flavor is your favorite?
Team Hike

Team members feeling adventurous joined Jesse Hutton, President/CEO, on a hike through the Cascades during a company-wide weekend retreat.  

Team Building

Blindfolded team members are guided to assemble a puzzle from their team during a team-building event.