What We Value
Family. If you could sum up the company structure of Ames Business Group in one word, that word would be family. Initially in 1949, Pooch Ames instilled this philosophy unknowingly in what would become ABG. Coming to Iowa from a small town in Kentucky with 13 siblings, Pooch knew that family was the most important. He started out his career as a laborer with his two older brothers eventually moving into doing his own residential jobs. Initially he kept his crew small, only having the amount of employees he needed to efficiently complete the job. Pooch had three sons that grew up around job sites inevitably working for him and learning the trade throughout the early stages of life.
One of his sons, Wes, ended up following in his dad’s footsteps working for Pooch as a laborer before progressing his own career within a larger company. Moving up the ladder, Wes became a project manager and built relationships with clients with whom we still work for today. When the proper opportunity presented itself for Wes to start his own company, he did. Officially forming what is now known as A.C. Contracting in 1995, Wes has kept the same philosophy as his dad, Pooch: Family. Over the 25 year journey the company has taken, 15 family members have worked for A.C. Contracting including the six that are still currently employed by ABG companies, one of which is Tammy Ames, Wes’ wife.
Tammy has been involved in A.C. Contracting throughout its history in various fields. In 2018, Tammy decided to take her own shot at entrepreneurship, forming Southern Iowa Recycle. (S.I.R.) Participating in the day-to-day activities of A.C. Contracting had more than prepared Tammy to be a successful owner and businesswoman. This is evident considering that since the creation of Southern Iowa Recycle they have prevented over six million pounds of wood waste from going to the landfill with no intentions of slowing down. Tammy is making a tremendous impact on the community and environment, and truly is a powerful woman in business. Tammy also practices the same philosophy as Wes and Pooch: Family. Her and Wes’ son, Brandt, returned from college at the time Southern Iowa Recycle was being formed and has been named the Operations Manager of Southern Iowa Recycle.
With Brandt in place as the Operations Manager, ABG officially hit its third generation of management. In addition to Brandt, Wes and Tammy’s son-in-law, Zack Chase, is a Project Manager for A.C. Contracting. Throughout the history of ABG, we have utilized all three generations of management, sometimes simultaneously! At 86 years old, Pooch would still regularly make surprise visits to job sites up until just a few months before his passing in November, 2019.
ABG strives to be family oriented not only for the Ames family, but also for their employees and customers. ABG takes pride in the fact that their employees have the flexibility to attend their kids’ and family events! At ABG, we believe in family first and value the ability to provide that structure throughout our company.