Black Ridge Construction, LLC

This newly formed company was founded by Will Klinke and Casey Schumacher in the spring of 2023. Though the two founders had construction experience, they needed a partner to assist them with navigating the road of government contracting. They set out to find it, and that path led them to the ND APEX Accelerator. “ND APEX was a pivotal resource for us in registering in SAM and setting up our bid match system,” stated Klinke.

This highly motivated team used the services and tools of the ND APEX Accelerator to understand the government market sector through no-cost one-on-one meetings and participation in webinars.  They put what they learned into practice to win their first federal GSA construction contract in the fall of 2023. Will continues, “ND APEX has been a resource that has helped us procure contracts and feel comfortable that we are following all processes and regulations related to government contracting.”

As a construction contractor, Black Ridge Construction (BRC) has a variety of services such as site preparation, building, framing, and roofing with a focus on Department of Defense projects.

“BRC utilizes the [APEX] bid match service daily to review and select contract opportunities to provide proposals on,” says Schumacher. Their bid match profile was created by selecting keywords to target solicitations they were interested in bidding on. ND APEX’s bid match saved them time.

Additionally, ND APEX provided Black Ridge Construction resource partner information, a review of government contracting regulations, key contacts, and ways to be involved with government contracting. ND APEX Procurement Advisor, Nikki Kallias adds, “Casey and Will have taken advantage of all the APEX services including in-person networking events, Govology, bid match, resource partner interaction with SBA and the Native American APEX as well. They’re a great example of a new business that was prepared to start government contracting.”

Both Will and Casey agree,  “ND APEX has provided unprecedented support that has helped Black Ridge Construction understand and move forward in government contracting. Without this resource, I’m not sure that we would be where we are today. BRC would recommend ND APEX to all small businesses looking into government contracting. Their advisement and accountability have been phenomenal.”

Will Klinke and Casey Schumache, co-founders of Black Ridge Construction, LLC