O&G says it targets market demand for lower-carbon buildings and infrastructure, forming a link with Urban Mining Inc. to substitute standard cement using a patented concrete additive made from locally recycled glass that cuts emissions. Its community involvement includes Crew for a Cause, an employee-driven charitable giving effort that has provided more than $1 million to local groups and projects since 2023. The firm now has seven fourth-generation members as company managers. One of those, Thomas J. “T.J.” Oneglia, vice president of construction materials, outlined the firm’s strategic approach in a Q&A that has been edited and condensed.

How do you balance firm stability with staying agile to meet new industry needs?

O&G is far from static. We have all spent most of our careers directly involved in daily operations of the divisions we respectively have responsibility for overseeing while also maintaining a strong focus on enterprise-wide strategy. That means being intimately involved with bidding work, pricing sales, production decisions, labor staffing, training, safety and compliance. Through deliberate strategic planning, the fourth generation prioritizes initiatives that draw on the full depth of our collective expertise and resources, such as expanding capabilities of our power and energy division to support building division clients, particularly those pursuing renewable energy initiatives on their campuses. This level of involvement is the best way to stay in touch with changing needs and trends.

How has safety and mental health developed as a key workforce priority?

The construction and material manufacturing industries saw government regulated safety standards in the 20th century, but O&G recognized early that compliance is just the baseline for building a safe workplace. By implementing processes for hazard identification, near miss reporting and worker participation in our safety program, O&G has maintained a workplace people are proud to be part of. Related to mental health, historically the industry has emphasized self-reliance and grit, often leading to apprehension in jobsite discussions. O&G has been a leader in addressing the stigma by speaking directly with employees and partnering with unions to inform them on mental health resources. These can benefit not only an individual employee but also can keep collective morale high and boost workforce performance. Mental health and physical safety are a shared priority.

What macro trends concern you most related to the future industry workforce?

The industry faces a labor shortage due to decades of under-recruitment, Baby Boomer retirements and an emphasis on four-year degrees among GenX and Millennials. Market factors are starting to correct this as businesses compete for skilled labor with better pay. Workers are also beginning to question payback on rising college education costs. We are always concerned with maintaining a talent pool to deliver on promises we make to our customers. The better an organization is at recruitment and retention, the bigger its competitive advantage. We have very little trouble with skilled labor retention and have extremely low turnover. I attribute that to our family business oriented culture and [being] a union employer offering outstanding wages and health and pension benefits.

“The better an organization is at recruitment and retention, the bigger its competitive advantage.”
—T.J. Oneglia, Vice President, Materials, O&G Industries Inc.

O&G emphasizes preconstruction planning. How has recent material cost volatility changed value engineering and subcontractor prequalification?

Delivering a successful project requires more than tracking cost. From the earliest design stages, it demands a proactive, disciplined approach to maximize value and protect the schedule. As drawings develop, teams review materials, systems and construction methods for best balance of performance, durability and cost. Potential improvements are tracked in a centralized log and vetted internally before being presented to the design team to ensure only well-developed and constructible recommendations advance. This helps avoid late-stage redesign and minimizes project disruption. We identify long-lead key components early in design and work closely with team members and potential subs to help ensure specifications are advanced enough to support early major equipment purchases, particularly mechanical and electrical systems.

O&G credits its survival through past economic downturns to operating diversity. Which sectors will be your strongest growth drivers and why?

For decades, O&G has been a diversified and vertically integrated construction materials and services business. We do not intend to change that model by focusing growth in one area over another. Each division has its own specific growth objectives. School construction will continue to be a cornerstone of our building business, but we are pushing hard into health care and defense. In addition to road and bridge construction, our heavy civil division is focused on pursuing power projects, and the materials unit is seeking opportunities that provide synergistic value to our existing network of plants and quarries.

O&G emphasizes preconstruction planning to prospective clients. How has recent material cost volatility changed how you handle value engineering and subcontractor prequalification?

Delivering a successful project requires more than tracking cost. From the earliest design stages, It demands a proactive, disciplined approach to maximize value and protect the schedule. Our teams integrate value management and early procurement strategies during preconstruction so decisions strengthen budget and timeline outcomes. As drawings develop, teams review materials, systems and construction methods for the best balance of performance, durability and cost. Potential improvements are tracked in a centralized log and vetted internally before being presented to the design team to ensure only well-developed, constructible and meaningful recommendations are advanced. This helps avoid late-stage redesign and minimizes project disruption. To mitigate market volatility, we identify long-lead key components early in design and work closely with team members and potential subcontractors to help ensure specifications are advanced enough to support early major equipment purchases, particularly mechanical and electrical systems. Our relationships with manufacturers and suppliers provide real-time insight into lead times and market conditions, allowing informed decisions on available alternatives. Where appropriate, we promote inclusion of “or equal” manufacturers to maintain competition while meeting project standards. By aligning cost, schedule and design decisions early we provide clear options, reliable information and decision flexibility, insuring a project that reflects client priorities, maximizes long-term value and is set for successful execution from day one  

O&G How has sustainability in material supply and construction methods developed into a growth and profit generating approach for O&G?
Our experience allows us to look beyond initial construction costs and evaluate how building systems will perform, operate and be maintained over the facility life, bringing constructability insight, market knowledge and lessons learned from prior projects into the process. That helps clients evaluate options such as high-performance building envelopes, efficient mechanical systems, water conservation measures, responsible material selections, waste reduction strategies and commissioning requirements not only for sustainability benefits, but also for functionality, maintainability and overall life-cycle cost. The real benefit to our clients is clarity, understanding trade-offs between competing approaches to make informed decisions. A sustainable solution must work in the field, serve facility users and remain practical for operating teams.

We help clients look beyond turnover and consider the full life of their systems so facilities operate efficiently, use resources responsibly, reduce long-term costs and serve their intended purpose well into the future. Of note is the recent completion of Buckley Elementary School in Manchester, Conn. touted as New England’s first net-zero school. We see strong, owner driven demand for low global warming potential materials that meet or exceed green building standards. O&G was the first ready-mix concrete producer in Connecticut to have independently certified, Type III, cradle to grave Environmental Product Declarations for our ready-mix concrete. This allowed customers true transparency into the global warming potential of our concrete products.

As the first to incorporate a locally produced ground glass pozzolan, called Pozzotive, into our concrete mixes, we were awarded work as concrete supplier for three projects at Yale University that used this innovative supplemental cementitious material in the mix. In 2025, O&G recycled more than 220,000 tons of reclaimed asphalt through our hot mix plants, and are on pace to exceed that amount in 2026. We have converted several facilities to solar energy, including a five-acre, 1-MW array that powers all production at our Southbury, Conn., quarry and asphalt and concrete plants co-located on site. As demand grows for green products and buildings, having these experiences under our belt will translate into future success for our business.