Built Into the Family
Across generations of Aggie builders, construction careers take root long before college.
Aggie builders illustrate how careers in construction are often shaped across generations, connecting childhood jobsite memories, shared values and Texas A&M traditions. Graphic by John Rice/Texas A&M College of Architecture Marketing & Communications. Photos courtesy of Tyler Brown ’28, Jonathan Burch ’15, Bob Armstrong ’85 and Luis Reyna ’14.
Tyler Brown ’28 was a young boy when his father first handed him a pair of oversized boots and a five-gallon bucket on a muddy jobsite. Excavators rumbled. Dirt moved in every direction. Brown splashed water and watched machines reshape the ground around him.
"I thought I was on top of the world," Brown said.
For many Aggies in construction, the profession doesn't begin as a career fair visit or a late-semester major change. It begins much earlier, through a parent, a summer job or years spent watching jobsites come to life.
Long before they enter a classroom in Texas A&M’s Department of Construction Science, many students already know the rhythm of the work. Their early exposure often leads to a career — and, in some cases, to a legacy carried across generations.
Tyler Brown ’28 in summer 2013 at his father’s construction site. Photo by Christian Brown.
Early Foundations
Construction is one of the few industries where children can see the work and understand its purpose almost immediately. Dirt work gives way to foundations. Walls go up. A home, school or office rises where there was once only an empty site. Visible progress makes the profession easy to grasp long before anyone explains estimating, scheduling or project management.
“You can bring your kids to jobsites. It's hands-on and easy for them to understand,” said Luis Reyna ’14, chief operating officer of RNL Homes in Bryan-College Station. “That's not something you can do in a lot of other professions.”
For Luis and his brother Ricardo Reyna ’10, construction was part of daily life. Their father spent decades building homes in northern Mexico, and by the time the brothers finished high school, the industry already felt like home. Today, they lead RNL Homes together, each focused on a different side of the business.
Brothers Jake Mitchell ’21 and Miles Mitchell ’22 described a similar upbringing. Part of a fifth-generation building family at HistoryMaker Homes in Dallas-Fort Worth, they spent summers riding to jobsites with their father, picking up trash, shadowing field managers and watching homes progress from foundation to final walkthrough.
“Seeing a house go from dirt to a finished home is incredibly satisfying,” Miles Mitchell said. “It's something you can physically see and be proud of.”
Their grandfather, Bryan Mitchell ’70, traces the family's entry into homebuilding to 1949, when a doctor advised his own father to find less stressful work and spend more time outdoors. Three generations later, the company has built tens of thousands of homes across Texas.
Earning a Place
Even in families where construction spans generations, the expectation is rarely that the next generation simply steps in. Early exposure may create familiarity, but credibility still has to be earned.
Jake Mitchell worked at Pulte Homes before joining HistoryMaker Homes, where his father, Nelson Mitchell ’94, requires family to work elsewhere for at least three years and earn a promotion before they're eligible to join the business.
Teams trust leaders who understand the work and have proven themselves in the field, giving the next generation a stronger foundation when they do return.
“Now the most rewarding part is seeing young people grow into leaders and passing the business to the next generation,” said Charles Myers ’85, founder and CEO of MYCON General Contractors, who has helped guide that process by welcoming family into the company’s future.
Built Through Mentorship
For students raised around construction, Texas A&M provides structure for what family and field experience begin. In the Department of Construction Science, students develop the technical knowledge to match what they already understand intuitively from jobsites and family businesses.
They also enter a professional community shaped by Aggie core values and sustained by former students and industry partners who recruit, mentor and invest in the next generation.
“There's a level of trust and connection that comes with being an Aggie,” said Bob Armstrong ’85, a graduate with more than 40 years in the industry. “You can't quantify it, but it opens doors.”
Jonathan Burch ’15 and his father, Steve Burch ’81, share a bond shaped by their careers in construction and their Aggie roots. Photo by Brittany Box.
Support from former students often extends well beyond the classroom. For many Aggies, it continues through mentors at home, in the field and across the industry.
Steve Burch ’81 spent nearly three decades at White Construction in Austin and led the company for 15 of those years. His son, Jonathan Burch ’15, eventually joined the same firm and now serves as a project manager.
But his path was not automatic. Like many second-generation professionals, he initially looked elsewhere before realizing he was stepping away from a field that had always interested him.
Jonathan Burch said what drew him back was not only the work itself, but the chance to learn from someone he trusted — his dad.
“I had a built-in mentor I could trust completely,” he said. “Someone who had been through everything I was learning.”