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Rick Fishbaugh recalls he and his younger brother Dan always building something when they were growing up.
One time, because of their passion for baseball and the Cincinnati Reds, the brothers built a baseball field complete with an elevated pitcher’s mound and batter’s box in their back yard.
The diamond wasn’t to their father’s liking when he arrived home later that day, but it was just part of what led the Fishbaugh’s on the path to careers in the construction industry.
Rick and Dan Fishbaugh now operate Fishbaugh Homes, a business their father Clarence started in 1969.
“At that time, dad was a superintendent for commercial contractors,” Rick Fishbaugh said. “But he started doing some residential homes on his own to help put food on the table and it just grew into a family business.”
Rick said he and his brother spent a lot of time working at sites with their father digging holes and other odd jobs. Each went onto college and began working for other companies after they graduated before they started working together.
“I went to work at Armco in the special projects group and Dan went to work for Miami Valley Properties,” Rick said. “Dad always said that we shouldn’t get into this business because it would eat us up. I guess we never listened.”
Rick said it was his brother Dan that first joined with their father in the early 1980s. A few years later, Rick was looking at possibly buying his own company when he decided to join the family business.
“We work well together, and I think we complement each other,” Rick said of he and his brother. Their father officially retired a few years ago, although he still comes around every morning checking job sites and making supply runs at age 85.
“We get on each other once in a while of course, but it has been very enjoyable,” he added.
Fishbaugh Homes was recently awarded an American Buildings Company Excellence in Design award in the category of agriculture for the Hatton Center at Safe Haven Farms in Madison Twp. The award recognizes builders and roofers for innovation and distinction in design.
“It was the neatest thing we’ve ever done in our careers,” Rick said. “Helping adults with a handicap is really rewarding, and to get an award for it was just over and above.”
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