For 25 years, EDA has experienced massive growth and ongoing success, owing it’s nearly three decades in business to a well-defined corporate culture. The company’s most important asset? Its people. A first-generation business, Ed DeAngelis founded EDA in 1999 as a roofing company for commercial institutional industrial work with the support of his wife and some guidance from his father —a veteran of the industry. At that time, the range of services were limited to roofing and waterproofing but today the organization has grown to offer its clients everything from air and vapor barriers to green roof systems, siding and wall panels, masonry, and more. Initial challenges revolved around building credibility while slowly growing profits, a fine balance for the then 31-year-old founder.
Today, as a sub-contractor, EDA works with large firms on projects for clients spanning the educational and institutional sectors. The company has amassed a rich body of experience working on projects such as airports, high-end office buildings, and hospitals.
For DeAngelis, his passion for the construction industry runs deep and goes beyond the intricacy of a design, or the scale of a project plan. For him, construction encompasses much more than blue-collar work. For him and EDA more broadly, construction is connected to growth, change, and art.
“Evolution is a part of life, buildings get old and need to be rebuilt and just because we work in construction doesn’t mean we can’t be sophisticated,” he says. This level of sophistication and professionalism, coupled with a safety-first mindset and quality craftmanship guide all projects EDA embark on, stewarded by the team of over 450 people on staff, who as DeAngelis puts it, “Embody the EDA way and are the key to our company’s success.”
Ed DeAngelis, Founder & CEO 
‘The EDA Way’ is the set of values that guides the company, enabling everyone to achieve success both in their careers and personal lives. The values in question?
- Smile, laugh, enjoy life
- Live proactively
- Build trust
- Work proud
- Exceed expectations
- Be passionate
- Demonstrate humility and;
- Strive to improve
DeAngelis has made EDA’s people — and building a strong corporate culture for those same people is his core focus as a leader. It’s what sets the company apart, particularly as the construction industry faces a wave of change. Today, organizations across North America are struggling with recruitment and retention. Meanwhile, many highly trained individuals reach retirement without the needed influx of younger generations. More and more, fostering a culture where people feel supported, valued, and happy is the best tool to combat these challenges. At EDA, DeAngelis and his team have recognized that to ensure you can continue thriving, it is vital to have a team of people who are proud to be part of the collective mission.
“We have spent tremendous time and money investing in our corporate culture. We have support for staff experiencing addiction or mental illness. We have a Vice President of Culture and Leadership and a committee dedicated to team building and activities,” DeAngelis says of the myriad ways EDA lives out its mission, vision, and values in practise.
“At EDA Contractors, culture is not just talked about, it’s embedded in everything it does.”
Company culture is important in every industry, but in construction where there are increased rates of injury, addiction, and turnover, it can be a matter of life or death. At EDA Contractors, culture is not just talked about, it’s embedded in everything it does. DeAngelis and his leadership team know that it is people that scale a company, so investing in them is key to ensuring success.
“All of these things come together to help our people enjoy what they do at EDA and create a bond where they feel like they’re part of something bigger,” says DeAngelis. Integral to this work is the strategy guiding all efforts, aptly named Humanity as a Strategy. “Culture does not get built by just saying what you believe, you can’t put a poster on your wall and say, ‘here’s all my core values, here’s my mission and vision.’ You must have a strategy and be intentional with it and we have spent a lot of time and money doing just that.”
Culture aside, DeAngelis and team recognize that this is a business too. Profitability is critical. EDA is living proof that you can do both: care about people in a deeper way and still be monetarily successful. “This is how we’ve grown.”
Backing all of this up is the company’s track record, boasting a resume of high-profile projects across the Northeast, including notable names like Newark Liberty International, Far Rockaway Library, and Schuylkill Yards.
Newark Liberty International
This multiple scope project was the largest that EDA has ever completed.
Services: Siding & Wall Panels, Air & Vapor Barriers
Size: 433,000 sqft – AVB, 283,000 sqft – ACM Panels, 275,000 sqft – Metal Wall Panels, 37,000 sqft – Metal Soffit Panels, 43,000 sqft – Aluminum Plate Panels, 5,700 sqft – Louvers, 59,000 sqft – Black Scrim, 433,000 sqft – Insulation, 283,000 lf – Sub-Framing, 6,800 lf – Snow Guards
Scope: Metal Wall Panels, Metal Soffit Panels, Perforated Metal Screen Wall Panels, Louvers, Snow Guards, Sub-Framing, Insulation, Black Scrim Sheet, AVB
Queens Public Library at Far Rockaway
EDA installed the baffle ceiling, as well as other scopes, on both the interior and exterior of this new library in Queens.
Services: Siding & Wall Panels, Air & Vapor Barriers
Size: 18,000 sqft
Scope: AVB, Knight Wall Subframing System, Roxul Insulation, ACM Panels
Schuylkill Yards
This project is a $3.5 billion development plan of residential, commercial, retail, green space, and laboratory spaces. It is not expected to be fully completed until 2036
Services: Roofing & Sheetmetal, Waterproofing, Air & Vapor Barriers
Size: 35,000 sqft – Below Grade Waterproofing, 17,800 sqft – Air Vapor Barrier, 5,200 sqft – ACM Panels, 3,200 sqft – Louver Screen Wall, 14,000 sqft – Amenity Deck Waterproofing, 12,000 sqft – Amenity Deck Pavers, 13,600 sqft – TPO Roofing
Scope: AVB, Waterproofing, Hot Melt Roofing, TPO Roofing
Looking ahead, the future is bright. EDA’s growth will continue, with the goal of expanding into new regions or even expanding scope of services within the next three to-five years. The ticket to success will of course be EDA’s people, as DeAngelis and his team continue to drill down into the “EDA Way” and “Humanity as a Strategy” visions that guide all aspects of the organization’s work. “We owe our success to having the right people here, creating innovations and solutions for problems we don’t even know we have.”
Contact EDA by filling out the online contact form.
