Southwest Ohio

Commercial Construction in Southwest Ohio 

Seven counties around Cincinnati — Hamilton, Butler, Warren, Clermont, Clinton, Brown and Highland. Prodigy Building Solutions works with the school districts, cities, villages, townships and counties across all of them. Our office is in Cincinnati, and most of what we build here is for public owners buying through cooperative contracts.

What We Do in Southwest Ohio

Prodigy is a single source for building work: building renovations and additions, commercial roofing, paving, HVAC, lighting, windows and doors, athletic facilities, career tech centers, theaters and auditoriums, storm damage restoration, and project management from design through closeout. We carry in-house engineering, architecture and project management, so the people who design your project are the people who run it.

Building Conditions in Southwest Ohio

Southwest Ohio sits on glacial till, and the ground is generally more forgiving than the unglaciated counties to the east. The complications here are local rather than regional.

Hamilton County's hillsides are the big one. Cincinnati has some of the most landslide-prone terrain in the country, and a building or parking lot on a hillside site carries drainage, retention and slope-stability questions that a flat site in Butler County simply doesn't. We evaluate those before a scope is written, not after a bid is opened.

Freeze-thaw cycling is milder here than in northern Ohio, which changes the paving spec. It does not eliminate the need for it. Our approach on paving is the same everywhere: core and load-test before design, then compaction and thickness testing after placement. A 2" spec delivered at 1.75" is roughly an eighth of the cost of the job, and testing is the only way anyone knows.

Most school buildings in this region were built between the early 1950s and the mid 1970s. That stock is now at the point where roof assemblies, mechanical systems and envelopes are all reaching end of life at roughly the same time, which is why so much of our work here is renovation rather than new construction.

Cooperative Purchasing in Southwest Ohio

Public owners anywhere in Ohio can buy Prodigy's work through the cooperative contracts we hold. Buying through a co-op is a pre-bid path — the competitive process happens at the co-op level, so your district or municipality can move on a project without running its own procurement cycle.

Every contract below is available to public entities across Ohio, including all seven Southwest Ohio counties:

• 791 Coop
• Equalis Gordian
• OSC (Ohio School Council)
• Sourcewell Gordian
• SWOEPC (Southwestern Ohio Educational Purchasing Council)
• TIPS (The Interlocal Purchasing System)
• TOP-C (The Ohio Purchasing Council)
• Vizient Gordian

Which one fits depends on your entity type, the scope of work and any memberships you already hold. Not sure? Call us and we'll walk through it — there's no cost to find out.

Who We Serve in Southwest Ohio

Southwest Ohio covers seven counties, 63 public school districts and 29 cities of 5,000 or more.

Public school districts (63)
Brown (5) Eastern Local · Fayetteville-Perry Local · Georgetown Exempted Village · Ripley-Union-Lewis-Huntington Local · Western Brown Local
Butler (10) Edgewood City · Fairfield City · Hamilton City · Lakota Local · Madison Local · Middletown City · Monroe Local · New Miami Local · Ross Local · Talawanda City
Clermont (9) Batavia Local · Bethel-Tate Local · Clermont Northeastern Local · Felicity-Franklin Local · Goshen Local · Milford Exempted Village · New Richmond Exempted Village · West Clermont Local · Williamsburg Local
Clinton (4) Blanchester Local · Clinton-Massie Local · East Clinton Local · Wilmington City
Hamilton (22) Cincinnati Public Schools · Deer Park Community City · Finneytown Local · Forest Hills Local · Indian Hill Exempted Village · Lockland Local · Loveland City · Madeira City · Mariemont City · Mt Healthy City · North College Hill City · Northwest Local · Norwood City · Oak Hills Local · Princeton City · Reading Community City · Southwest Local · St Bernard-Elmwood Place City · Sycamore Community City · Three Rivers Local · Winton Woods City · Wyoming City
Highland (5) Bright Local · Fairfield Local · Greenfield Exempted Village · Hillsboro City · Lynchburg-Clay Local
Warren (8) Carlisle Local · Franklin City · Kings Local · Lebanon City · Little Miami Local · Mason City · Springboro Community City · Wayne Local

Cities of 5,000 or more (29)
Butler (6) Fairfield · Hamilton · Middletown · Monroe · Oxford · Trenton
Clermont (1) Milford
Clinton (1) Wilmington
Hamilton (15) Blue Ash · Cheviot · Cincinnati · Deer Park · Forest Park · Harrison · Loveland · Madeira · Montgomery · Mount Healthy · Norwood · Reading · Sharonville · Springdale · Wyoming
Highland (1) Hillsboro
Warren (5) Carlisle · Franklin · Lebanon · Mason · Springboro

Looking for a different part of Ohio? West Ohio · Central Ohio · Northwest Ohio · Northeast Ohio · Southeast Ohio

About Southwest Ohio

Cincinnati's Union Terminal, built between 1929 and 1933, still holds the largest half-dome in the Western Hemisphere — a rotunda spanning 180 feet and rising 106 feet. When Cincinnati Public Schools began its rebuilding program in 2002, roughly a third of its buildings predated 1940 and six were more than a century old. Across the seven counties, 63 public districts enroll about 230,000 students — a great deal of square footage arriving at the age where roofs, mechanical systems and envelopes all come due together.

Common Questions

Do you work with school districts in Butler and Warren counties?
Yes. Southwest Ohio is our home region — our office is in Cincinnati, and we have completed work for districts across all seven counties. The Recent Projects section below shows what we have finished nearby, and we're glad to give you a reference from a district near you.

Which cooperative purchasing contracts can a Southwest Ohio district or city use?
All of them. Every cooperative contract we hold is available to public entities anywhere in Ohio, including all seven Southwest Ohio counties. Which one fits depends on the entity type, the scope of work and whether you already hold a membership. We'll help you figure that out before you commit to anything.

What size projects do you take on?
Our sweet spot is complex renovation work in the $250,000 to $20 million range, and we do a lot of projects in the $250,000 to $500,000 band. Very small scopes — a short stretch of sidewalk, a single repair — are usually better handled by a local contractor, and we'll tell you so.

Do you self-perform the work or subcontract it?
Both, depending on the trade. We carry in-house engineering, architecture, project management and general labor for some trades, and we buy all material ourselves rather than passing that to subcontractors. That means pre-construction planning has to be exact, which is a large part of why our projects run the way they do.

We've never worked with Prodigy. How does a project start?
Usually with a conversation and a walk-through. We develop the project with you to fit the budget, bring contractors in during budgeting rather than after, and charge little or nothing for the initial design work. You'll know what it costs before you're committed.

Do you handle design as well as construction?
Yes. We lead with engineering — function first, then architecture — and the engineers who design a project also manage it, so small problems get corrected in the field instead of becoming change orders. On large or highly specialized work we partner with outside architecture and engineering firms, and you pay for that only as it's needed.

Talk to Someone in Southwest Ohio

Dave Armentrout
Southwest Ohio · Cincinnati
(513) 383-6139

Call Dave directly about a project, a budget number, or a question about cooperative purchasing. He covers the seven counties of Southwest Ohio.