Vaughn Veit is the third generation to lead Veit Specialty Contracting in its over 97-year history. While there is plenty of history before Vaughn, his vision and drive to further the Veit legacy is largely why the business stands where it does today.
Starting at his uncle’s scrapyard as a kid, he later took over the family excavating business in 1975. Even though Veit does anything from earthwork and large-scale demolition to industrial cleaning today, it was only a local excavating business when Vaughn took the helm.
Vaughn attributes the company’s success to two principles — doing good work and treating people extraordinarily well.
Since the beginning, Vaughn has been extremely detail-oriented regarding Veit’s quality of work and appearance. He’s invested in the best equipment for his people, but only with the expectation that they live with the same sense of pride in their work.
Veit’s culture and average employee tenure are true testaments to Vaughn’s love for people.
“No one has ever worked for me — they work with me.”
Known for his wild imagination and ability to create incredible buildings (visit Veit’s corporate office, and you’ll get it), car collections, and antique sculptures from what others would’ve dismissed as junk, he’s lived a great life. Vaughn loves telling crazy stories from back in the day, or about how he salvaged this or that from past demolition projects.
Today, while still involved in the day-to-day business at Veit, he spends most of his time with his wife, Kelly, on their beautiful property outside of Rogers, MN. His passion for refining his automotive museum and caring for his land and animals. If he’s not at home, he’s likely in his mobile office driving past a job site or at the VONCO landfill. He’ll often park his car atop the landfill for hours, conducting business and watching trucks from all over the state roll in.
Vaughn has created an enormous legacy for himself and Veit Specialty Contracting, and he intends for it all to live on well past him. Thanks to his foresight and planning, the business is transitioning to the next generation of leadership.