On any given morning at 1450 L&A Road just off the Earhart Expressway in Metairie, the sounds of welding can be heard from a steel shop, while just across a 14-acre campus, apprentice project engineers navigate their training inside a dedicated facility.
For the first time in its 12 years of operation, commercial construction and design firm RNGD’s fabrication, prefabrication, training and executive teams are all under one roof as of this past February with the grand opening of its $25 million new headquarters, after a move to Jefferson Parish from the company’s longtime home in Orleans Parish.
“We used to be spread across four separate facilities,” said Chief Operating Officer Nick Moldaner. “Now, our collaboration, no matter where our feet are, is represented in one space. This integration has everyone’s energy more present, and more evident, every day.”
Jefferson Parish provided the industrial footprint RNGD needed to expand its manufacturing capabilities and deepen its use of prefabrication, a fast-growing construction method in which major elements are built off-site and installed on-site, reducing costs and delays.
The company, which now employs around 300 people, also sees the campus as a talent magnet. The new headquarters, designed by EskewDumezRipple, includes space for continued workforce expansion and serves as the central hub for Renegade Academy, RNGD’s internal training and leadership development program.
From Startup to Regional Powerhouse: RNGD has come a long way in just over a decade. What started in 2013 as a scrappy startup looking to challenge construction norms has grown into one of the Gulf South’s fastest-rising construction firms.
When Wesley “Wes” Palmisano launched his namesake venture in 2013, just 11 employees comprised the team. But even then, the ambition was clear: challenge the industry’s traditional playbook by moving at an unconventionally fast pace.
Fredy Chavez, assistant project manager on the infrastructure team, felt this energy when he joined the company.
“It honestly felt like joining a tech startup, but with the ‘boots-on-the-ground’ grit of construction,” he said.
More than a decade later, that early momentum has turned into undeniable scale. RNGD’s revenue has surged, jumping from approximately $195 million in 2022 to $261 million in 2023, a near 34% increase.
That performance landed the company at No. 383 on Engineering News-Record’s 2024 Top 400 Contractors list, a national ranking that includes the most competitive firms across the country. Few Louisiana-based contractors ever appear on the list, and fewer still do it within their first decade.
Though the company’s headquarters is in Jefferson Parish, it has expanded its reach with new offices in Nashville, Tennessee and Huntsville, Alabama — two of the Southeast’s fastest-growing markets for commercial development.
Project Milestones Fueling Momentum: A company like RNGD isn’t known for its offices, however; their projects are what continue to draw attention, as they specialize in both mission-driven and highly technical work.
In 2024, the RNGD completed a new facility for Glass Half Full, a nonprofit that recycles glass into sand for coastal restoration. RNGD acted as both design-builder and general contractor, streamlining coordination for a project that sits just downriver in New Orleans’ Bywater neighborhood.
The company also won a major contract with Jefferson Parish to modernize the drainage system near Lafreniere Park — part of a broader push to expand its infrastructure division.
Civil work has become an increasingly important arm of RNGD’s business as well, especially with Louisiana’s growing investment in flood mitigation and resilience.
A Strategic Edge: Inside RNGD’s new Jefferson Parish campus, prefabrication is a foundational strategy. This leaner, smarter way of building provides the company greater with control over quality and safety while staying on schedule.
“There are many elements of a construction project that are variable — weather, labor and material availability, procurement timelines, waste,” said Julia Hodgins, prefab design manager. “With prefabricated elements being constructed in an enclosed, controlled environment, many of those variables become opportunities.”
One of the company’s most ambitious prefab efforts to date is a 78,000-square-foot office building in Huntsville, Alabama. RNGD manufactured all 196 exterior wall panels in-house, using detailed production tracking to document every stage.
Another benefit is the flexibility offered by prefab building. For instance, when storms hit the Alabama jobsite, panel production continued uninterrupted in New Orleans. Once the panels were delivered to the field, installation took just two weeks, a process that typically takes two to three months.
“This level of speed is not met without the caliber of quality control and precision maintained in the shop and coordinated with our integrated structural steel team,” Hodgins noted.
For Hodgins, who came from a traditional architecture background, RNGD’s integrated approach was part of the appeal.
“RNGD has a diverse group of team members, from many different professional backgrounds,” she noted, “all working toward a unified project delivery.”
While prefab is often associated with repetition, Hodgins said RNGD’s model allows for design flexibility without sacrificing efficiency.
“We aim to thoughtfully integrate prefabrication where it drives value, not force it where it may not be appropriate.”
Different from Day One: From the company’s website to promotional material, to the mouths of its employees, the mantra of a “renegade mindset,” of “doing things differently,” remains constant.
But how does RNGD actually embody this mentality? It starts with how employees are onboarded.
The company’s internal training program, Renegade Academy, is designed to give early-career professionals a hands-on, accelerated experience. In 2022 alone, more than 200 employees participated in 2,600 hours of structured training through the academy.
For Project Engineer De’Jon Collier, it’s what set the tone right away.
“The Leadership Lab has been instrumental in enhancing my leadership skills,” he said. “At RNGD, I feel like there are no limits to responsibility or tasks that I am allowed to manage due to my title.”
Many of RNGD’s leaders are homegrown. COO Nick Moldaner joined as a project engineer nearly two decades ago. Tramel Smith started in field operations and now leads RNGD’s steel division. Both credit the company’s emphasis on development and the mentors who helped guide their path.
“We’re not just teaching how to swing a hammer,” Moldaner said. “We’re teaching how to think, lead, and continually improve.”
While the academy acts as a retention tool, it’s clear that its primary role is a growth strategy. By equipping teams to lead from within, the company ensures its next phase of expansion is powered by people who already understand its values.
Building Smarter, Safer Infrastructure: The empowerment given to those within Renegade Academy doesn’t dissipate once they move to more permanent roles. On the contrary, RNGD prioritizes safety and employee advocacy.
“At RNGD, the shift was immediate,” said Greg Lear, who joined RNGD as a field safety manager after years in the highly regulated world of petrochemical plants. “I am out there with the crews every day. The work moves fast, and conditions change quickly, so safety leadership has to be proactive, responsive and grounded in real-time decision making.”
Lear recalled a specific morning, during a lift involving prefabricated steel, when these safety protocols took precedence during high winds.
“Even though the lift plan had been approved, I made the call to stop and reassess,” he said. “We waited until conditions stabilized, adjusted our tag lines and repositioned the crew before proceeding.”
With projects growing both in size and complexity, especially across the Gulf South’s infrastructure sector, the RNGD’s risk management has had to evolve alongside its footprint.
The infrastructure team, led by Chavez, is pushing predictive practices into the company’s day-to-day operations. Using project data and technology, he seeks to prevent problems before they need a response.
On projects like the Central City stormwater retention fields, where the team excavated up to eight feet below grade, success relied on modeling and planning tools to anticipate water flow and environmental impacts.
“Technology is transforming infrastructure from reactive to predictive,” said Chavez. “It streamlines workflows, enhances safety and delivers smarter, faster outcomes.”
What’s In a Name?: Another way RNGD has bucked norms is in its own branding: The company has operated under three different names since its inception.
Launched in 2013 as Palmisano, the company built a reputation as a bold, fast-moving general contractor for eight years before deciding to change its name in 2021 to Impetus. That same year, it launched RNGD (pronounced “Renegade”) as a new division focused on prefab and custom manufacturing.
But by 2024, leadership made the call to consolidate — instead of maintaining separate brand identities for its general contracting, prefab and services arms, the company unified under a single name: RNGD.
The name caught on quickly inside the company, where Renegade Academy and the “renegade mindset” were already part of the internal vernacular.
“We challenge how things have always been done, but we back it up with execution,” explained Tramel Smith, steel operations leader. “That’s what being a renegade looks like in practice.”
While the back-to-back rebrands may have caused momentary confusion in the market, they ultimately clarified the company’s culture and mission. Just months after the switch, ENR named RNGD its 2024 Contractor of the Year, a sign that even as the company’s name may have changed, its ethos did not.
The Road Ahead: RNGD enters the back half of 2025 with momentum… and a mountain of work.
The company is managing its largest backlog to date, a sign of both strong demand and lingering caution in the market. Rising interest rates and general economic uncertainty have prompted many clients to postpone the start dates of major projects.
Even with delays, the pipeline remains full. And RNGD’s strategy, which Moldaner notes is rooted in diversification, is helping to weather the storm.
“We’ve never been a one-note firm,” he said. “We started as a traditional general contractor, but over time, we expanded into heavy infrastructure, steel, industrial work and more. That range gives us options when certain sectors, like private development, slow down.”
RNGD’s geographic diversity, its new Nashville and Huntsville offices, also work to support its bottom line.
While the private market remains cautious, RNGD is leaning into sectors like public infrastructure and industrial construction, where work is more resilient and often funded through public or long-term capital.
“We’re not sitting around waiting on the market,” Moldaner added. “We’re pivoting, looking for opportunity in uncertain times and making sure our teams stay busy.”
This regional firm has certainly lived up to its renegade title by building smarter, hiring local and reshaping what construction can look like in the Gulf South. As it breaks new ground, both literally and figuratively, the industry will be watching.
