Ludwig Freytag – long-established success
Ludwig Freytag pursued the goal of offering complete construction services from a single provider from the very start when he founded his company. More than 125 years later, this goal has not changed.
Today, Ludwig Freytag operates in several highly specialised business areas and produces all-inclusive solutions. These include everything from planning and turnkey execution through to support and maintenance of construction projects of widely different types and sizes – in building construction, civil engineering, industrial construction, underground construction, earthworks, pipeline construction, structural repair and electrical systems engineering.
The basis for action is the pursuit of a constantly improving, expanding range for our clients’ benefit.
As an innovative, versatile construction technology and service company, it’s not for nothing we are all about:
Ludwig Freytag. Planning. Building. Maintaining.
History
Solid foundations and healthy growth
In June 1891, master mason Ludwig Freytag opened a construction business in the centre of his hometown Oldenburg at the age of just 27. Young, motivated and full of enthusiasm, he had already made an important observation that would shape the character of his company to this very day: clients greatly appreciate having the same contact person for as many areas of a construction project as possible.
Thorough as he was, he offered both building construction and civil engineering work from the very beginning. Using this business model, he successfully managed his company through the turmoil of war, inflation and economic crisis until the end of the 1920s. Ludwig Freytag was always helpful, showing complete dedication, a great sense of responsibility and a keen instinct of where the market was going.
The second generation
His youngest son Wilhelm and brother-in-law Friedrich van der Linde took over management in 1928. The two civil engineers complemented each other perfectly and Ludwig Freytag rapidly grew into a leading industrial construction company with more than 600 employees and orders from throughout the Lower Weser area.
Then the Second World War broke out. Heavily damaged, the company’s operations needed to be rebuilt. Fortunately, the company managed to recover quite quickly thanks to its excellent reputation still being intact.
The third generation
A series of urban planning schemes were initiated at the beginning of the 1950s. Ludwig Freytag was also entrusted with their implementation and to such an extent that it decided to open its first branches in Bremen and Wilhelmshaven. Business truly gathered pace in the mid-1950s: housing construction experienced a boom and construction of industrial buildings flourished in the early 1960s.
With the company thriving on all levels, the two elders handed complete management over to the three-man executive team Gerhard and Horst van der Linde and Dr Werner Grambart, Wilhelm Freytag’s son-in-law, in 1963.
One year later, the young, far-sighted trio jointly took a courageous decision to set a new course: the move to the current company premises in Oldenburg’s Wechloy district.
The high volume of orders continued in the 1970s when the company completed large-scale construction projects, such as the Hunte flood barrier and the University of Oldenburg, and a large number of bridges, turnkey buildings and sewage treatment plants.
Favoured by the installation of the gas supply network in Oldenburg, another field of activity was created in pipeline construction. Pipeline construction and industrial plant piping were thus added and the first international orders soon followed. The previous generation’s ironclad principle to run the company on a financially independent basis is still the unvaried approach used today.
The fourth generation
Cousins Bernd and Johannes van der Linde took over the Ludwig Freytag business operations in the summer of 1989 to preserve their great-grandfather’s heritage and further expand by systematically widening their areas of responsibility and developing new markets. The company was therefore well equipped when unexpected potential opportunities emerged during German reunification – opportunities that Ludwig Freytag knew how to seize once more for the benefit of all those involved thanks to its long-established combination of drive and good judgement.
Today, the construction company Ludwig Freytag comprises a high-performing team of some 850 employees in seven branches at thirteen locations. The Oldenburg headquarters now consists of four office buildings, a spacious builder’s yard, several pre-fabrication workshops and a large workshop for the company’s own fleet of vehicles and for machines and equipment. The now four-member management team comprising Bernd and Johannes van der Linde, Torsten Hadan and Stefan Kalvelage continues to manage the company’s operations in a spirit of trust after more than 125 years of the company’s existence. So that, in the future, it will continue to be all about:
Ludwig Freytag. Planning. Building. Maintaining.
Philosophy, values, responsibility
Ludwig Freytag was not only an excellent craftsman; he was also a master of organisation with considerable business acumen. His diligence, deep sense of responsibility and a keen instinct for the things which are important coupled with a welcome touch of humour made our founder special.
We continue to preserve these values today.
Our aim is to complete every project on time, to a high standard and to our clients’ satisfaction. With a well-trained team of experienced, long-standing employees and young skilled specialists, modern technology and a fair, partnership-based cooperation with all project participants, we at Ludwig Freytag have brought success to every project to date.
Short decision-making processes thanks to flat hierarchies, a high degree of personal responsibility and integrity among our employees and pleasure in our work form a crucial driving force at Ludwig Freytag.
Or, put in a nutshell: responsibility, trust and commitment are the ethical basis of our daily work – at any time, in any place and in any situation.
Our areas of expertise:
Other Ludwig Freytag services in brief.