Jeremiah Thompson

Celebrating Hopke Foreman, Jeremiah Thompson and 12 years of Employment with W.B. Hopke

W.B. Hopke has a great team including project managers, superintendents, estimators, foremen and crews. Each month we pay tribute to a select employee that has contributed greatly to Hopke’s success. This month we celebrate Jeremiah Thompson, Hopke foreman for 12 years of exemplorary service and dedication to our company.

Jeremiah Thompson embodies everything that W.B. Hopke could want in a formean. He learns quickly, watches, listens and absorbs everything that is going on at a job site. In fact, it’s those eager to learn traits that helped him move into his current foreman role at Hopke. Before joining Hopke, Jeremiah worked with his father, Frankie, helping him with plumbing projects, learning about roofing, carpentry and automotive work. He has always been mechanically inclined and was always willing to take on new challenges.

In July 2014, Jeremiah began his career with Hopke, and like many, started near the bottom, but he always had plenty of experienced people above him to learn from. His first position was as a tailman and he then assisted pipelayer, Mark Dolan. Mark then coached Jeremiah along into the pipelayer role. From there, Brian Starnes taught him how to run a loader and then he basically taught himself how to run the excavator. He then started helping out in a foreman role, coached by Tommy Smith, and after a while found himself in a full-time position as foreman.

As Jeremiah stated, “My job was to ensure that everything was on grade. From the manholes, to the pipes, tops and inlets. Everything had to be on point. Free-flowing water flows downhill and pressurized water can’t leak.” He continued, “With each position, you pay attention to what the guys around you are doing and you learn from them, and after a while you begin to get it and follow their lead and do it the same way. That’s how you grow at Hopke.”

After 12 years working at Hopke, Jeremiah has grown a tough skin and he has learned to let things role off his back. Jeremiah joked, “When I first started with Hopke, the veteran guys around me called me a Choir Boy.” He now exclaims he’s no longer a choir boy.

“You learn fast in this business that the equipment on site is very dangerous. You keep your head on a swivel at all times. I try to instill this into my crew every day, so at the end of the day they go home to their families,” said Jeremiah.

Not long after joining Hopke, Jeremiah witnessed another contractor working on the same site as Hopke make a critcal mistake that cost him his life. Jeremiah realized quickly why Hopke takes every precaution to train the employees and every effort to keep them safe at the sites.

Jeremiah indicated that he encourages his team to soak up everything they can in order to grow within the company. His advice to his younger crew members is to be at work on time, take direction and to learn everything they can around them. That’s how they succeed at Hopke. Management notices those that dedicate themselves to the business.

Jeremiah and his brother spend their spare time working on their 40 acre angus farm. They began their venture two years ago, bush-hogging fields that were overgrown, fixing fallen fences, and updating the cattle barn. Their goal is to have their own herd of 4-6 head of black angus cattle within the next year or so. It’s been a life-long passion and they are working with the current owner to purchase the property, and the deal includes fixing it up and making it into a working farm again after years of neglect.

Special thanks to Jeremiah Thompson, Hopke Foreman, for 12 years of hard service and dedication to Hopke’s success.

W.B. Hopke is a fourth generation, family-run construction business focused on building high quality utility infrastructure and lifelong careers. Hopke is located in Alexandria, VA and works throughout DC, Maryland, and Virginia. With almost 70 years of experience, Hopke prides itself on repeat customers across all kinds of market segments – schools, churches, data centers, distribution facilities, multi-family, mixed use, residential subdivisions, senior living, self storage, heavy highway, retail, commercial office, automotive, stream restoration, and parks.

Contact W.B. Hopke about a career in utility installation and site work at 703-971-0404 or info@wbhopke.com.