Wasco,inc. history

In 1977, he and Bush Building Company associates Paul Marsh and Bradford Procter refashioned WASCO as a masonry subcontractor and made it their full-time pursuit.

After arriving in Knoxville in 1978 with his wife and soon-to-be-born son, Jenkins divided his time between independent contracting, studying architecture on the side, and working for local companies including Gilbert Plastering and Anning-Johnson.

Contracts for area schools followed and, in 1980, Raymond recognized that his growing company would need to be incorporated.

Partnering with a tradesman he’d met on one of his short-term assignments, Jenkins formally started Southern Stucco in 1981.

In 1982, growth in the Queen City began in earnest as W.A. (Andy) Sneed began travelling east to establish a presence there.

In 1984 the Government of Saint Lucia (GoSL) enacted legislation to make the Central Water Authority (CWA) a statutory body responsible for the combined services of Water and Sewerage.

If Lovell’s had ceased to operate after Raymond’s 1989 stroke halted his active involvement, leading to WASCO’s purchase a few years later, he would nonetheless have left behind a fitting legacy.

When WASCO purchased Lovell’s Masonry Inc. in 1992 at the request of founder Raymond Lovell, the Nashville-based company recognized the value of the Lovell name and its connection to decades of community-defining projects in and around Maury County.

W.A. (Andy) Sneed Jr. joined the firm soon thereafter, later moving WASCO into its second generation with the passing of his father in 1997.

David, who became a journeyman mason, gradually moved through the ranks to foreman, supervisor, estimator and project manager after health issues sidelined father Ronnie in 2003.

~ Sherman County Place Names, Streets and Roads, 3rd Edition, 2009, compiled by Sherry (Woods) Kaseberg.

In 2013, when WASCO’s tradesmen began work on the corporate office building for Knoxville-based SouthEast Bank, they were taking part in a unique collaboration.

Later in 2015, Andy Sneed and Shawn Gallant met Southern Stucco co-founder Barry Jenkins.

The two firms worked out the details of a merger over the ensuing months, with Southern Stucco’s Willow Avenue building becoming the new Knoxville headquarters for the expanded WASCO in the summer of 2016.