Hammer & Steel
The right equipment for the job
By Lisa Kopochinski
It has been more than three decades since Bob Laurence
and Joe Dittmeier first formed Hammer & Steel in 1989 in
Hazelwood, Mo., outside of St. Louis. What initially began as a
local enterprise – with a small amount of sheet pile inventory to sell
and rent – has today grown into one of the largest suppliers of piling,
pile driving and drilling equipment in North America, with 100
employees across nine locations in Missouri, New Jersey, Florida,
Minnesota, California, Texas, Washington State and Canada.
While Laurence and Dittmeier still retain full ownership of the
company – each with 50 percent – Dittmeier retired from the dayto
day operations in January 2020, while Laurence acts as president.
In 2019, Hammer & Steel hired Rob Strobing as CFO, who
also serves as Hammer & Steel’s legal counsel. Laurence’s son, Nick
Laurence, has been with the company for more than eight years
and serves in a management and sales capacity.
PDCA ASSOCIATE MEMBER
Photos: Hammer & Steel
ABI Mobilram TM 13/16 SL with a Delmag D19-42 diesel hammer to install
sheet piling in difficult driving conditions
www.piledrivers.org PILEDRIVER | 51
/www.piledrivers.org
