POULSBO — Fifty years ago, Tim Ryan began an odd job remodeling a neighbor’s kitchen in Kirkland. Little did he know at the time, that odd job was the first of what would become many building gigs in his career.

Half a century and a move across the Puget Sound later, Tim Ryan Construction has become one of the largest building and developing companies in Kitsap County, and through all the years, it’s done one thing many companies struggle to accomplish: kept the business all in the family.

Now swinging into an impressive 51st year with projects in Bremerton and Suquamish under way, TRC is led by a full-fledged staff, including three of Tim Ryan’s eight grown kids.

A developer that has shaped much of North Kitsap’s current layout, TRC has had a hand in the Poulsbo Village medical and shopping centers, the Frontier Bank building, Salmon Medical building in Silverdale and Marion Forsman-Boushie Early Learning Center in Suquamish.

TRC president Dan Ryan — Tim Ryan’s son — said hitting the 50-year mark was a milestone long in the making. In an industry that counts on economic stability and often involves risk, the standing TRC has built is a solid one, he said.

“We’ve got a reputation of delivering what we said we would, when we said it and at the cost we said … Each year that we conquer is another good year,” he said. “Fifty years of a lot of good employees have made the company what it is.”

TRC works through negotiations instead of hard bids, allowing the company to turn a concept into reality and deliver on expectations, Dan Ryan explained. While the increase in area residential developments continues to create need for commercial structures, TRC wears the hats of builder and developer well, moving what was started in the age of literal blue prints into a time where technology is more than ever the name of the game.

But for Dan Ryan, his brother TRC Vice President Kevin Ryan and sister, TRC secretary and treasurer Colleen Crabtree, one foundational asset still remains the same: their dad.

“It’s good to have the resource to lean on and get ideas from,” Dan Ryan said of his father, now 74. “He clearly wanted to be involved and get to 50 years as a milestone.”

Though Tim Ryan now enjoys a little more time in the sun and perhaps a bit less day-to-day operational responsibility, he continues to lead a family business devoted to giving clients what they want. And from the looks of their lengthy track record, they do.

“Our handshake is our bond,” Dan Ryan said. “It’s difficult for any business to go 50 years. That’s no small feat.”

For more information, visit www.timryan.com.