Native Oregonian Ryan Matson has spent most of his life in
McMinnville where he started early learning the construction business. In fact,
Ryan cannot remember a time when he wasn’t working around construction.
Throughout high school and community college, Ryan worked for his father’s
company, Firestone-Matson Contractors, and it soon became clear that he had a
gift for framing.
Firestone-Matson had a well-deserved reputation in the late
70’s and 80’s for building quality custom homes and small commercial projects
throughout Yamhill County. In the late 1980s, Ralph Matson chose to move back
to his native Washington to start Eagle Contracting, Inc. Ryan joined him there
for a couple of years to help his father establish the new company.
Drawn back to McMinnville, Ryan started Ryan Matson
Construction in April of 1989. Initially a framing company, Ryan Matson
Construction quickly established itself as an extremely reliable subcontractor,
providing excellent quality work on complicated custom projects. Given Ryan’s
love of design and engineering, it was only logical that he would start
designing and building his own homes. In 1992 he built his first spec home,
which was followed by several custom projects for very satisfied customers.
In 1994, Ryan Matson, Inc. was formed which continued to
provide quality framing as well as custom home design and construction. Over 20 years now, Ryan has worked on hundreds of projects and has
built a sterling reputation among owners, subcontractors, vendors, inspectors
and architects.
Ryan has several characteristics that set him apart as a
general contractor. First, Ryan takes the bidding step extremely seriously. He
believes that it is his responsibility to listen carefully to the vision the
homeowners have for their home, review the plans to ensure that they represent
a sound project, gather the best subcontractors and then carefully give the
homeowners a realistic and accurate bid. Second, he does his own framing on
each project, which establishes a very high level of quality early on for every
home he builds. Third, Ryan prefers to work as a hands-on general. He is on
site constantly during the project, watching and guiding, especially as the
finishing details are put into place.
Ryan Matson, Inc. also has a great reputation for smaller
remodeling projects. Ryan enjoys the process of merging old and new
construction as well as trying to solve tricky home-improvement problems.
Ryan and his wife, Leann, are very active in the Mac
community. They own Leann’s Lattes, a popular drive-thru coffee shop in town.
When Ryan is not working, he can be found with Leann supporting their kids in
their various sports activities.