Contractor grows by pursuing larger, more complex projects and building strong team

Before starting TLC Diversified, a Palmetto-based contractor that builds infrastructure for the water and wastewater industry, Thurston Lamberson worked for a contractor in Clearwater. “He just needed a job in order to put diapers on the table,” says Dalas Lamberson, his son and the vice president of TLC. “I was a newborn baby.”

Shortly after Thurston started working for the contractor, he became a superintendent for the firm. Six years later, he started his own business. A few years after that, Thurston put in a bid to buy the company he had worked for in Clearwater. He was outbid on the deal, but Dalas still thinks it’s impressive that his dad — who walked onto the job site as a laborer in the field — ended up submitting a bid for that same company. “It just shows you what perseverance and hard work can do,” Dalas says. “The American Dream is alive and well.”