David R. Houchin, BSCE 1970
Inducted in 2019

With over 28 years of experience in major bridge construction, repair and painting, David Houchin has held executive management positions, board membership and major ownership in over a dozen companies. He is an outstanding example of how engineering principles and business acumen can lead to a successful career. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree in civil engineering in 1970 from the University of Kentucky.

Houchin is president and CEO of Intech Contracting, LLC, a Kentucky-based contracting company he founded in 1991. Intech specializes in bridge repair and restoration; inspection support and related services. The firm is notable for completing the painting of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge in Louisville, Kentucky. Intech has also repaired or provided inspection services on more than 20 bridges that span the Ohio River, including the John A. Roebling Suspension Bridge in Cincinnati, Ohio. Houchin’s company has also contributed to the restoration efforts of many landmark bridges across the country, including many of the 13 wooden covered bridges in Kentucky.

Under Houchin’s leadership, Intech has become nationally ranked as a top 600 specialty contractor and a top 20 painting contractor each of the last four years. Houchin spent his formative years with his parents, Paul and Noma Houchin, in Edmonson County, Kentucky. After graduating from high school, Houchin attended the University of Kentucky as a Kentucky Transportation Scholarship student. In 1973, he combined his engineering mindset with sales skills and ultimately became a senior sales engineer for Armco Steel, later called Contech Construction Products.  After retiring from Contech, Houchin returned to construction as Owner/CEO of Kentucky Precast and Construction Materials before launching Intech. 

Houchin was instrumental in establishing the Construction Management Concentration within the civil engineering major. He received the University of Kentucky Construction Management Founders Society Lifetime Achievement Award in 2009. Other awards include the National Quality Initiative Achievement Award, two Engineer of the Year awards from the Kentucky Society of Professional Engineers and the Contech Construction Products Sales Engineer of the Year.

In addition to being a charter member of the UK College of Engineering Construction Management Founders Society, Houchin is past chair of the UK Civil Engineering Industrial Advisory Committee, co-founder and past chair of the UK Civil Engineering Construction Advisory Committee, past chair of the Kentucky Engineering Foundation, past president of the Blue Grass Chapter of the Kentucky Society of Engineers, and has also served as a board member for Kentuckians for Better Transportation.

Houchin lives in Lexington, Kentucky with his wife, Margaret. They have two children and four grandchildren.