Auburn Alum Invests in Construction Relationships

Four construction workers wearing safety vests and helmets observe the exterior of a multi-story building under construction. One worker points toward the structure.

Allan Dedman’s path to leading one of the Southeast’s most respected construction firms began long before he considered a career in the industry.

A man wearing glasses, a dark suit, white shirt, and red tie stands against a plain white background.
Allan Dedman ’91

Though he graduated from Auburn University in 1991 from the College of Liberal Arts (CLA) with minors in business and accounting, Dedman grew up on jobsites. His father worked in construction, and Dedman spent his teenage years and college summers doing odd jobs on construction sites. Those experiences laid the foundation for the career he once thought he wouldn’t pursue.

After college, an opportunity with McDevitt & Street—now owned by Bovis Construction Group—launched his professional journey. Starting in the field, he worked his way up, ultimately building a portfolio from multifamily projects to hospitality to healthcare. Children’s hospital projects—like Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham—were always the most gratifying for Dedman.

Dedman joined Doster Construction 11 years ago, serving as Chief Operating Officer (COO) for five years before being elevated to president and COO in the fall of 2025. Today, his leadership centers on the belief that relationships are the backbone of construction.

 

A brightly lit hospital hallway with blue and beige flooring, wall murals of nature scenes, and a central nurses station with two blue chairs.
For more than a decade, Doster has been honored to work on the Children’s of Alabama campus in Birmingham, Ala.
Two men in suits stand outdoors, smiling at the camera. The man on the left holds a rectangular glass award or plaque. Leafless trees and a clear sky are in the background.
Doster completed the Conclave Sugar Hill multifamily development
across 23 acres in Sugar Hill, Ga., at the beginning of this year.
A multi-story hotel building illuminated at night with a green-lit dome on the roof, colorful exterior lighting, and traffic lights at a city intersection in the foreground.
The company completed the Renaissance Montgomery Hotel & Spa at the Convention Center in Montgomery, Ala., in 2008.

“In our business, competency is a prerequisite,” he said. “Building relationships across all of the people that we deal with—owners, subcontractors and employees—is my major goal now.”

“If you can create good, deep relationships, then working together and accomplishing the eight million problems that you can encounter during construction becomes a lot easier to handle,” he continued.

While not a graduate of the McWhorter School of Building Science (BSCI), Dedman was shaped by his Auburn experience—although, he said, the university’s impact isn’t tied to the classroom.

“If you love Auburn, it will love you back,” he said. “The intangible values, the code of conduct, the relationships—they’ve guided me throughout my life.”

Hotel lobby with modern decor, teal seating, round gold pendant lights, a front desk labeled Graduate Nashville, and a large bright pink portrait of a woman on the wall.
Situated near Vanderbilt University, the Doster-built Graduate Hotel Nashville opened in 2020.

Now a member of the BSCI Industry Executive Board, Dedman is committed to strengthening the next generation of construction professionals. Doster hires frequently from the Building Science program with over 20% of the company’s workforce coming out of Auburn.

“What I want for our industry is to work on producing graduates that are willing and capable of taking on the responsibilities required of construction, being accountable for that responsibility and growing into the best possible, well-rounded leaders that they can become,” he said. “Auburn’s Building Science program is working on ways to build that capacity within people.”

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