Retti started on jobsites, in pickup trucks, in late‑night problem‑solving sessions, and in the lived experience of two people who knew construction could run better — and believed it should.
Erik grew up in construction. As a teenager, he was already working in the concrete trade, learning the craft, the pace, and the pressure that define the industry. Eight years and 2,000 miles later, he and his brother launched Rusin Concrete Construction in Colorado Springs.
From day one, Erik built the company the same way he worked in the field: hands-on, relationship‑driven, and relentlessly committed to getting the job done right. Those early residential projects turned into long‑term partnerships, and over nearly 30 years, Rusin Concrete expanded into residential, commercial, and large‑scale field operations.
But as the company grew, so did the complexity. Erik saw the same problems over and over; inefficiencies, communication gaps, reactivity, and the constant feeling that the business was running everyone instead of the other way around. He became obsessed with operational efficiency, studying not just his own workflows but those of competitors across the industry.
Eventually, the truth became impossible to ignore: The system contractors needed didn’t exist.
So he decided to build it.
Katie’s story starts in construction too, but from a different angle. She expected to join her dad’s construction business in sales. Instead, he sent her to the field. He wanted her to earn respect from the crews; what she gained was respect for them.
Katie is a natural systems thinker. When she sees inefficiency, her instinctive response is, “There’s got to be a better way.” And she doesn’t stop until she finds it. Her career took her from construction to construction tech, where her curiosity pulled her deep into product workflows, and her ability to solve complex challenges made her a go‑to resource for sales — eventually landing her in sales herself.
But the entrepreneurial itch never left. She moved to Florida to launch a residential custom home business alongside her dad’s commercial firm and became a licensed contractor. That’s when Erik called.
What started as a quick tech question turned into hours of research — and a realization: The solution for concrete teams needed didn’t exist… yet.
Once Katie saw what Retti could do for Rusin, and knew what it could do for others, she went all in. For Katie, this mission is deeply personal. She watched her dad — and later, countless others — carry the weight of work home every night. The stress never clocked out. The fires never stopped. She eventually realized he wasn’t the exception; he was the norm. It wasn’t the people. It was the lack of a system. Retti, to her, is more than software. It’s a way to give people back their time, their focus, and their peace of mind.
Erik brought decades of field experience, operational insight, and a clear vision of what contractors truly need. Katie brought systems thinking, construction tech expertise, and the drive to build something better.
Together, they created Retti — a platform built from real jobsite experience, designed to streamline workflows, improve accountability, and help concrete contractors run stronger, more predictable businesses.
Retti exists because two people who love this industry refused to accept that chaos and reactivity were “just part of the job.”
