Coeur d’Alene-based Verdis, an engineering, planning, landscape design, and construction company, is the winner of the 2025 Medium Business of the Year award. 

Sandy Young and her late husband, Gary, established YOY Inc., which does business as Verdis, in 2007 as a landscape architecture and land-use planning company. Before Gary died from cancer, he encouraged Sandy to become certified under the Small Business Administration’s 8(a) Business Development Program. She was accepted into the program in 2015, and as the business grew, it expanded services to include civil engineering, masonry restoration, construction, and historical building and restoration. 

The company is located at 3906 N. Schreiber Way, in a 7,000-square-foot space in north Coeur d’Alene. It employs 35 workers and expects revenue to grow by up to 20% this year, up from over $20 million in revenue last year. 

Verdis has been recognized as Idaho PTAC’s 2020 Small Business of the Year, SBA’s 2022 Women-Owned Business of the Year, and received the State of Idaho Historic Preservation Society’s Orchid Award in 2023. In May, Young will be a featured speaker at the 2025 Small Business Construction Symposium, in Boise, Idaho. 

In what ways would you quantify the company’s growth in recent years? 

Verdis has expanded into state public works projects, added a masonry restoration division, and entered into a joint venture with a large engineering firm through the SBA Mentor Protégé program to expand our civil engineering division. In the past three years, we’ve hired four employees. 

How has the organization adapted or innovated in the past year? 

We have sought and been awarded more private, city, and state contracts, as opposed to relying heavily on federal contracts. Our increase in contracts directly correlates to the increase in experience we have gained over the last five years. We have been willing to bid on projects outside of our area of expertise, thus increasing our experience base. 

What obstacles has your organization overcome in the past years? 

Recruiting qualified engineers to the area has been a challenge. The cost of real estate and the availability of housing make it exceedingly difficult to bring new talent into the area. We have spent more time at job fairs and with headhunters to try to scour for talent. 

In what ways does your organization give back to the community? 

Every year since 2017, Verdis has employed summer interns at a competitive wage to expose students to the field of engineering and construction. The students are paired with Verdis’ licensed civil engineers where they are exposed to surveying methods, the use of a drone, the introduction to AutoCAD, reading plans, how to obtain permits, and assisting with stormwater inspections. 

Verdis also donates to causes and charities including capital improvements at local elementary and secondary schools, youth sports, Court-Appointed Special Advocates, Sunrise Rotary, and the Wishing Star Foundation. 

Sandy is the president of the Panhandle Parks Foundation and serves on the board of the North Idaho Centennial Trail Foundation and the Kootenai Resource Conservation Trust. She has previously also served on the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce.