Wife is interviewing for a job at osu.  
Any recommendations for looking for a place to live.  Would prefer to have a little land but it's not a deal breaker.   Any advantages for property taxes?  
Also any leads on good construction companies in the area?

Thanks

What field of construction? Closer to PDX I know some people in a lot of fields.

I've been a superintendent or pm / field engineer for the last 12 years.   Everything from wind turbines to basketball arena to class room remodels.  500k to 360+ million dollar jobs.  I've been the lead guy on projects up to $42 million.     I would be looking for something in commercial construction as that is what I am familiar with

If you'd like a little land and a break on taxes, your best bet is to look for a place in westerly Linn County (e.g. Halsey, Colorado Lake area) or possibly north Albany area outside of city limits and still keep the commute into Corvallis reasonable. An alternative is looking south of town, but IME when places pop up between Corvallis and Monroe, their previous owners are really proud of them. 5 acres with a 40 year old single wide? $400k+

Taxes in Corvallis are steep, as you might imagine. They're even steeper in Philomath, just to the west. I bought a house in Corvallis 2ish years ago and really like having the short commute to work in spite of the higher cost of living. Additionally, I've seen my home's value increase in that time. In my particular neighborhood, it isn't uncommon to see newly listed homes go within 24-96 hours after being posted.

Sorry, I don't know a whole lot about local construction firms. I do know that a lot of the construction that is always going on on-campus seems to be done by firms out of Portland and Salem area. Knife River has an aggregate and dirt yard just east of town on highway 34.

I few construction firms in the area that I have seen do some bigger projects:
Skanska
Slayden
A&A Construction and Development

I'm sure there are more, but thats all I know of. Land is expensive around Corvallis, but its a pretty nice location.

How's the hunting/ fishing / camping in the area?  

Thanks for the replys so far.  Never been there and looking on line never tells you about the areas as well as people there can. It's much appreciated.

Sent you a PM.

Alsea river is about 30 miles east and it has good fishing. If you go about 15 more miles then you are in Newport and you can fish the ocean (pretty good fishing).

Camping, hiking, general outdoors in GREAT in Oregon.

Hunting in East Oregon is better than Western Oregon unless you are able to hunt on private land.

If you're wanting a bit of land, Philomath or north of town towards Adair Village are your best bets.  Lebanon and Sweet Home are cheap, but there's a reason for that.

We live in S. Corvallis, 1 mile from downtown, yes cost of living is higher than surrounding areas, but we really like it.  There are still a few rougher areas in Southtown, but we're also talking "rough" for Corvallis.

I am a PM for an Industrial Construction Co that was started out of Corvallis.  There are a few commercial outfits, but a lot of the major jobs go to the big guys from out of town.

Look up:

GBC Construction (formerly Greenberry Construction)
T-Gerding
Andersen Construction
Baldwin

Well she didn't get the job.  Thanks everyone for the information. Really was hoping for this one to work out.  

Not to negative but....you're probably better off