This special report focuses on the players helping to build San Diego -- from general contractors and engineers to prime contractors, subcontractors and suppliers.
Bilbro Construction has completed a four-year construction program for La Jolla Country Day School, the first modernization to be done on the campus in the past 40 years.
Ever since its completion of the W San Diego Hotel in 2003, Webcor has been busy with projects throughout the region, and the company's expertise in sustainable building has won many fans among private developers, public entities and educational institutions. Today, Webcor is using its expertise to build the new University of California San Diego Health Services Graduate Housing complex, which is seeking a LEED Silver certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
Work-related injuries in construction, including fatalities, occur at a rate 54 percent higher than the rate for all industries. The tremendous physical and emotional costs associated with accidents for both the individuals and the companies involved are well documented. Clearly, safety is an area where construction companies should never be satisfied and can always improve.
About this time, many companies begin budgeting for the forthcoming year. A key budget item is insurance.
C.W. Driver recently broke ground on two new, design-build libraries for the county of San Diego.
After nearly 10 years leading the merit shop cause in San Diego, and 26 more in other ABC chapters around the country, ABC San Diego chapter President George Hawkins has made the decision to play more golf and spend more time with the grandkids, and less time at ABC. Hawkins will be retiring and has passed his title as president and CEO and associated responsibilities to his successor.
Gafcon Inc., a California-based construction management and consulting firm, has expanded its portfolio of services with the launch of an owner-centric approach to Building Information Modeling (BIM). The new service allows building owners to maximize the value of the project delivery system that has up until now been primarily used by general contractors and architects.
Creating a contiguous transition from high school into post-secondary education/training in the skilled trades is both an ongoing goal and a challenge for construction trade apprenticeship programs throughout the country.
Turner Construction Co. has been operating in San Diego since 1983. Turner San Diego offers the resources of Turner's national corporation with the accessibility of a local firm. With a highly qualified and experienced local staff of more than 100 full-time employees focused exclusively on projects within San Diego County, Turner is one of the top construction leaders in the area. Turner San Diego's annual construction volume in 2009 was $200 million, with a current backlog of over $600 million. Engineering News-Record currently ranks Turner as the nation's largest builder of green, education, health care, sports and correctional facilities. Turner also ranked second in the hotel, airports, electronic assembly, telecommunications, data centers and commercial office categories.
Nimble companies are adept at finding ways to execute well in today's challenging marketplace. And T.B. Penick is out in front, pioneering new partnerships and strategic alliances to procure profitable work in a difficult market.
Staples Construction Company Inc. is a full-service general contracting company with corporate headquarters in Ventura, Calif., and regional offices in San Diego, Sacramento, San Jose and Chicago. Its mission of providing personal service, technical competence, budgetary discipline and timely completion ensures maximum client satisfaction.
The AGC Apprenticeship Program recently expanded its Construction Craft Laborer Training Program and is now serving all five counties of Southern California including San Diego, San Bernardino, Imperial, Riverside and Orange County.
After several dry years, many of us may have been lulled into a false sense of security when it comes to wintertime preparation. This year, however, it's time to batten down the hatches.
Being able to deliver best value to the government often determines project award. In construction and engineering, we all share an interest to achieve measurable value for our clients. We must ask what standard measures best value -- and who in the market is achieving it?
The issue: Can general contractors be liable for the wages of their subcontractors' employees?
The Disabled Veteran Business Enterprise (DVBE) program, administered by the California Department of General Services, was established in 1989 to assist disabled veteran-owned small businesses located throughout California. The program requires that companies bidding on California taxpayer funded projects allocate a portion of the contract to a DVBE firm to provide labor, services or supplies needed for the completion of the project. California established a DVBE participation goal of at least 3 percent, which applies to the total contract dollars expended each year by an awarding state agency. Agencies can decide which projects will include DVBE goals, but they must attempt to reach the annual goal with some of the projects that are put out to bid.
For more than 100 years, the National Electrical Contracting Association has worked to improve the quality of electrical service within the construction industry. NECA has the experience to weather tough economic times by gathering the wisdom and expertise from generations of electricians, over the course of a century. Since 1901, this experience has resulted in the best of the best that brings stability in today's market, a market that demands an expertly trained electrician backed by a contractor with years of knowledge in construction management.
2009 has proven to be quite an interesting year for businesses to survive, thrive or to simply stay alive to tell the tale. It has not been a good year to take the position of status quo. The companies and industries with the ability to anticipate and effectively respond to market conditions will consistently drive and create demand.
Hawthorne Machinery Co. has been serving the construction community in San Diego County since 1956. As the exclusive Caterpillar dealer, Hawthorne offers a complete line of new and used Caterpillar equipment, service contracts, field service, repairs, custom fabrication, engine service and rebuilding, and the most modern service and testing facilities.
Dynalectric Company San Diego, a leading provider of complex, fully integrated design-build electrical services, is currently providing the electrical systems installation for several San Diego projects, including the Berth Lima facility at Naval Air Station (NAS) North Island, Deer Canyon School and the Valley View Hotel and Casino.
Building Information Modeling (BIM) uses accurate three-dimensional model components to increase productivity in building design and construction. Recent innovations in BIM software enable users to coordinate building geometry, spatial relationships, geographic information, material quantities, layouts and properties of building components. This technology is especially valuable in the design and construction of medical buildings due to the sophisticated system requirements of these buildings. Because BIM also allows for the virtual construction to become the actual construction, project stakeholders can envision the design of the future building better. Perhaps the greatest value of BIM, however, is the reduction of potential conflicts in design before the start of construction.
From pink slips to stalled projects to dropped deals, times have been tough for many professionals in the commercial real estate industry. While those in the commercial real estate industry may be facing hard times, the members of CREW (Commercial Real Estate Women) San Diego hope to help those in the industry adapt and thrive in these challenging times. CREW is a membership organization founded to promote professional opportunities for and to expand the networking relationships of women in the commercial real estate industry.
"Solidarity. For those of us in the construction business," said Mike Shaw, president of El Cajon-based Perry & Shaw and president-elect of the Engineering and General Contractors Association (EGCA), "we think of unions when we think of solidarity. The strength of the trade unions has always come from their understanding of the need to work united, despite minor differences or internal agendas, to create a stronger entity to deal with 'management.' The strength of the whole is greater than the sum of the strength of the individuals."
Green Beach is joining forces with the community to help disabled veterans return to an independent and high-quality lifestyle while promoting a clean environment. The new San Diego nonprofit builds and remodels barrier-free homes that meet the special needs of disabled veterans, while also taking into account environmentally friendly building standards.
The San Diego region is paying almost double the statewide average for aggregate. Aggregate materials include sand, gravel and crushed stone, and are used as base material under roads and rails to provide a solid foundation. Aggregate is also the key ingredient in concrete and asphalt.
When local general contractor T.B. Penick & Sons
If a construction contractor has a problem with a public agency (or even with a private developer) regarding working specifications or project-specific inspection issues, resolution can be tricky. Contractors live and die by reputation -- even in a hard bid world.
First the residential markets collapsed. Then banking and the capital markets dried up. Now the commercial construction market has fallen. And during it all, the regulatory environment has gotten increasingly hostile, requiring massive replacement of heavy equipment, engine retrofits and millions in fines related to diesel emissions, water runoff and even simple number transposition when filling out forms. Contractors are flocking to the remaining public agency markets, driving down prices and driving up risk.
This year, reporting annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions became mandatory in California, impacting many industries and businesses of all sizes, from multinational corporations to mom-and-pop operations. On Sept. 22, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a national GHG reporting rule, which will affect even more sources. Therefore, starting on Jan. 1, 2010, a bewildering, sometimes overlapping, array of additional state requirements and federal regulations take effect. And while specific industries are targeted, the regulations ultimately affect everyone, from the corporate boardroom to consumers.
Construction materials prices continued to decline in October, but less than in the past several months, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
September brought an increase in construction backlog when compared to August, according to the latest Construction Backlog Indicator (CBI) by the Associated Builders & Contractors Inc., a national trade association representing merit shop contractors, subcontractors and material suppliers.
Roughly two miles east from the current Otay Mesa border crossing, a third San Diego Tijuana Port of Entry will be built, according to Caltrans officials at a recent Engineering & General Contractors Association meeting.
San Diego's design professionals honored the best and worst projects to spring up in the past year, Thursday night during the 2009 Orchids & Onions Awards Ceremony.
The Metropolitan Water District (MWD) of Southern California board of directors voted Tuesday afternoon to approve an agreement that would subsidize water produced by Poseidon Resources' Carlsbad Desalination Project.
Greener Dawn has partnered with the city of Victorville to launch a Home Energy Audit, Training and Retrofit program.
San Diego’s construction job market mirrors the national one, with a slightly stronger public works sector largely due to an increase in military projects.
Encinitas Civic Center complex has been honored as one of the top renewable energy projects of the year by an industry association.
Seven general contractors were honored for recent construction projects Thursday during the Associated General Contractors (AGC) San Diego chapter’s annual Build San Diego Awards.
Construction has begun on 108 two-story homes designed to appeal to homebuyers interested in energy efficiency.
California ranked No. 1 in terms of jobs either created or saved due to the $787 billion federal stimulus package, and San Diego was near the top among the state’s locales according to new data reported by the White House.
State legislators approved a historic package of water legislation Wednesday aimed at modernizing the state’s outdated infrastructure.
SCS Engineers has been awarded over $500,000 in brownfield assessment contracts from the city of Chula Vista and the city of Corona.
Poseidon Resources is asking for an additional $50 million in tax-free bonds from the state to finance construction of the proposed Carlsbad desalination plant.
The solar industry, one of the brightest spots in the local economy, will get an additional boost from the allocation of financing opportunities for nearly 200 solar projects countywide.
Poseidon Resources plans to break ground on the Carlsbad Desalination Project in November despite a pending lawsuit and regulatory uncertainty.
Paul Stout of San Diego, along with six other construction professionals were recognized by the Associated General Contractors Wednesday for developing successful training programs.
Supporters of a new downtown library burst into applause at City Hall Tuesday when the San Diego City Council voted to put a plan out to bid.
Civil engineering firm Fehr & Peers has opened the doors to an office in San Diego with two new employees, Mark Peterson and Saul Kane, both of the San Diego area.
Staying diverse, adapting, and retaining customers and employees have allowed Neal Electric to prosper in the construction business for the past 25 years. President and CEO Clark Thompson knows all about these three keys to the company's success, as he has been working with the founders of Neal Electric even before it was created.
With foresight, tenacity and a lot of hard work, Jamie Awford has managed to grow the San Diego office of Turner Construction -- even amidst the most pervasive economic downturn in decades.
Graham Flight likes seeing the buildings he's worked on completed. That moment when cost estimates, materials and designs come together in the form of a finished product is what Flight likes most about his job.
For Sophie Akins, sustainability is more than a way to make a living, it is how she works to better her community and preserve the environment.
Being a leader comes naturally to Robert Valderrama. He was in a club called the "sociables" at Sweetwater High School, where he was chosen as the president amongst all his peers.
Carol Ray has been involved in the construction industry since the 1970s, back when it was uncommon to see women on a job site.
Growing up in Los Angeles, Frank Marquez, owner and president of Bonita Pipeline Inc., was exposed to the construction industry at an early age. When he was about seven years old, he started job shadowing his dad, thanks to his father's boss.
Take a closer look at some of the people involved in the development of our region and some current projects.
Take a closer look at some of the executives and firms involved in the development of our region.
Take a closer look at some of the people involved in the development of our region and their current projects.
Take a closer look at some of the executives and firms involved in the development of our region, from general contractors and engineers to designers, subcontractors and suppliers.
Take a closer look at some of the leading construction and engineering firms involved in the development of our region.
Take a closer look at some of the people involved in the development of our region and their current projects.
From the general contractors and engineers to the prime contractors, subcontractors and suppliers, we'll explore the faces behind the scenes of construction projects. This section is supported by the Engineering & General Contractors Association.
From the general contractors and engineers to the prime contractors, subcontractors and suppliers -- in this section, we explore the relationships between these parties, how they work together and which companies are working on which projects.
From the general contractors and engineers, to the prime contractors, subcontractors and suppliers -- in this report, The Daily Transcript will explore the relationships between these parties, how they work together and which companies are working on which projects.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |