Download the 2010 OC’s LARGEST CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES List (pdf)
Work for Orange County’s construction companies continued to drop last year, but a few big projects helped cushion the fall.
The largest 25 construction companies on this year’s Business Journal list saw a 12.6% decrease in revenue during the past year, to $6.4 billion.
The Business Journal ranks companies by annual revenue generated from OC offices, whether the projects are in OC or elsewhere.
The decline follows a 7.2% decrease in the prior year’s list.
That downward trend isn’t expected to change any time soon, as construction companies are finishing up work on a few major projects and don’t have much private sector work in the pipeline.
The drop was more pronounced in OC, which has seen a drop off in development here.
The dollar value of contracts issued to the OC operations of companies on this year’s list dropped 33% during the past 12 months, to $4.9 billion. That follows a 23% decline on the prior year’s list.
Just five companies on this year’s list reported a yearly increase in revenue, while 13 reported declines, including nine construction companies with double-digit drops in revenue. Revenue for eight companies are Business Journal estimates.
Top Spot
Among the few companies to show improvement was the Newport Beach office of McCarthy Building Cos., which moved up two spots to No. 1 in this year’s list. The company reported $895 million in local revenue in 2009, up more than 8% from a year earlier.
Credit existing contracts and a big presence in the area’s healthcare industry to McCarthy’s gains last year.
“Going into the downturn, we went in with a backlog that was very healthy,” said Carter Chappell, president of the California region for McCarthy. “Some projects got delayed, and other projects got canceled. The back- log isn’t 100% intact, but it is substantially intact.”
McCarthy’s working on some of the biggest construction projects in the county, including part of the $543 million expansion of John Wayne Airport. The company is the general contractor on the third passenger terminal at the airport, which also is adding a parking structure, central utility plant and improvements to the airport’s existing terminals.
The three-year airport project, which is near the halfway mark, is expected to create 6,670 jobs and generate about $1 billion for the local economy by the time it finishes in late 2011.
McCarthy’s also the general contractor for the $563 million expansion of Children’s Hospital of Orange County, a project expected to last until late 2012.
The Orange hospital is getting a 425,524-square-foot patient tower, among other improvements.
McCarthy overtook Irving, Texas-based Fluor Corp. at the top of the list. We estimated Fluor’s local operations to have done about $875 million in business the 12 months through March of this year, a $75 million decline from the previous year’s levels.
Fluor’s local operations, based in Irvine, largely handle work for the chemical, mining and transportation industries. We based our estimates on announced declines in the company’s oil- and gas-related construction work, as well as lower local employment.
Placing No. 3 on this year’s list was the Costa Mesa office of Maryland’s Clark Construction Group LLC, which reported a 12% decline in business. The company’s said to be one of the companies working on Walt Disney Co.’s $1.1 billion expansion of Disney’s California Adventure theme park in Anaheim, likely the largest ongoing construction project in OC.
Other sizable projects include several healthcare-related developments.
In Irvine, the former Irvine Regional Hospital and Medical Center is getting an $85 million makeover by Newport Beach’s Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian.
General contracting work on the project, slated to finish up later this year, is being handled by Miles & Kelley Construction Co. of Fullerton—which didn’t make the list—and San Diego-based Roel Construction Co.
The largest hospital development under way is Kaiser Permanente’s $560 million, 262-bed hospital and 10 operating room project in Anaheim. The hospital will replace Kaiser’s aging facility on Lakeview Avenue that’s been around since the mid-1970s.
The Kaiser project’s general contractor is Hensel Phelps Construction Co., No. 6 on this year’s list.
Outside the healthcare industry, large projects are coming more from the public sector, rather than private business, McCarthy’s Chappell said. That type of business also tends to see more formal competition.
“All the big companies have their eyes on federal work,” he said.
As much as $4 billion is expected to be spent in the next several years improving and expanding the 125,000-acre Camp Pendleton Marine Corp. base just south of San Clemente in northern San Diego County.
Download the 2010 OC’s LARGEST CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES List (pdf)
