Americo Builders LLC has found success as a general contractor in Southern California by promising retailers like Starbucks, In-N-Out and Taco Bell to be on time.
“A lot of contractors kind of like to say, ‘Hey, we’re on-time and on-budget.’ I would say we’re a very schedule-driven company that brings a high level of construction management to the size of the projects that we have,” founder and President Chris Kent told the Business Journal.
“I think it’s been word of mouth and the quality of our work that’s led to our growth.”
Americo’s success is reflected in its two-year growth of 181% to $69.4 million for the year ended June 30, ranking it No. 4 on the Business Journal’s annual list of Orange County’s fastest growing midsize private companies with revenue between $10 million and $99.9 million.
Kent, a graduate of Claremont-McKenna College, has been in the construction industry for 25 years, rising through the ranks from laborer, estimator, superintendent, project manager and vice president at Anaheim-based Gray Construction. He has general contractor licenses for Arizona as well as California.
He began Americo in 2019 and growth immediately exploded to $7 million in 2020.
The Americo Builders founder said his company is growing despite not having a sales, business development or marketing team. Kent attributes the growth to friendships and partnerships with long term loyal employees, subcontractors, clients and charities.
“We do very little business development. It’s more word of mouth, people seeing our stuff and knowing our brand. We don’t have a salesperson or business development person. We don’t have a very strong marketing arm.”
Follows Retail Execs’ Careers
The general contractor has been adding new employees to the roster, growing from a staff of 18 in 2020 to 70 today. That staff could grow to 75 or 80 by year’s end, according to Kent.
Besides its headquarters in Anaheim, it also has offices in Sacramento and Phoenix.
“As I started Americo, I obviously had a good group of people that joined Americo, to assist in the growth. I’ve been able to attract some great talent,” he said. “They brought their relationships, as well.”
Kent has also succeeded by following the career paths of retail executives who make the decisions to build outlets.
“If someone’s working at Taco Bell and they move to Dave’s Hot Chicken, we typically get called from them when they are at Dave’s Hot Chicken,” he said. “We have someone from Starbucks leave to go to Luna Grill. We’re now bidding on our first few Luna Grills.”
Eyes Growth in Auto, Grocery
Kent said Americo Builders is targeting between $85 million and $90 million of construction contracts by the end of 2024.
“We kind of fit in that retail market, but we’re kind of in that quick serve. Our bigger customers are restaurants or food service. Starbucks is a very large customer for us. We did our first In-N-Out, which was the one at the Outlets of Orange. That In-N-Out, we finished this year,” Kent said.
Kent said Americo is looking to enter the grocery and automotive spaces. The company is selective about what projects it takes on, which has also contributed to Americo’s growth, he said.
“We want the whole construction team and the project we’re on, we want to be on the same side of the table with them. If they’re just looking for the lowest bidder, they don’t want to partner with us to build the project together, then that’s one of the things we really look for.
“We like to work from the same side of the table. If we don’t see that, we typically won’t move forward with the customer or client.”
