Casco Contractors has increased its offerings over the past four years to adapt.
The Irvine-based general contractor, which specializes primarily in commercial construction and tenant improvement, is has branched out of office spaces.
“There’s still a lot of office space being built,” Cheryl Osborn, founder and president of Casco, told the Business Journal. “It’s just not our bread and butter anymore.”
Nowadays, it only accounts for half of the company’s business, according to Osborn.
The company has since ventured into building repositioning, retail and multifamily.
This year, Casco marks 25 years since she founded the company in 2000.
“I can’t believe I’ve owned a company for 25 years,” she said. “It’s been a long run, and my goal is to keep it going.”
Growing Employees by 28%
Casco ranked as the 16th largest women-owned business in Orange County with revenue of $47.5 million, down 10% from a year ago.
Osborn said that the company is rebounding this year.
Casco increased the number of its staff by 28% to 55 employees, hiring a new person nearly every week for the past two months, according to Osborn.
Since adding new offerings, Osborn said that their projects are bigger and tend to take longer to complete.
Projects that they received last year are now beginning to break ground.
“It’s been really exciting and probably the busiest that we’ve ever been,” she said.
The company is currently working on one of its largest projects to date for an undisclosed client. The project broke ground this month and is expected to be completed in late 2026.
In Orange County, Casco is working on a Check N’ Play at Brea Mall. The café play space is scheduled to open this summer.
Casco also recently completed a new showroom in Orange for Wesco International Inc. (NYSE: WCC), an electrical distribution and services company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
One area of interest for the company has always been solar power and electric vehicle charging. It has a subdivision called Casco EV360 that provides design, installation and maintenance for businesses looking to implement EV charging.
Last year, there was a ribbon-cutting event to celebrate the installation of 166 EV chargers at the Great Park in Irvine, done in partnership with the City of Irvine, Southern California Edison and EV360.
Keeping Material Costs Down
Osborn was pregnant with her second child and working for another general contractor when she decided to start her own company.
“It was not as easy as I thought it was going to be, but I was really persistent, and it ended up working out,” she said.
She said that she’s always been in the construction industry. Her father was a subcontractor and taught Osborn the business from his perspective.
One major challenge the industry has been facing as of late is the rising cost of materials, Osborn said.
Casco has navigated the issue by working closely with subcontractors to keep down cost escalation, according to Osborn.
“We keep our subcontractor pool very diverse and that helps to get competitive pricing,” she said.
Despite the challenges that come with being a business owner, Osborn said the experience has been just as rewarding.
She believes the best part of being a woman-owned business is nurturing her employees.
“I just really love being able to provide their families with security and income,” Osborn said.
Her biggest piece of advice to aspiring women leaders is “always be ready to pivot because you never know what’s going to happen.”
Advocating for Family-Owned, Women-Owned Businesses
Osborn in April went to Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C. with a group of women from Family Enterprise USA to advocate for family-owned and women-owned businesses.
She said that in the past year she has paid more attention to the government and how their rulings affect her and other business owners.
“I really had my eyes open to how much Washington actually wants to listen to us how they technically work for us,” Osborn said.
She met with five representatives to discuss key provisions from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that were set to expire.
“Most of these things that benefited these small businesses is sunsetting in 2025, so we lobbied to make sure that our lawmakers were voting for that,” Osborn said.
A month later, the House of Representatives in late May passed the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which included conditions they lobbied for, she said.
“It was a successful trip, which is very exciting,” Osborn said.
At press time, the bill was awaiting a vote in the Senate.
