• Where: Huntington Beach
• 12-month sales: $5.1 million
• Two-year growth: 337%
• OC workers: 9
• Business: general contractor specializing in medical buildings and tenant improvements
Huntington Beach-based Golden Construc-tion Development Co. has grown on the needs of the aging baby boomer generation and the doctors looking to treat them.
The general contractor specializes in medical office buildings, and has remained busy throughout the downturn by working with doctor groups and investors on new buildings and tenant improvements on existing buildings.
“With the baby boomers getting older, medical buildings are much needed, especially in underserved markets,” said Jason Coleman, chief operating officer.
The company touts itself as the “one-stop-shop” for medical office buildings, able to do everything from simple repairs to remodeling interior spaces for a medical facility to a from-the-ground-up project.
“We do an array of things for our clients,” Coleman said.
The company recently has spent the majority of its time on buildings and tenant improvements in the Inland Empire and Los Angeles, where the need for medical buildings has remained strong.
“That’s where we are hooked into with our clientele,” Coleman said. “We haven’t done very much in our own backyard.”
Golden Construction ranked No. 8 on the Business Journal’s 2010 list of fast-growing private companies with sales growth of 337% for the two years through June 30, according to a Business Journal estimate.
For the 12 months through June, Golden Construction had estimated sales of $5.1 million, up from $1.2 million for the same period in 2008.
“Our biggest goal has been to live through the recession and claim we never experienced it,” Coleman said. “That’s something that has driven us to keep going as hard as we can.”
Golden Construction initially had no interest in working on medical offices.
“We started out trying to get into the residential market with this company,” said Coleman, who is the second generation of family ownership at the company.
Joseph Coleman and his wife, Janet, started the business in 1990 with the intention of working with homebuilders on new homes.
“There was a lot of residential work at the time,” Coleman said. “My father was interested in being a part of it, but couldn’t get a contract.”
While attempting to get into the residential market, Golden Construction started working on some medical buildings in Los Angeles.
The company eventually was able to secure a contract with Newport Beach-based Koll Co.
“We did a lot of property maintenance things,” Coleman said.
After son Jason joined Golden Construc-tion, the company returned to the medical office building segment.
“We went back to some of the medical stuff that we had been around,” Coleman said. “It has been a big part of what we have done.”
As medical office contractors, the company is forced to deal with additional regulations and building codes.
“The codes and regulations are constantly changing so we continue to adapt,” Coleman said. “It’s something we have to do to offer our clients the best services we can.”
The company has done little marketing in the past, relying on repeat customers, word of mouth and referrals.
“It’s a lot of repeat client work,” Coleman said.
The company also launched a Facebook profile, but it hasn’t done much with that.
“We’ve been too busy,” Coleman said.
The company has thought about expanding outside of Southern California.
“We have considered going into Nevada and Northern California,” Coleman said.
Those plans have been put on hold due to the amount of work the company is tackling closer to home.
“We have been able to stay so busy here that we haven’t had to pursue those opportunities,” Coleman said.
Golden Construction has started to see some challenges, with clients unable to secure funding for projects.
“It has delayed some projects,” Coleman said. “That’s out of our control, so our task is to get as much work as possible.”
Vita Reed contributed to this story.
