Construction project and cost-management firm Cumming Corp. has moved its headquarters to San Diego, citing a steady influx of work in the industries where it has managed to carve out niches amid the uncertain economy.
Cumming in recent months has added about six staffers to its San Diego operations and relocated to bigger offices there, according to Chief Operating Officer Peter Heald.
The company’s Carmel Corporate Plaza office was officially designated its headquarters earlier this month. It has 27 employees there and about 225 spread across 19 offices in the U.S. and Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
Cumming is privately held and does not disclose earnings. Representatives said annual revenue in recent years has ranged from $50 million to $60 million.
Cumming started operations in 1996 in Aliso Viejo, where it will keep an office. The company recently closed a smaller office in San Juan Capis-trano.
It has most recently had its headquarters in Los Angeles.
Cumming has been doing work in San Diego for more than 10 years, Heald said. The company’s decision to shift headquarters there came after it won contracts on a number projects in segments where it has come to specialize, including healthcare, public and higher education, hospitality and gaming.
Demand
Rising demand for healthcare has spawned a wave of hospital construction in San Diego and nationally, and schools are looking to carefully manage limited construction funding, Heald said.
“If a school district has a $600 million bond issue they’re working with, they need to have an accurate view of what they’re going to be able to build with that money, for instance, in the next six years,” he said.
Cumming’s client list in San Diego includes Grossmont Union High School District, the San Diego Community College District and Doubletree by Hilton Hotel San Diego in Mission Valley. It has worked in the past on projects for Sharp HealthCare, as well as the UC San Diego Health and Scripps Health systems.
THE NEWS:
Cumming Corp. moves headquarters from Aliso Viejo to San Diego
THE BACKGROUND:
Company has grown list of customers there
WHAT’S AHEAD:
Will keep Aliso Viejo office, close San Juan Capistrano
As new office, industrial and retail construction remain at a virtual standstill, Cumming has done cost and project management at tribal-owned casinos and hotels in the San Diego area, according to Heald.
The company has 18 offices across the U.S. and serves growing demand in international markets through its operations in Abu Dhabi.
Like other construction industry segments, cost managers and estimators have had to adjust to a steep downturn in new projects.
According to the Construction Industry Research Board, builders took out $1.3 billion worth of permits for new residential and commercial construction projects in San Diego County in the first half of the year. While that was up nearly 50% from the same period of 2010, it represented just about half what was seen in the same six months of 2006, before the recent recession.
Also notable: the majority of commercial permits in the first half—56%—were for renovations and expansions, with the remainder for new projects.
Frank Young, owner of CSOS Consulting in San Diego and a certified professional estimator for more than 40 years, said that while some commercial renovations provide work for cost managers and estimators, the amount is not nearly what is generated by new construction.
Focus
Young said cost estimators and related managers continue to focus on education, healthcare, civic projects and military base improvements.
The local military has been a boon in San Diego in the past five years, but the recent stream of projects will likely trail off in the next two years.
Healthcare will likely provide long-term work related to mandated earthquake-readiness upgrades at California hospitals, but school districts will be stretching out the timelines for improvement projects amid tight funding, he said.
Hirsh is a reporter for the San Diego Business Journal.
