McCarthy Takes Home Contractor of the Year Honor

By David Silva

McCarthy Building Cos. receives the award based on its focus on worker safety and community involvement

Carter Chappell, McCarthy’s California regional president.

McCarthy Building Cos., a national construction firm with 76 ongoing projects in the Golden State alone, has been named California Construction’s 2009 Contractor of the Year.

“After a year hiatus, McGraw-Hill Construction’s Regional Publications conducted a Contractor of the Year program and California Construction’s winner for 2009 is McCarthy Building Cos.,” says Robert Carlsen, managing editor of California Construction. “We had some outstanding construction firms to consider and McCarthy rises to the top based on its focus on worker safety and community involvement.”

The award program judged contractors operating within California based on their records of excellence in three general categories:

• Business Leadership -- including the companies’ overall growth, major project starts, innovative business practices, and recognition within the construction industry as a whole.

• Investment in People – including safety records and investments in safety programs, training, number of staff LEED certifications, and other employee-oriented policies.

• Community/Industry Involvement/Leadership – including such efforts as community outreach initiatives, charitable programs, and staff leadership in trade groups and other organizations.

In a year marked by national economic upheaval, McCarthy’s California divisions excelled in all three categories.

“McCarthy is honored to have been named Contractor of the Year by California Construction,” says Carter Chappell, McCarthy’s California region president. “In this volatile economy, we are fortunate to have the support of the best owners, architects, engineers and subcontractors in the California marketplace. We salute all of our business partners for teaming with us for so many years to make our communities a better place by delivering high quality, socially responsible construction projects throughout the Golden State.”

McCarthy staff participate in the “Color Our World” activity.

Headquartered in St. Louis, Mo., McCarthy was founded as a family-owned company in 1864 and has grown to employ more than 2,100 people nationwide. Today, the 100% employee-owned firm has ongoing projects in California generating more than $5.7 billion.

Recent McCarthy projects include the Kaiser Permanente Downey and Fontana medical centers and the hospital network’s Oakland medical center, office building and cancer center; Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital; LAX Tom Bradley Terminal (in a joint venture with Clark Construction); Los Angeles Unified School District Middle School No. 3; and the Soka University Performing Arts and Classroom Building.

advertisement

School construction continues to be McCarthy’s strength in California, with 15 projects underway, including the $99 million Arcadia High School expansion, the $41.5 million California State University, Sacramento Recreation and Wellness Center, the $86 million Carlsbad High School renovation, the $160 million San Mateo Community College District’s College of San Mateo student services and faculty building, the $225 million Oakland Unified School District capital improvement program and the $238 million Huntington Beach Union High School District seven-school modernization and expansion program.

Throughout, McCarthy showed itself as a leading innovator in building information modeling, alternative project delivery methods and green building.

“At McCarthy, we thrive on the challenge of working ‘hands-on’ and owning responsibility for the most complex and challenging public and private projects,” Chappell says. “While we embrace technology and have the best management staff in the industry, our difference is building. We are not only working on computers and telephones behind a desk, half of our employees actually work in the field as true builders hammering nails or pouring concrete.”

McCarthy recently hosted a hospital project tour for the ACE Mentor Program.

The company’s emphasis on worker safety resulted in it being named the safest large contractor in the nation by the Associated General Contractors of America. It was designated a Voluntary Protection Program Company by Cal/OSHA. Its BUILD U program – through which employees are urged to set personal development goals and provided the tools to achieve them – has resulted in each employee receiving an average of 43 training hours, greatly exceeding the national average for construction companies.

Identifying itself as a “green” company, McCarthy has 185 LEED accredited professionals in California, and provides in-house training in support of these employees.

McCarthy employees have also shown a generous commitment to the neighborhoods in which they work.

Through the McCarthy Heart Hats program, employees are provided days off with full pay to volunteer their skills with local organizations in need.

Moreover, McCarthy executives wield their energies in support of dozens of trade associations, public-policy boards and philanthropic causes. McCarthy CEO Michael D. Bolan served in 2008 as chairman of the Orange County Start! Heart Walk, and used his influence among other industry leaders to raise more than $1.3 million toward heart-disease and stroke prevention.

“I am always impressed as to the extent that our employee/owners give of their time, talents and money to as many community organizations and individuals as possible,” Chappell says.