The EnCon Companies

As the vice president of design for the EnCon Companies (EnCon), Jason Lien wears many hats. “I’ve been with the engineering side of the business for six years, but I’ve also worked on our marketing team and as a project manager,” shares Lien. It’s no surprise that EnCon’s employees are as diversified as the multifaceted company’s service and capabilities.

EnCon is comprised of specialty contractors, designers, engineers, manufactures and salespeople that deliver long lasting, high performing precast concrete products to the commercial, multifamily residential, heavy highway, military and public works sectors. As a full-service precaster, the Denver-based company and its multiple divisions develop a wide range of high-end architectural and structural building components for some of the most high-profile projects in the world.

Divide and Conquer

Although EnCon was established in 1993, the company’s roots trace back many years prior with the succession of Stresscon Corporation (Stresscon). “Stresscon was founded in 1967 and later acquired by EnCon,” details Lien. “Our president wanted to go about inquisitions in a unique way, starting with independently-owned organizations and maintaining the current management while promoting from within, making for a gradual purchase.”

Stresscon fabricates and erects a wide variety of precast concrete structures, ranging from double tee and hollow-core deck members to sophisticated architectural concrete finishes such as acid-etch, sand blast, spandrels, brick-clad wall panels and specialty shapes. “Located in Colorado Springs, Colo., Stresscon remains our largest division of the business, manufacturing our trademarked Structural Plus product,” explains Lien.

While about 70 percent of EnCon’s business remains within Colorado, over the years the company has set up specialty divisions stationed throughout the U.S. “We operate three plants in Colorado and one in Georgia,” explains Lien. “We have the capability to cover a significant amount of ground -about 15 states.”

Under the EnCon United parent company, aside from Stresscon, the following divisions exist; Atlanta Structural Concrete Company, EnCon Colorado LLC, EnCon Utah LLC, EnCon Washington LLC, EnCon Northwest LLC, EnCon Design LLC, EnCon Renew Engineered Concrete Maintenance and Repair and Concrete Products of Northern California LLC. With each specialized company, EnCon is able to service a vast array of clients in the commercial, military and government markets with total precast structural solutions.

Immense In-house Capability

While EnCon covers a multitude of services and ground, Lien ensures that clients always see a familiar face. “Because we have sales, estimating, engineering, fabrication, design and construction under one umbrella, we can make sure the initial point of contact remains the same throughout the whole process,” he says. “While most organizations hand off each aspect of a job to different team leaders, we don’t do that because want people to see a familiar face.”

EnCon focuses on delivering long lasting, economical precast solutions. The company has recently partnered with Altus Group LLC, an organization of industry leading precasters, licensed to sell the state-of-the-art product known as Carboncast. “We have an exclusive license on this product through what we like to call a ‘coop-etition’ with others in our industry,” explains Lien. “Partnering with our competition to develop Carboncast has created a mutually beneficial relationship. The product itself is a high-end, high-performance insulated wall panel with light weight architectural cladding.”

From cutting edge products to high profile projects, EnCon is positioned as an industry leader. At EnCon Washington the company participated in the largest precast tunnel in the world, dubbed the SR99 Alaskan Viaduct Replacement in west Seattle. “Our job is to provide the tunnel liner,” details Lien. “The 1.8-mile-long tunnel consists of 1,445, 52-footwide precast concrete rings. Each ring is made of 10 segments with the largest piece weighing in at 37,500-pounds, 2-feet-thick and 6-feetwide. We’ve manufactured every component in-house by investing $22 million into an automated carrousel system that pumps out a ring every 15 minutes.”

EnCon has also tackled the sizable Colorado Mills project in Golden, Colo., which incorporates decorative, interval-color precast with functionality and durability. “This 60,000-square-foot, 4-level parking structure is an example of our high-end architectural work,” shares Lien. “The roof level is made of pinecone form liner with 830 parking spaces and 12-foot-tall ceilings to accommodate all car sizes and emergency vehicles. Using precast, which by nature has a long, durable life span, is an economical solution for the owner.”

Lien, who joined the precast industry about 18 years ago, hasn’t been able to leave because he likes a challenge. “I’ve always enjoyed this business,” he details. “It’s challenging, energetic and you get to work with all sorts of people -I’ve worked with precasters all over the U.S.”

Lien admits EnCon is continuing to enhance the company’s current product lines while increasing efficiency in product design and delivery. “We’re also looking to expand into new construction markets,” he reveals. “We want to figure out how to be more thoroughly involved in a project’s full life cycle.” The EnCon Companies continue to divide and conquer the precast industry through an impressive range of service and depth of knowledge.