Case Studies Region: West

Along with getting married and finding a new job, buying a home is said to be one of the three most stressful events in a person’s life. This refers to both the searching for and eventual purchase of a home, but the stress can be compounded when the house is being built from the ground […]

It’s not just because the company he co-founded built the development where Jeff Ayres resides that makes his home so appealing. The Vrain Street duplexes in the Mile High City’s Berkeley neighborhood bring out all the amenities of urban living with a healthy mix of privacy. Residents may forget they’re within walking distance of where […]

Every morning between 3:30 and 4:00, while the homes of his neighbors lie still and dark, Jon Archer is getting ready to work. Long before the sun or the competition is up, he’s checking email, having his first cup of coffee, reviewing proposals. As one of the principals for Crew Builders, a San Diego-based commercial […]

As Jon Wesley “Wes” Treder scrolls through the many applications for the San Luis Obispo International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ (IBEW LU639) five-year apprenticeship program, he can’t help but notice a serious lack of hands-on experience. “There are kids coming through who don’t know how to use a tape measure, or understand what a sixteenth […]

Employee stock ownership plans (ESOPs) have gained popularity in the last 20 years, in part because favorable tax regulations have made them an excellent way for retiring leaders to set up succession plans that reward their team, and because by passing profits and losses to ESOP trusts, which serve as shareholders, certain corporations can avoid […]

When people think of a construction job they usually don’t imagine stacks of paper, but in reality that’s what it takes to get something built. On top of the hundreds of full-sized blueprints, a large commercial project—such as a hospital or department store—has at least 50 or more additional half-sets scattered around the site. All […]

Flying over Libby Dam in Montana, you see two things: 90 miles of slate blue water, winding below low, sloping mountains and an impressive span of concrete holding that water back. What you don’t see is all the activity that happens inside the dam, activity that allows the 43-year-old structure—that’s more than half a mile […]

When big box stores, like Walmart or Menards, build a new location, erecting the steel framework is one of the most dangerous and time-consuming parts of the process. Entire construction crews have to work dozens of feet in the air, welding panels and structural steel. Even though this is how the industry has operated for […]

When the military has a project involving construction or engineering, it’s not swayed by low bid alone. The stakes are too high, the margin for error practically nonexistent. It takes a contractor with a track record to impress the brass. All the better if it’s a company known for completing work on time and within […]

Although Neeser Construction, a design-build contractor headquartered in Anchorage, Alaska, has been building in northern Nevada since the late ‘90s, Business Development Manager Luke Hermann says he’s never experienced a construction boom as diversified as today’s. “Just recently there has been this influx of growth of major logos, like Tesla, Switch, eBay and Apple investing […]