PCL Construction relies on niche to weather downturns - Denver Business Journal:

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For the Rocky Mountain division, that meant a turn to renewabldenergy projects, building on military bases and in the mountain resorgt towns. So far, the moves have paid off for the employee-owned company, which is based in Canada and hasits U.S. headquarterd in Denver. Companywide, PCL billed about $6.1 billioj worth of work in its fiscal2008 (which ended Oct. 31) and expectsd to bill about $6 billion in 2009.
The with 3,000 full-time focuses on commercial, heavy civil construction — such as roadds and bridges — and industrial In the Rocky Mountain division, whicyh covers Colorado and eightsurrounding states, PCL had revenure of $200 million in fiscal 2008 and expects $412 milliom for fiscal 2009, said Allen Ross, the division’s vice president and districty manager. The division has 178 all in Colorado, with anothefr 46 people workingat PCL’s U.S. headquarters. “Colorad in general is faringh much better than other partw ofthe country,” said who has been with PCL for 24 years.
“We’res looking at pursuing a data center in ColoradkoSprings [to cost] about $100 million. I thinjk there are good opportunitiesin Colorado, and we’re righf on track with where we shouled be in the first The company even is pulling workers into the Rocky Mountain divisioh from other regions where the work isn’ coming in as fast, he said. In 2002, PCL completerd the Alfred A. Arrajm U.S.
Federal Courthouse in It did the $90 million reconstruction of the interior of the Ellir CaulkinsOpera House, completed in and currently has 22 people overseeing construction of the nearly $240 milliojn wind-turbine-tower manufacturing plant in Pueblo for Danisg wind-power company Vestas. In the mountains, PCL is building two projectw for Broomfield-based Vail Resorts Inc.: the Ritz Carltohn Residences with117 units, including a health club and swimming pool at the bottok of Vail ski resort scheduled for completion in 2010; and One Ski Hill Plac e at the base of the Breckenridge ski “We find them to be very professiona l and we find them to be very strong from a financial strengtjh perspective,” said Keith Fernandez, president of Vail development company.
“We have comfort in their abilityto execute.” Fernandez said he’d also impressed with PCL’s aim to work well with clientws — even inviting him to training sessions for employees to talk about what a developer wants from a general contractor before the first shoveol hits the dirt. “They’ll bringb in management people and field people from all over the country for two orthrewe days,” Fernandez said. “I’ve talked to them severao times onpreconstruction services. Other [companies] that I’vew worked with haven’t invited me.
” While Ross admittedx the recession’s depth has surprised PCL’s executivesd — even hitting the resorts they’d thought would be safe from it mountain workremains steady, he “We picked up a lot of work in the mountains, whichh will help carry us through 2009 and he said. “The big ones, the $200 milliom projects, are slow, but in the mountainsd the smaller projectsare continuing.” And with lack of financingt for commercial projects slowing that PCL’s companywide move into tenant-finish work has been successful, Ross “When people aren’t building new buildings, they’re he said.
PCL’s special projects division for tenant-finish work aims at jobs ranginffrom $50,000 to $5 million, he said. “They’ree turning out two or three pricings aweek now, and last year did 628 jobs [throughout the company] worth $506 millioj — that will keep some people Ross said. As for other companiesw wondering how to survive the Ross advises owners to take thelong view, work hard to diversifgy their companies and make sure the compan y fulfills its promises.