There’s no doubt about it—Miami is a prime vacation spot. Expansive, luxurious hotels and resorts dot its crystalline shoreline. Urban centers, like Downtown Miami and neighborhoods like Brickell, compete for airtime as developers reach for soaring new heights with commercial, residential, and mixed-use highrises. Multi-billion dollar stadiums and entertainment districts are also currently underway. Bringing architectural design to life, the reputable contractors behind the biggest and most expensive of these projects are ranked below.

10) McKenzie Construction + Craft

Website | (786) 412-7341 | 2247 NW 17th Ave Miami FL 33142

Gavin McKenzie started out as a self-performing general contractor in the wake of Hurricane Wilma. He would take care of all aspects of a project: scheduling, budgeting, and building. He was fresh out of school. McKenzie only opened for business in 2005, but in the 12 years since, it has become a company well-known for its work in South Florida. Today, McKenzie employs more than 90 people and work out of a 25,000-square-foot 1938 warehouse in Allapattah. The firm, which takes on both commercial and residential projects, specializes in design, construction, and high-end millwork manufacturing.

Featured Projects

In Biscayne Park stands a historic log cabin. Its windows expelling warm yellow light, the structure is very clearly from another time. Built in 1935, it was in need of some updates, and McKenzie Construction was able to lend a hand. Along with architect Richard Heisenbottle, the company helped to restore and refurbish the cabin, installing hurricane-resistant windows, bathrooms, doors, and a wrap-around porch and fireplace.

McKenzie also worked on 3650 N Miami Ave., a midtown property that offers space to various furniture vendors. McKenzie did a full structural shell remodel to the building that houses Clima Outdoor furniture and Alno Kitchen Designs. The company also added a third floor and built out interior common areas and tenant spaces.

9) R2 Construction Group, LLC

Website | (305) 264-3544 | 18001 Old Cutler Road Suite 646 Palmetto Bay FL 33157

Miami native Richard Reyes, the CEO and co-founder of R2, is an expert in modern style architecture and penthouse design. He comes from Miami, so he knows what the landscape has and lacks. You won’t find Reyes making a decision that’s not in keeping with the personality of Miami; it’s in his blood. For more than a quarter century, R2 construction group has been building around South Florida. The company takes all sorts of projects: commercial, high-rises, multi-family and residential, government projects. R2 also offers design-build services, remodeling, construction management, demolition, new commercial construction, project management, and trade work.

Featured Projects

For Brazilian eyewear company Chilli Beans, R2 helped to create a space that looks like a museum of futuristic art: zig-zagged lines, lots of sculptural elements, and white lights. The finished project holds its place in the Morris Lapidus-designed Lincoln Road Mall, which runs east and west between 16th and 17th Streets in Miami Beach.

R2 has also done work at Bal Harbour Shops, on J.W. Cooper and The Webster Men’s. The two projects have a similar aesthetic — neutral brown tones mixed with creams and grays; clean, straight lines. The simplicity of these projects, when compared to a complex project like Chilli Beans, shows the scope of what R2 can do.

8) Golden Sands General Contractors

Website | (305) 633-3336 | 2500 NW 39th Street, Miami, FL 33142

Golden Sands has been in business since 1988, helping to turn abstract ideas into buildings all around the state of Florida. The firm has worked on banking facilities, airports, sports arenas, IT centers, office and industrial complexes; its contractors have serviced even Fortune 100 companies. Mary Maguire, chair of the board and co-founder of Golden Sands, worked a government job before transitioning to Golden Sands. Macguire worked as director of training for the Cayman Islands Government for nearly a decade. Today, she is a member of the Women’s Business Enterprise National Council. Peter Fedele, president and co-founder of Golden Sands, started his career as a developer in the Cayman Islands. He then worked as a developer in Miami, developing warehouses, offices, and housing facilities, until he decided to start his own general contracting company. Fedele is a licensed Florida State General Contractor and Florida State Roofing Contractor, as well as a member of the national Storm Shelter Association Education and Outreach Foundation Board.  

Featured Projects

Golden Sands worked on the American Airlines Arena: the Biscayne Bay-adjacent home of the Miami Heat. The company was tasked with a multi-million-dollar renovation project that would transform its upscale suite level over the course of two phases. The company worked on the suites, locker room, and lounges of the arena, adding Silestone quartz countertops, plush carpeting, accents in keeping with the Heat’s red-and-black color scheme.

Worth noting is the fact that Golden Sands also does the opposite of giant arenas. The company prides itself on charitable work, and has both volunteered with Habitat for Humanity in Miami and built greenhouses in St. Ann, Jamaica.

7) Balfour Beatty Construction

Website | (954) 585-4000 | 7901 SW 6th Ct Ste 200 Plantation FL 33324

In Florida, Balfour Beatty is led by Scott Skidelsky, COO Florida and officer-in-charge of National Business Acquisition, procurement, and communications. Skidelsky served as an Officer in Charge of Construction and Contracting Officer in the United States Navy. Skidelsky, who studied engineering at the University of Illinois, has made the Building Design + Construction “Forty Under 40 List.” In 2007, he was named “Man of the Year” by the Orlando Business Journal. Balfour Beatty won the NAOIP 2014 Economic Impact of the Year Award for its work on the Tradition Medical Center, a LEED Gold facility in Florida. The same project earned the company a feature in Medical Construction & Design Magazine.

Balfour Beatty saw $250.8 million in gross billings in 2013, and $4.5 billion in revenue in 2015.

Featured Projects

Perhaps one of Balfour Beatty’s most far-reaching and impactful projects is the Tradition Medical Center in St. Lucie County. This project is one of the first in the United States to use the Integrated Project Delivery method. The company used pull planning and 3-D modeling, among other techniques. The six-story, 207,787-square-foot building includes administrative areas, a business office, and general hospital administration, in addition to dozens of patient beds. There are 14 childbirth suites, an emergency department, a Levell II neonatal intensive care unit, operating rooms, and a cafeteria. The building came up from nothing on a 21-acre plot of land.

6) KAST Construction Co. LLC

Website | (561) 689-2910 | 701 Northpoint Pkwy Suite 400

KAST has three offices in Florida: its corporate headquarters in West Palm Beach, and one in Miami, and another in Tampa. The company offers preconstruction planning, construction phase services, post construction, and virtual design construction, and is hyper-conscious of safety and sustainability/LEED certification.President and CEO Mike Neal has been working in construction since 1979. Neal, who earned his Bachelor of Building Construction at the University of Florida, is a certified general contractor in the state. He has served as an executive for various ENR Top 100 construction management firms. In 2015, KAST saw $276.41 million in South Florida gross billings.

Featured Projects

KAST Construction Co. LLC left fingerprints on the Coral Square Shoppes, a 165,000-square-foot open shopping mall in Fort Pierce. The sprawling set of stores was designed for Tulepan Management by architect McGee P.A. There are 30 retail stores within the mall, and no two are quite alike: Build-a-Bear Workshop, Best Buy Mobile, Brow Art 23, to name a few.

In March 2017, KAST started building the structure that, once finished, is set to be the city’s tallest building. The 46-story, 499-foot-tall mixed-use tower in Fort Lauderdale is scheduled to open in late 2019. The structure will house 8,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor, 121 condominiums that will wear price tags between $800,000 and $2 million, and 238 hotel rooms.

5) Turner Construction Co.

Website | (786) 621-9000 | 7235 Corporate Center Dr. Miami FL 33126

Headed by President and CEO Peter J. Davoren, Turner Construction Co. employs 5,200 people, who finish work on 1,500 projects per year. That’s $10 billion worth of construction. In 2013, Turner saw total gross billings of $347.5 million. Davoren studied at Pratt Institute and went on to work as a field engineer in Boston and then moved to New York in 1980. He has been president of Turner since 2003, and CEO since 2004. The company emphasizes the importance of safety, and works to use planning techniques to prevent worksite accidents. And, of course, like many other contemporary construction companies, Turner tries to build green. In 2017, Advisory HQ named Turner one of the top 6 best commercial building contractors in the United States; the Engineering News-Record named the company the number one green builder in the country on its “Top 100 Green Buildings Contractors and Green Buildings Design Firms” list. The company won the same ENR award in 2016.

Featured Projects

The Corona Cigar Co. store is golden and glowing. The 5,000-square-foot Orlando project involved a high-end interior build-out of the cigar store and bar. Turner created a custom curved bar, custom cigar display shelving, a themed space meant to look like a Latin American locale, retail space, office space, gathering space, storage, and, of course, restrooms.

Another 5,000-square-foot project, the Orlando Magic Marketing Center is meant to dazzle potential purchasers of Orlando Events Center box seats. The space, for which Turner provided an interior build-out, was designed with the goal of giving visitors a taste of the amenity package they would recieve if they were to purchase box seats at the events center. The center uses high-end graphics, leather seating, and granite surfaces in its attempt to charm investors.

4) OHL USA

Website | (305) 884-9494 | 9725 NW 117th Ave #105 Medley FL 33178

With two offices in Florida, OHL USA has seeped its way into the Floridian construction landscape. The company established its presence in Florida when it acquired two large Florida construction companies in 2006. Short for Obrascón Huarte Lain, OHL is an international practice, so there’s money behind the operation. OHL provides design-bid-build, design-build, design-build-finance, private-public partnership, project financing, operations and maintenance services.

The Engineering News-Record ranked OHL USA in the top 250 Global Contractors by Engineering News-Record in 2016. According to the 2017 ENR ranking, OHL is the 27th largest contractor internationally, the 10th largest in America, and the 4th in Latin America. OHL’s South Florida gross billings in 2015 totaled $442.56 million.

Photo Courtesy of Florida’s Turnpike

Featured Projects

OHL USA is the firm responsible for Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise’s service plazas. The series of eight service plazas, an estimated 45 miles apart from each other, offer various transportation products and services to Turnpike traffic. Plazas in Pompano Beach and Okahumpka each have 11,500-square-foot convenience stores, fuel canopies, fuel farms, truck parking areas, and impound lots.

Fort Pierce and Form Drum plazas have been entirely rebuilt. Each has its own 40,000-square-foot restaurant building, 3,500-square-foot convenience stores, fuel canopy, and expanded fuel farm. At Fort Drum, there is now a water and waste-water treatment plant.

3) Plaza Construction

Website | (786) 693-8700 | 120 NE 27th St #600 Miami FL 33137

Plaza Construction has been incorporated since way back in 1986. The company helps to construct commercial properties, corporate headquarters, healthcare centers, universities, infrastructure, transportation facilities, museums, retail spaces, and hospitality and residential buildings.

Richard Wood and Lester Rivelis lead Plaza Construction, as chief executive officer/president and chief operating officer, respectively. Wood started working for Plaza as a field superintendent decades ago. He worked his way up, earning promotions to general superintendent and then to project executive, executive vice president, and then president. Rivelis has a juris Doctor degree from New York Law School, and has worked for more than three decades as a construction attorney. As a lawyer, Rivelis’ perspective brings a unique and necessary knowledge base to Plaza. Plaza has won a laundry list of awards, including the 2013 Contractor of the Year award from the Miami Chapter of the AIA and various “green” construction awards. Its south Florida gross billings for 2015 totaled $450 million.

Picture Courtesy of BNI Engineers

Featured Projects

Plaza worked on Town Center One, a Dadeland office tower within a 5.5-acre development that integrates commercial, retail, and residential space. The exterior of the 24-story structure features a window wall made of metal and glass. The interior is defined by dark wood accents and smooth, shiny floors in the full palette of neutral colors. Floor plans in the building are flexible.

2) Suffolk Construction Co.

Website | (305) 374-1107 | 1 Biscayne Tower 2 S Biscayne Blvd Suite #2700 Miami FL 33131

Suffolk Construction Co.’s motto is, “Build smart.” The company is constantly trying to innovate. The Miami office is located Downtown on purpose: architects and clients can easily visit the office, which is in a busy area full of young people. In Miami, the team is led by Jeff Gouveia, president and general manager of the Southeast region. Gouveia started his career as a junior estimator in a cubicle at Suffolk and moved up the ranks. He leads with Pete Tuffo, chief operating office of the southeast. The company has garnered various awards throughout the years, including a slew of awards in 2010 for mixed-use building Fifth and Alton. Suffolk has grown over the years. In 2013, its total billings were just $243.7 million. By 2015, its annual gross billings had risen to $552.57 million.

Featured Projects

For its mixed-use building, Fifth and Alton, in Miami Beach, Suffolk won five separate honors: Private Project of the Year from the Urban Land Institute; Best of 2010 Award — Best Retail Project from Southeast Construction; Excellence in Construction Award — Eagle Award in the mixed-use, $30 million to $75 million category, from the Associated Builders and Contractors; Best Retail Award from McGraw-Hill Construction; and Best of 2010 Award, in the retail category, from Southeast Construction. There are three retail levels and a six-level parking garage in the 780,000-square-foot structure. The building sits atop auger-cast piles with elevated concrete decks. A pre-stressed concrete joist system provides structural support.

Suffolk also worked on the Dania Casino and Jai Alai, in Dania Beach. The company took on a multi-phase project that would improve the 241,000-square-foot entertainment venue. At the time of completion, the venue had four restaurants, 1,100 slot machines, a poker room, a simulcast wager room, a performance stage, and a Jai Alai court.

1) Coastal Construction Group

Website | (305) 559-4900 | 5959 Blue Lagoon Drive, Suite 200, Miami, FL 33126

Coastal Construction Group has been helping to shape Miami’s architectural landscape since 1988. Four generations of Murphy’s, beginning with Tom Murphy, an immigrant carpenter, have gotten Coastal to where it is today: on a list of the top 100 construction management companies in America. The company does work primarily in the realms of commercial, hospitality, education, residential, mixed-use, worship, interiors, historic restoration, and disaster recovery. In 2015, the Associated General Contractors of America awarded Coastal Construction Group the Willis/AGC Construction Safety Excellence Award, its highest construction safety honor. The company’s safety standards are upheld by 20 bilingual safety managers, led by Vice President of Safety David Wessin; and the 2015 safety award was not its first. The company is a three-time winner of the Sunshine State Safety Award from the University of South Florida, among other similar honors. Coastal reported $936 million South Florida gross billings in 2015.

Featured Projects

Coastal Construction is the firm behind the Bacardi Headquarters in Coral Gables. The 250,000-square-foot structure is 15 stories tall. The design features four pink-toned tiers, which creates a shape the company describes as a wedding cake. The tiered shape, according to Coastal, creates minimal street-level shadow. The building includes both retail and office space — 20,000-square-foot of retail real estate; 221,765-square-feet of office space. Built into the structure is a seven-story parking garage with 826 available spaces.

The company also worked on six projects at the Jupiter Yacht club. The work was complicated by the scenery: on the waterfront property, the company was often building within 15 feet of the marina. Coastal’s work on the yacht club involved not only retail, but residential, office, garage, and amenities projects.