Top California Contractors

General Contractors

When planning your next home improvement project, BuildZoom can help you find a contractor with a solid track record of quality work. This week we compiled a list of the most active general contractors within California’s home improvement market, by looking at those contractors that procured the most permits from California building departments in 2014.

This list considers general contractors that specialize in discretionary home improvement projects, e.g. kitchen, bath, or other room remodels/additions for both single and multifamily housing; firms that mainly focus on a narrow facet of home remodels or repairs (e.g. roofs, doors, windows, etc)  were omitted. The total number of building permits captures different types of projects. Sometimes, permits are missing project valuation, we controlled for this by calculating average valuation as a function of total project valuation and the permits that did include project valuation. The average valuation is omitted in the case that the project valuation was missing completely from the permit data.

After considering the top 25, a few things jumped out:

• Top two contractors – Jassos Construction Co. and Treeium Eco Home Remodeling each obtained over 300 building permits in 2014, that’s double the amount of the third most active contractor.
• The North-South split  – 13 of the top 25 general contractors are headquartered in Southern California, and they account for 57% of all building permits represented on the list. (Conversely, Northern Californian contractors hold 12 spots and account for 43%.)
• Hing Wah Construction Inc. ($85,520) and CTR Builders Inc. ($2,060) represent the high and low extremes of average valuation.

If you have specific questions, comments or are interested in learning more about our data, you can e-mail our data team directly!

Commercial Contractors

Last month we compiled a list of the Top 25 US Solar Contractors from 2014. This month we decided to take a closer look at the contractors driving commercial growth in California, by studying those with the most building permits from 2014.

This list is compiled of firms that work primarily on new commercial construction. We omitted firms that mainly focus on tenant improvement or commercial remodeling, as determined from their general permit data type. Sometimes, permits are missing project valuation, we controlled for this by calculating average valuation as a function of total project valuation and the permits that did include project valuation. The average valuation is omitted in the case that the project valuation was missing completely from the permit data. The list is sorted in descending order by total permits, including both permits that did and did not report project valuation.

After considering the top 25, a few things jumped out:

• The Bay Area’s boom – Five of the top seven spots on the list are held by Bay Area based companies, for a total of 1,500 building permits.
• Southern California growth – Companies based in the Los Angeles and San Diego metro area accounted for 12 of the top 25 spots, for a total of 1,748 permits.
• The Four Out-of-Staters – We were pleasantly surprised to see four of the top 25 commercial contractors are headquartered outside of California. New York based Turner Construction clocks in at number 6 with 227 building permits.
• McCarthy is a large-scale project leader – St. Louis based McCarthy Building Companies Inc leads the list in terms of highest average valuation ($5,709,915), building everything from corporate headquarters to retail outlets.

The top 25 are listed in the table below along with links to their BuildZoom profile matched to their corporate headquarters. Some of these companies have multiple licenses and profiles on BuildZoom. Currently, you can see their other profiles by searching for their business name and location on BuildZoom. In the future, we’ll be introducing a section on these profiles to allow you to easily navigate all of the profiles associated with national companies.

If you have specific questions, comments or are interested in learning more about our data, contact us directly.

Home Builders

Historically speaking, the housing market is one of the most significant indicators of the economy’s health. Growing demand for home buying is reflective of rising consumer confidence. This week we decided to take a closer look at the home builders driving residential growth in California, by listing those issued the most permits from California building departments in 2014.  

This list considers home builders that focus on new residential construction, including both single and multifamily housing; firms that mainly focus on home remodels or repairs were omitted. The total number of building permits includes different types of projects (not just new homes). The median value however, omits permits that reference home maintenance. 

After considering the top 25, a few things jumped out: 

• Lennar leads the pack – With 2,538 California building permits in 2014 alone, this Miami based national home builder far exceeds its competition. 
• Out-of-state home builders well represented  – 10 of the top 25 home builders are headquartered outside of California (including one in Canada). Out-of-state home builders accounted for nearly half of all building permits represented on the list.
• William Lyon Homes and Western National Builders had high median job valuations due to their focus on larger, multi-unit condos and apartments.

If you have specific questions, comments or are interested in learning more about our data, you can e-mail our data team directly! 

Note:  To ensure the median valuation was reflective of new construction projects, we set a lower bound for the job valuation assigned to the permit at $200,000.