Summer Sprint for School Construction is On for Erickson-Hall
CONSTRUCTION: Escondido Co. Thrives in Niche Industry
BY RAY HUARD
ESCONDIDO – Erickson-Hall Construction Company is in the midst of what company President Mat Gates calls a summer sprint of school construction projects in Southern California, including two in San Diego County.
“We’re pushing upwards of about $100 million of work,” Gates said.
Since its founding in 1998 with a staff of four, the employee-owned company has grown to have 212 employees and has become a powerhouse in school construction from new buildings to renovations.
“Doing schools is a niche industry. The requirements in California are extensive, and we’ve been a school builder since the very beginning and we were building schools with other companies as we were coming up through the trades,” Gates said.
Of the $3.5 billion in construction projects that Erickson-Hall has completed, $3 billion has been for K-12 and higher education projects.
Gates said that 30% to 35% of the company’s annual revenue comes from school projects that it does during the summer.
This summer, the company has seven school projects under way, including nearly $30 million of work at Albert Einstein Academy Charter School for San Diego Unified School District and a $9 million library modernization project at Eastlake High School for the Sweetwater Union High School District.
The Eastlake work is particularly challenging because it has to be done quickly, Gates said.
“We’ve got about six, seven weeks to get it done,” Gates said. “We’re basically stripping the library and rebuilding it, leaving the frame intact, (adding) new technology, new infrastructure, and redoing the shelving and putting it back together.”
At Albert Einstein Academy, Erickson-Hall plans to complete about $8 million to $9 million of work on the overall $30 million project that Gates said would take a year to complete.
“Basically, we’re prepping for a new building,” Gates said, “putting in the site work while the kids are gone.”
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Project Manager at Morgan Sindall Construction & Infrastructure
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