Meet 18 of North Bay's top commercial general contractors

The following are profiles of top executives of the highest-ranking companies on the Commercial General Contractors list, published by the Business Journal on March 14.

Richard Ghilotti

Ghilotti Construction Co.

246 Ghilotti Ave., Santa Rosa 95407; 707-585-1221; ghilotti.com; ’15 revenues: $85.2 million North Bay, $200.5 million companywide; 300 employees

President and Chief Executive Officer Dick Ghilotti, 69, co-founded the general engineering contracting company in 1992. Stretching back to North Bay roots more than a century ago, the contractor has established offices in Marin and Napa counties and the East Bay and acquired North Bay Construction in 2010.

Big recent projects include $21.6 million for the Petaluma Old Redwood Highway overcrossing on Highway 101, picked as a 2015 Business Journal top project, $14.0 million for a North Marin aquaduct relocation project in Novato, and $8.3 million for replacing a Highway 12 bridge in Sebastopol.

Mark Davis

Wright Contracting

P.O. Box 1270, Santa Rosa 95402; 707-528-1172; wrightcontracting.com; ’15 revenues: $74.2 million North Bay and companywide; 45 employees

Mark Davis was promoted to president from vice president and operations manager in 2009. He has been working at Wright Contracting for 30 years. Paul V. Wright started the company in 1953.

Wine industry and education projects factor heavily in the company’s portfolio. Large recent projects in this vein are $3.8 million in work on MacRostie Winery in Healdsburg and a $20.5 million job at the College of Marin academic center in Kentfield. Another large project is MidPen Housing’s $27.5 million Fetters Apartments mixed-use development, which broke ground Aug. 14, 2015, near Sonoma and is set to open in phases through 2017.

Mike Ghilotti

Ghilotti Bros.

525 Jacoby St., San Rafael 94901; 415-454-7011; ghilottibros.com; ’14 revenues: $66.2 million North Bay; $85.4 million companywide; 75 employees

Mike Ghilotti, 54, became president in 2000 of the general engineering contracting company his grandfather James Ghilotti started in 1914.

A major recent project was $72 million in work on the Highway 101 bridge over the Petaluma River.

Roger Nelson

Midstate Construction Corp.

1180 Holm Rd., Petaluma 94954; 707-762-3200; midstateconstruction.com; ’15 revenues: $46.1 million North Bay; $83.0 million companywide; 53 employees

Roger Nelson, 70, has been owner and president of 80-year-old Midstate for 38 years.

Major recent projects have been $25.7 million for 144-unit The Haven at Petaluma apartment project, $15 million on the 115-room Hampton Inn & Suites hotel in Napa and $8.8 million on Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts.

Jim Murphy

Jim Murphy & Associates

464 Kenwood Ct., #B, Santa Rosa 95407; 707-576-7337; j-m-a.com; ’15 revenues: $38.0 million North Bay, $65.0 million companywide; 45 employees

President Jim Murphy, 74, started the company in 1968. It specializes in design-build, hospitality, private-school, custom-home and wine-related projects. Jay True is co-owner of the company.

JMA in 2016 finished Sonoma County’s largest office project, a 120,000-square-foot, $54 million new headquarters for American AgCredit and agriculture-related trade groups, located near Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport north of Santa Rosa. Other big projects have been $9.9 million in improvements to Camp Newman near Santa Rosa and $4.4 million toward the Stewart Cellars winery in Yountville.

Jeff Luchetti

Jeff Luchetti Construction

70 Stony Point Rd., #D, Santa Rosa 95401; 707-527-5788; jlcbuild.com; ’15 revenues: $31.0 million North Bay and companywide; 52 employees

Jeff Luchetti, 59, started general contracting company JLC in 1998. Since then, the company has diversified. JL Builders erects custom homes, and JL Modular constructs permanent and movable buildings for schools, hospitals and correctional facilities.

Nine years after starting, JL Modular in late 2014 opened its first factory, a 45,000-square-foot facility in the former Standard Structures property north of Santa Rosa. The division makes modular and prefabricated structures for the division’s projects as well as for jobs underway by JLC and JL Builders.

Major recent projects have been $5.3 million for classrooms at Thomas Page Academy in Cotati, $4 million toward North Street Apartments in Santa Rosa and $3 million on a STEM building at Healdsburg High School.

Kelly Kolander

O.C. Jones & Sons

1520 Fourth St., Berkeley 94608; 510-526-3424; ocjones.com; ?’14 revenues: $28.0 million North Bay, $156 million companywide; 250 employees

Kelly Kolander is president and chief executive officer of the Berkeley-based general engineering contractor founded in 1924.

Current North Bay projects are $17 million on resurfacing Highway 20 near Clearlake, $5.2 million on phase 2 of Highway 12 improvements near Sonoma, $4.7 million on Analy and El Molino high school stadiums in Sebastopol and Forestville and $400,000 for Sonoma Academy sports and recreational facilities in Santa Rosa.

Craig Nordby

Nordby Construction

1229 N. Dutton Ave., #C, Santa Rosa 95401; 707-526-4500; nordby.net; ’15 revenues: $23 million North Bay and companywide; 25 employees

Nordby Construction was founded in 1978 by Wendell Nordby Jr. His sons “Del” and Craig Nordby were involved in senior positions in the family business, until Del Nordby left in 2010 to pursue real estate development. Craig Nordby in 2010 assumed full ownership of the company.

Del and Craig Nordby in 1996 started Nordby Wine Caves. Rick Shone is president and co-owner of that company.

The Nordbys started Nordby Signature Homes in 2004. Dave Schroeder became half-owner with Craig Nordby in 2011 and manages that custom-home builder.

In line with a heavy focus on wine industry projects, the construction group’s largest recent projects include wineries: Goosecross Cellars in Yountville and upgrades for Roth Winery and Caves, which Bill Foley acquired in 2012 near Healdsburg. Another big job has been tenant improvements for expanded Santa Rosa headquarters for Jackson Family Wines.

Daniel Garon

Devcon Construction

1700 Corporate Cir., Petaluma 94954; 707-765-1580; devcon-const.com; ’14 revenues: $21.0 million North Bay, $1.2 billion companywide; eight North Bay employees

Daniel Garon oversees North Bay operations for Milpitas-based Devcon Construction, which first came to the North Bay in the late 1990s to build Telecom Valley offices because of the company’s relationships with a number of Silicon Valley technology companies. Since then, the company’s North Bay scope has widened.

Large recent projects have been completion of the 226,000-square-foot first warehouse at the Greenwood Business Park project in south Napa Valley - a 2015 project the Business Journal recognized - groundbreaking in August on a 80,000-square-foot Greenwood second phase, groungbreaking in February on 260,000-square-foot Cader Corporate Center warehouse project in Petaluma and design-build work started on the 260,000-square-foot Victory Station warehouse project south of Sonoma.

Michael Gentry

GCCI

P.O. Box 11039, Santa Rosa 95406; 707-545-2134; gcciinc.com; ’15 revenues: $13.4 million; 15 employees

President Michael Gentry started GCCI and has been in the construction business for three decades.

Specialty areas are schools, public works, historic restoration, tenant improvements and metal buildings. Recent large projects were $3.3 million for Santa Rosa fire station 5 and $1.5 million in new construction and modernization at Larkspur and San Anselmo elementary schools.

Rick Freeman

Codding Construction

1400 Valley House Dr., #100, Rohnert Park 94928; 707-795-3550; codding.com; ’15 employees: $12.1 million; 10 employees

Rick Freeman is president of the construction arm of Codding Investments, which owns SoMo Village in southeast Rohnert Park, various retail space in the same city, Merced Mall and half of Coddingtown mall in Santa Rosa. The company has its roots in 1947, when founder Hugh Codding started building housing and shopping in Santa Rosa.

Today, a main role for Codding Construction is doing tenant improvements of portfolio properties, but the company also undertakes large projects at these sites.

A major recent project is $5 million toward reworking the northeast corner of Coddingtown for new stores and a new Nordstrom Rack store, which opened Sept. 30.

William McDevitt

McDevitt Construction Partners

3820 Cypress Dr., #6, Petaluma 94954; 707-763-3000; mcdevittconstruction.com; ’15 revenues: $10.0 million; 13 employees

“Willie” McDevitt co-founded the company in 1976, and it has been involved with building a number of sizable commercial buildings in Sonoma County.

A recent large projects are $5 million to remodel and add to the Hansel Toyota dealership in Petaluma, $3.8 million on Balletto Winery near Santa Rosa, $1.6 million for Valley Memorial Park in Novato and $800,000 on The Living Room in Santa Rosa.

Thomas Dawson

Precision General Commercial Contractors

300 Turney St., Sausalito 94965; 415-332-8390; precisiongc.com; ’15 revenues: $8.8 million North Bay; $40.0 million companywide; 20 employees

An architect by training and licensed in five states - California, Nevada, Arizona, Washington and Virginia - Tom Dawson is CEO and started the company in 1996. His three-decade career boasts construction of more than 43,000 units in 300-plus projects.

Recent local projects were the $9.7 million on Burbank Housing’s Park Lane and Madrone apartments in Petaluma, Burbank’s Gray’s Meadow Apartments in Santa Rosa and Marin Clean Energy’s headquarters in San Rafael.

Richard Kirby & ?York Saccomanno

Kirby Construction Co.

3262 Airway Dr., #B, Santa Rosa 95403; 707-526-0880; kirbycon.com; ’15 revenues: $8.3 million North Bay, $12.2 million North Bay; 30 employees

Richard Kirby and York Saccomanno started Kirby Construction in 2003. Kirby earned a construction management degree from California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo.

Beyond new construction, areas of specialization are tenant improvements, clean rooms, laboratories, facility upgrades, historic retrofits, medical facilities and custom homes.

Allen Nelson Jr.

A.E. Nelson Construction

642 Martin Ave., #A, Rohnert Park 94928; 707-636-1750; aenelsonconstruction.com; ’15 revenues: $6.9 million; 10 employees

Allen Nelson started the company in 1984. The firm specializes in public projects, such as government, school and public works jobs. A large recent project was $2.3 million for Casa Grande High School fields and stadium in Petaluma and upgrades to Children’s Museum of Sonoma County in Santa Rosa.

Joe Meylan

Meylan Construction

3145 Kerner Blvd., #A, San Rafael 94901; 415-256-1620; meylanconstruction.com; ’15 revenues: $6.1 million North Bay, $7.1 million companywide; 18 employees

Joe Meylan grew up around construction with his Seabee father, Lou, hiring him as a laborer on Pacific Telesis projects during college breaks. After earning a degree in business with a minor in construction management in 1982, Meylan worked as a journeyman carpenter on tenant improvements and then as a carpenter, project manager and estimator for Perry & Johnson Construction.

When the Loma Prieta quake rocked the Bay Area in 1989, he started Meylan Construction to fill the large need for structural improvements and repair. Among the company’s specialties are Americans With Disabilities Act upgrades, clean rooms and laboratories, medical facilities, retail tenant improvements and commercial remodels.

Large recent projects were $275,000 on Bright Bear Bakery in Petaluma, $2.8 million on Sitecore’s Sausalito headquarters and $636,000 on the Vivarium Mole Lab at The Buck Institute for Research on Aging.

Robert Cantu

Western Builders

1400 N. Dutton Ave., #7, Santa Rosa 95401; 707-542-3213; westernbuilders.info; ’14 revenues: $3.5 million; six employees

Robert Cantu started Western Builders in 2002 and has become an active voice for the concerns and needs of the Sonoma County building industry via leading roles with The Construction Coalition.

A large recent project has been renovations and tenant improvements in Tamimi Business Park, part of the former Optical Coating Laboratory Inc. campus in southwest Santa Rosa.

David Köch

Köch Construction

1550 Airport Blvd., #104, Santa Rosa 95403; 707-575-5608; kochconstruction.net; ’15 revenues: $3.3 million; three employees

Since 1983, Dave Köch has been president of the commercial general contracting company his father started in 1935. Before that, the younger Köch had operated his own construction company for a dozen years.

Specialty areas for the company are design-build projects, including wineries, tiltup concrete commercial buildings and Butler pre-engineered metal buildings with high-end architectural finishes. A major recent project is $3.2 million on Sonoma Jet Center at Charles M. Schulz–Sonoma County Airport north of Santa Rosa.

Jeff Quackenbush (jquackenbush@busjrnl.com, 707-521-4256) covers construction, commercial real estate and wine.