Stacy Witbeck has a long-standing partnership with the Port of Long Beach on such projects as the Pier B Rail Yard East Expansion.
Photo courtesy Stacy Witbeck

The 87 firms on ENR West’s 2026 Top Contractors list reported $67.54 billion in regional revenue, and the list is churning—20 of them were unranked a year ago. The biggest builders are pulling away, with the top 10 taking 41% of all revenue reported.

“Overall business in the West remains strong, with revenue up compared to this time last year,” says Carlos Gonzalez, Western group president at Clark Construction. “Growth this year is largely driven by sustained demand in data centers, government and infrastructure work and health care.”

While data centers remain an engine for Clark, Gonzalez says sports and entertainment spending has surged; the firm is wrapping up a third consecutive USC athletics project, a student recreation center at Pepperdine and a new basketball facility for the Los Angeles Sparks.

A rise in institutional work is common among the region’s largest builders, especially as commercial developers take longer to start private projects.

“While portions of the private market continue to feel the effects of higher borrowing costs, our deep relationships with public agencies, educational institutions and civic clients have positioned us well for sustained growth,” says Vince Lai, chief revenue officer for Bernards.

Bernards is building the $83-million Compton College Student Housing Project in Compton, Calif., the first community college student housing approved by the California Division of the State Architect to use volumetric modular construction, letting crews handle groundwork at the same time and cutting the field labor needed on site.

In the heavy civil sector, massive transit expansions are driving a spike in new work.

“Several of our projects are transitioning from preconstruction to construction, signaling a ramp-up,” says Ryan Snow, senior vice president of pursuits and development at Stacy Witbeck. “We anticipate an increase in work of approximately 25% in the West.”

The firm’s expanding workload includes the $500-million LA Metro G-Line bus rapid transit improvements and the $2.4-billion LA Metro East San Fernando Valley light rail project.

Relying on federal funding also means red tape. “Uncertainty around federal funding for infrastructure projects remains our biggest concern heading into next year,” Snow says. “Funding timelines that shift midstream complicate our teams’ ability to plan and execute work accurately.”

To cope, Stacy Witbeck has traded rapid mobilization for staggered early work packages, letting teams build up gradually and lock in skilled trades well before heavy construction begins.

Clark faces a similar puzzle; with data centers moving into rural Washington, it is struggling to draw workers out of big cities and is accelerating its use of offsite assembly and prefabricated parts.

Bernards is utilizing volumetric modular construction to deliver the $83-million student housing complex at Compton College.
Photo courtesy Bernards

While the biggest firms chase massive pipelines, local builders are setting records. Guzman Construction Group, which works strictly in the San Francisco Bay Area, reported a 50.2% revenue surge on contracts like the $98-million Balboa Reservoir affordable housing development. With funding tied to city grants and tax credits, it is insulated from the interest rate anxieties troubling commercial developers. Its hurdles are hyper-local.

“One of our biggest problems with keeping on schedule is Pacific Gas and Electric,” says Mike Grant, chief financial officer for Guzman. “Consultants and constant management of this utility is key to finishing on time.”

Grant adds that Silicon Valley work means watching the tech sector’s pivot toward artificial intelligence, which has sent competitors rushing into the data center market with mixed results.

The shifting market is changing how owners pick partners. More are moving away from traditional bidding toward progressive design-build and construction manager at-risk.

Owners are no longer just looking for someone to build a structure, Lai says. They want trusted advisers who can help them navigate risk from Day 1. “These models recognize that the greatest value is created when owners, designers and builders work together from the earliest stages of project development,” he says.