For this growth, its expanding and evolving self-perform capabilities and its involvement with a suite of landmark infrastructure work, ENR West has named Shimmick its 2026 California Contractor of the Year.

The North City Pure Water Facility uses advanced technology to purify recycled water, making it suitable as potable water. The plant opened in 2025.
Photos courtesy of Shimmick

Although California remains Shimmick’s primary stomping grounds, in the last year and a half, the company is growing its Washington state presence, says Sarah Tacker, executive vice president and chief operating officer. At the end of 2025, the firm won a $48.2-million contract for Sound Transit’s Renton Transit Center and Roadway Improvements project in Renton, Wash.

“Traditionally, Shimmick has been primarily a California-centric, Western-states company,” she says. “As we continue to see markets where our skill set works, we want people to understand that we have the desire and willingness to grow the company outside of our current geographic locations.”

Shimmick has been expanding into Texas and recently won some wastewater treatment projects in Austin, including a subcontract on the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion Project, which is part of a larger CMAR program valued at $44 million.

“We’re very excited about being in Austin and growing in that market,” says Ural Yal, CEO. “We bid work in various different states, but our core markets are California, Texas and Washington. That’s kind of where we play. All three markets are really good, going strong, and we have more work than we can bid, which is a great place to be.”

It’s not just growing the geography, but the portfolio as well. The self-described sustainable infrastructure contractor is pursuing a diverse, risk-balanced portfolio with the right mix of public and private contracts, water and electrical infrastructure and delivery models, Yal adds.

“Shimmick self-performs over 80% of most of our projects,” he says. “So it’s always this drive to find a better way to build. And not just to get those marginal gains on productivity. Obviously you still have to do that, but it’s finding that one solution that finishes the job six months, a year early, some technically creative solution that gets us a bit of an edge.”

Tacker points to a creative thought process about building in which its teams are finding innovative ways to tackle high-risk work and combining that with a high level of technical expertise. “That lets us identify areas of a project that may be challenging and find good solutions that keep those problems from arising in the first place,” she adds, pointing to a strategy that embraces “the ability to be free-thinking, to come up with ideas that probably aren’t what everyone else is thinking of, then chase those down and find ways to implement them."

The Regional Water Reclamation Facility Expansion increases the Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District’s treatment capacity by 4 million gallons per day.
>Photo courtesy of Shimmick

With the projects it chooses, from electrification to power, sustainable transit to water resources as well as flood control, Shimmick is building a sustainable future, Tacker says.

In 2025, Shimmick won a $51-million contract for the Stockton East Water District’s (SEWD) Bellota Weir Modifications project in Stockton, Calif. Scope includes a new inflatable Obermeyer gate weir across Mormon Slough, along with a surface water intake with cylindrical fish screens, a vertical slot fish ladder and a gravity flow conveyance system.

Working directly in an active river system carries severe environmental and seasonal constraints, and Shimmick’s field crews identified constructibility issues that risked stretching the job across three seasons.

“In the public infrastructure sector, the traditional relationship between a water district, a lead design consultant and a prime contractor can all too easily slip into an adversarial dynamic,” says Darrel Evensen, district engineer at SEWD. “Change orders, constructibility disputes and rigid adherence to initial design concepts often delay progress and drive up costs.”

The district brought all three entities together as a unified team. Shimmick proposed an aggressive full-river bypass strategy that could compress the construction schedule down to just 18 months, Evensen explains. But proving the hydraulic safety and environmental viability of their proposed approach required precise technical verification.

SEWD authorized additional HEC-RAS 2D hydraulic modeling from designer HDR, and the team evaluated flow dynamics, refined the temporary bypass geometry and satisfied regulatory parameters together. In-river construction went from three seasons to 18 months, with in-water work confined to a single wet winter. Evensen pins potential net savings for the solution at about $15 million, crediting Shimmick’s aggressive bidding and advanced scheduling alongside the compressed timeline.

“By prioritizing constructibility, transparent communication and operational efficiency, Shimmick secured their profitability while giving the district and the public the absolute best bang for their buck,” he says, calling the approach a reusable model for public agencies.

This diversion hub will support the city of Stockton’s 65-million-gallon-per-day surface water treatment plant while meeting fish passage and environmental compliance mandates. Evensen expects to be close to substantial completion in early 2027.

Another major project is the $356-million North City Pure Water Facility for San Diego, a part of the city’s PURE program to upgrade its water treatment.

“The treatment systems being used are unique, and the technical and mechanical requirements were very high,” says Tacker, who toured the project shortly after joining Shimmick in April. “It was built greenfield—we didn’t work in an existing plant, we built all of it, from foundation to switchgear, and most of it was self-performed.”

This facility will utilize advanced technology to purify recycled water, previously used for irrigation, to become a potable water source for the city moving forward, producing up to 30 mgd of purified water.

Recently completed work includes the 301 Mission Perimeter Pile Upgrade Project, which took home an AGC of California Heavy Civil Constructor Award earlier this year, and the Bollinger Canyon–Iron Horse Trail Overcrossing, which was the California Transportation Foundation’s 2026 Active Transportation Project of the Year.

More work is on the horizon as well. Recent contract awards include the $124-million Coyote Creek Flood Protection Project for Santa Clara Valley Water District, which includes nine miles of flood protection improvements. And in Texas, Shimmick is set to tackle a $42-million contract for the third segment of the Walnut Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant Expansion Project.

Shimmick crews are also working on the North Hollywood Bus Rapid Transit project for LA Metro, which will bring improved connectivity to a 19-mile transit corridor and feature 22 new transit stations.

Delivered in July 2025, the Bollinger Canyon–Iron Horse Trail Overcrossing in San Ramon, Calif., is a six-span cable-stayed pedestrian and bicycle bridge. The 950-ft-long structure required extensive coordination, including the transport and installation of bridge sections fabricated in Washington state.
Photo courtesy of Shimmick

In addition to its self-perform capabilities, Shimmick is also expanding further into the electrical business.

“Electrical was always part of Shimmick, but it was never a separate business,” Yal explains. “As we rebranded, we turned what used to be the electrical division of Shimmick into its own stand-alone business.”

In June 2025, Shimmick launched Axia Electric LLC as a wholly owned subsidiary, targeting transportation electrification, grid modernization, utility upgrades and energy resilience.

And as Shimmick continues its growth pursuits, ensuring the right resources moving forward will be critical—especially talent. “In a company like ours that’s growing so quickly and picking up lots of great work, being able to bring all the talent with us and get the resources we need to continue our growth is definitely where we’re challenged right now,” Tacker says.

A well-established internship program has already produced a few dozen employees who arrived as interns and now run projects 15–20 years on. More than 40 interns joined Shimmick and Axia this year, working active jobsites with structured mentorship and technical training. The company recruits on campuses across the West and participates in AGC California’s California Education Foundation, among other efforts.

“It’s a people business, like everybody says. We’re trying to create a place where nobody wants to leave,” Yal says.