Neeser Construction Inc. named ABM's Contractor of the Year: where quality, integrity and budget meet.

• Author: Orr, Vanessa
• Position: BUILDING ALASKA - Cover story

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Since 1974, Neeser Construction Inc. (NCI) has been changing the face of Alaska. In the past year alone, the design/build company completed work on the Dena'ina Civic Convention Center in Anchorage, the Target Store in Wasilla and Grass Creek Village in Muldoon. By the end of 2008, Neeser Construction Inc. will have turned over the keys to close to 1 million feet of newly constructed space--and they don't plan to stop there.

"We anticipate the market in Alaska to stay strong, and we have two years of work ahead of us now," said CEO Jerry Neeser. "To know that, at this point, is fairly unique." NCI's 2007 revenues totaled $140 million, and Neeser predicts earnings of close to $150 million by year's end.

Neeser credits the company's success to its commitment to finishing every project on time and on budget. "My brothers and I learned the construction business from our father, and we also learned a lot of things not to do in order to stay in business," said Neeser. "I learned, for example, not to buy too much equipment because when construction slows down, the payments are still due.

"By experiencing the different types of problems that can affect a job, I learned how to identify these issues and work to mitigate them before construction ever gets started," he added. "I also learned the importance of paying very close attention to each project."

Neeser's experience as an owner and operator of buildings also serves him well when it comes to designing a client's facility. "We've been doing design/build projects since 1969," he said. "We were doing them even before they were called design/build.

"Because a fair amount of the work we do are our own projects, such as commercial buildings we design, build and lease out, we are very familiar with the concerns of owners," he added. "We're very good at creating lifecycle cost-projections that can help owners decide on the right products to use up front so that their buildings will continue to work efficiently over time."

And their clients agree. "From start to finish, Neeser Construction's performance on the Alaska VA Clinic made the difference," said Howard K. Patterson, director of facilities management for Columbia Healthcare Corp. "They wear the hats of both developer and builder with equal perfection. The deadlines were tight and the political issues were enormous with our project, but their expertise won the day."

RECENTLY COMPLETED PROJECTS

By year's end, NCI will have...