Top 250 private companies.

• Author: Taylor, Mike
• Position: Company rankings

Last year, Englewood-based engineering giant CH2M Hill took over the No. 1 spot in ColoradoBiz magazine's Top 250 Private Companies ranking when former No. 1 Swift & Co. was bought by South American meat processor, JBS S.A. CH2M Hill retains that top spot this year, with revenues of $5.8 billion in 2007, a 29 percent increase over the previous year. The global engineering and construction firm also is the largest employer in the ranking with more than 23,000 full-time workers worldwide.

The No. 2 spot in the ranking also is unchanged, with Denver-based PCL Construction Enterprises posting revenues of $5 billion in 2007 for a 22 percent improvement.

Greeley-based Hensel Phelps Construction ranks third with revenues of $2.5 billion, an 18 percent gain.

The revenues used to rank the private companies are self-reported. Five of this year's top 10 firms improved revenues by at least 20 percent.

The top private firms have stood the test of time--and no doubt benefited from it. Five of the top 10 companies are at least 60 years old, with PCL Construction the most enduring among the top 10, at 102 years old. It's just one of five companies in the ranking at least a century old.

The oldest among the top 250, Frederick Ross Co., was founded in 1888 when Frederick Ross moved from Vermont to Denver in hopes of improving his failing health and launched the commercial real estate firm. Current company head John P. Box is only the fourth president in the firm's 120-year history.

Other ranked companies that have been around at least a century are Johnson Storage & Moving Co. Holdings LLC (108), and Eaton-based agricultural cooperative Agland and Denver-based Van Gilder Insurance, both in their 103rd year.

Companies in the ranking hail from 38 cities, with Denver leading the way with 104 companies.

[TOP 250 PRIVATE COMPANIES] Ranked by revenues '07 Gross '06 2008 2007 Revenue Revenue % Rank Rank Company (000's) (000's) Change 1 1 CH2M Hill $5,819,600 $4,500,000 29% 2 2 PCL Construction 4,999,800 4,110,043 22% Enterprises Inc. 3 5 Hensel Phelps 2,519,300 2,130,902 18% Construction Co. 4 6 Burt Automotive Network 2,120,329 2,064,840 3% 5 Co Bank 654,440 524,812 25% 6 8 Rocky Mountain Health 426,847 437,364 -2% Plans 7 9 American Furniture 350,000 338,000 4% Warehouse 8 10 WG Global Inc. (dba 342,073 350,000 -2% Wheelabrator Group) 9 16 Republic Financial Corp. 314,510 259,195 21% 10 18 FCI Constructors Inc. 291,998 235,000 24% 11 13 Mike Shaw Automotive 277,370 286,302 -3% Group 12 17 Ralph Schomp Automotive 267,980 242,251 11% Inc. 13 15 Haselden Construction 260,000 276,000 -6% 14 20 Shaw Construction 247,000 231,000 7% 15 34 Andavo Travel 220,000 100,000 120% 16 18 McClair Finlon 210,000 235,000 -11% Advertising 17 25 Agland Inc. 193,500 170,600 13% 18 23 Tuff Shed Inc. 192,000 185,000 4% 19 27 Alpine Banks of 191,134 159,557 20% Colorado 20 21 Village Homes of 184,000 220,000 -16% Colorado 21 12 Simpson Housing LLLP 182,225 190,487 -4% 22 26 Policy Studies Inc. 176,000 160,000 10% (PSI) 23 28 Holland & Hart LLP 168,500 148,510 13% 24 29 Vitamin Cottage 164,871 141,634 16% Natural Food Markets Inc. 25 22 Roche Constructors Inc. 163,852 185,059 -11% 26 30 Terra Firma 163,045 142,214 15% 27 24 Alpine Lumber Co. 148,000 174,000 -15% 28 40 Global Technology 141,387 92,725 52% Resources Inc. 29 32 Noodles & Company 140,000 115,000 22% 30 87 New Frontier Bank 137,294 87,661 57% 31 31 Cigarette Store Corp. 124,000 124,000 0% dba Smoker Friendly/ Gasamat 32 37 RK Mechanical Inc. 116,728 99,600 17% 33 38 Baxa Corp. 112,784 97,488 16% 34 43 Polk Majestic Travel 100,000 81,000 23% Group 35 45 Frederick Ross Co. 92,236 76,863 20% 36 49 Saga Petroleum LLC 92,000 65,500 40% 37 42 Hercules Industries 88,344 86,285 2% Inc. 38 48 Cain Travel 78,030 67,450 16% 39 46 IMA Financial Group Inc. 77,183 73,106 6% 40 Correas International 73,655 55,851 32% co. Inc. 41 50 Publication Printers 72,900 63,633 15% Corp. 42 47 Drahota Commercial LLC 72,000 70,000 3% 43 51 Merrick & Co. 67,700 60,600 12% 44 62 National Finance Corp. 67,488 36,200 86% of Colorado 45 52 Calcon Constructors Inc. 60,100 50,200 20% 46 54 Denver Series of 58,000 52,500 10% Lockton Cos. LLC 47 53 PRACO 53,368 52,758 1% 48 70 DSP Builders Inc. 48,400 33,500 44% 49 56 Van Gilder Insurance 47,571 48,158 -1% Corp. 50 58 Alpine Buick Pontiac 46,449 39,471 18% GMC 51 57 Johnson Storage & Moving 45,212 45,143 0% Co. Holdings LLC 52 61 Intelligent Software 43,507 36,572 19% Solutions Inc. 53 59 Crater & Freighter 42,000 38,000 11% Franchise Co. 54 Fiore & Sons. Inc. 41,280 41,693 -1% 55 69 ViaWest Inc. 40,500 29,000 40% 56 67 RNL Design 40,100 30,603 31% 57 Productive Data 40,034 33,844 18% Solutions Inc. 58 62 MeyersDining Insurance 39,500 36,200 9% LLC 59 71 HB Management Group 38,534 27,000 43% 60 84 Ascendant Technology 36,495 24,533 49% 61 Epilog Laser 35,000 30,000 17% 62 Alpine Access Inc. 33,635 26,100 29% 63 Davis Partnership 32,584 31,363 4% Architects 64 80 Portable Computer 31,127 25,090 24% Systems Inc. 65 77 PrimeSource Staffing LLC 30,070 26,080 15% 66 At Last Fulfillment 30,000 8,000 275% 67 78 States Inc. 29,600 25,900 14% 68 90 H&L Architecture 28,800 21,900 32% 69 72 Nexus Corp. 28,600 26,000 10% 70 78 EON Office 28,000 26,000 8% 71 227 Risk Removal Inc. 27,970 23,500 19% 72 83 Slifer Designs 26,200 24,730 6% 73 GlobaLinks LLC 25,500 22,300 14% 73 81 Rocky Mountain Desk 25,500 20,000 28% Corp. 75 94 Education Sales 25,101 19,684 28% Management LLC 76 85 Builders Appliance 24,300 23,700 3% Center 77 89 Synergy Services Inc. $24,245 $21,904 11% 78 74 CTL Thompson Inc. 24,200 26,600 -9% 79 88 All Copy Products Inc. 23,522 22,008 7% 80 92 Rocky Mountain 23,000 21,500 7% Instrument Co. (RMI Laser) 81 104 Touchstar Software Corp. 22,603 15,895 42% 82 103 ETI Professionals Inc. 21,270 15,600 36% 83 Managed Business 20,965 17,654 19% Solutions 84 97 Intelligent Office Inc. 20,465 17,600 16% 85 96 Good Day Pharmacy 19,000 18,000 6% 86 Softec Solutions Inc. 18,946 7,189 164% 87 98 Design Materials Inc. 18,726 17,536 7% 88 101 Insurance Technologies 18,700 16,957 10% 89 93 Thayer Media Inc. 18,376 20,100 -9% 90 100 Swingle Inc. 18,248 17,300 5% 91 Computer Sites Inc. 17,300 12,700 36% 92 99 Sounds True Inc. 16,800 17,500 -4% 93 105 Shafer Commercial Seating 16,484 15,335 7% Inc. 94 109 Destination Services of 16,000 13,000 23% Colorado Inc. 95 116 Information Technology 15,000 10,500 43%...