CEO Derek Wright likes to tell people that his company, Suntec Concrete, is really in the “people business,” which he often follows up with “and by the way, we pour concrete, too.”
Earlier this year, for example, when formally announcing to employees the establishment of an employee share ownership plan, making Suntec 100% employee-owned, the CEO again used these words, telling them that “Suntec is committed to the growth and development of people, and it’s about changing lives; and by the way, we pour concrete”.
Wright goes on to say that “the ESOP, for us, was really the culmination of an expansion of that culture and the culmination of what’s to come for us… because culturally we already were. [employee-owned].”
Of course, pouring concrete is much more than a side hustle for Suntec. According to Engineering News-Record’s most recent ranking of 600 specialty contractors, Suntec was ranked No. 5 nationally among concrete companies and No. 46 among all specialty companies, with $736.8 million in revenue by 2022 , a 25% increase over the 2021 total.
Growth also galloped in 2023, with the Phoenix-based company reporting $765 million, a 37% year-over-year increase in revenue from projects located in the southwest Arizona region, Nevada and New Mexico. That total was more than enough for Suntec Concrete to “three-peat” the No. 1 spot on ENR Southwest’s 2024 Specialty Contractors List.
When asked to explain how the concrete contractor has been able to continue to deliver such a high volume of work in the face of ongoing staffing challenges, Wright points directly to the company’s workers as the cause of its success.
General contractors consistently praised the quality and efficiency provided by Suntec’s project teams.
Photo courtesy of Suntec Concrete
“It’s a testament to the culture of the company and … the long-term, proven employees with extensive experience who you know represent us well in both the culture and the quality of what we want to deliver to our customers. [in terms of] creating predictable results,” he tells ENR.
Wright also credits the company’s merchant structure into “six different divisions with different leadership… [that] it allows us to really have a definable impact on a job.”
It’s important, he adds, when you “put the lead with merchants to give them the skill sets they need to be successful, they have a vision of their future that’s completely different from, ‘I have a job.’
With its cohesive, well-trained and experienced teams, Wright says, Suntec is able to offer general contractors and project owners a high degree of predictability and cost certainty early in the project.
“The biggest influence we can have is early on to help ensure the design is right,” he says. “This transparency gives development teams confidence to move forward.”
Derek Wright, entering his 35th year with the 40-year-old company, announces to employees the establishment of Suntec’s employee share ownership plan.
Photo courtesy of Suntec Concrete
Proven Partner
Three general contractors with a long history of regularly using Suntec on their major projects attest to the concrete company’s ability to not only be an early influencer on the project, but also to deliver the assessments it offers well in advance of any innovation.
Phoenix-based Layton Construction’s Arizona division, which ranked first on ENR Southwest’s 2024 Top Contractors list with nearly $1.3 billion in regional revenue by 2023, has a ratio of approx. 20 years with Suntec. That’s for good reason, says Andrew Geier, executive vice president.
“You can’t go wrong” hiring Suntec, he says. In two major projects currently moving forward in downtown Phoenix, for example, Suntec is “solely responsible for the pace of the project,” and that’s a good thing, he says.
“The biggest influence we can have is early on to help ensure the design is right.”
—Derek Wright, CEO of Suntec Concrete
There in Phoenix, Layton is simultaneously offering two separate high-rises: the $245 million, two-tower Central Transit Station redevelopment and the $290 million, 29-story Sol Modern, just a few blocks away on the one of the other
On both projects, “We’ve had Suntec deliver exceptional results,” says Geier. “The quality of the work and the speed and efficiency with which they acted really set the pace for two very successful projects for us which are very outstanding.”
In each case, Suntec teams “are going up in the building and our other business partners are doing their best to keep up,” Geier adds.
James Murphy, general manager of Willmeng Construction, Phoenix, is another admirer of what Suntec brings to his projects, crediting the concrete contractor’s cohesive “one team” approach to work.
“There is a Suntec and, in the end, they are all [working on] strategy and then they’re all working on execution,” says Murphy. He describes Suntec’s project teams as close-knit and highly experienced across the group.
“Leadership stays committed to execution and doesn’t allow that disconnect between the office and the field,” Murphy continues. “It’s the trap of the industry.”
Full of praise, Murphy adds: “Their culture is a culture of learning – we learn, we improve and we take it to the next job – and it’s very palpable in the way they deliver.”
In short, Murphy adds, “From the strategy of the work to the execution of the strategy, their leaders have dirt in their boots. If you hang out with Derek, his phone will go off with schedules dump”, even if that dump is set for 3am.
Rusty Martin, general manager of Graycor’s southwest division in Phoenix, describes Suntec in similar terms, attesting that the concrete contractor has been a “great business partner for us.”
While noting that he has personally worked with Suntec for 27 years, Martin tells ENR, “They’re always a team player, always looking for solutions, always performing well and the quality is excellent. That’s what we could ask a subcontractor, and we get it all the time. And they’re a great group of people.”
Suntec also erects a considerable amount of tiltable concrete panels.
Photo courtesy of Suntec Concrete
Differentiators
Suntec’s official transformation into an ESOP company, announced at a meeting last March, was a major development for the company that already prides itself on its overall employee benefits.
With about 2,000 employees spread across the states of Arizona, Colorado, Idaho and Utah, the move makes Suntec Concrete one of the nation’s 10 largest employee-owned construction companies and the second largest overall, according to the contractor. the world the state of Arizona.
In its statement announcing the ESOP, the company called it “another way that Suntec continues to improve its already industry-leading benefits and ensures that the company’s leadership structure will remain the same, as than bonus programs, health insurance and 401(k) plans.”
“Leadership stays committed to execution and doesn’t allow that disconnect between the office and the field.”
—James Murphy, CEO of Willmeng Construction
Another differentiator that Suntec considers unique within the industry was the creation, in October 2023, of a stand-alone company that provides structural engineering services to both Suntec and general contractors and project developers. Leading the business as director of engineering services is Valerie Granger, a 19-year PE and SE who joined Suntec in 2023.
This new group offers structural engineering for any type of project, from the earliest stages, regardless of whether Suntec is still involved, with no condition that the concrete mixer joins in the future. Granger humorously noted to ENR that one of the group’s recent efforts came literally as a napkin sketch consisting entirely of site size and the need for a 300-car garage.
“We can provide a complete structural design that would be comparable to any other structural engineering firm,” says Granger. He notes that the group has the added benefit of being able to consult with Suntec staff to better understand the cost drivers so “we can understand what’s driving the numbers. That’s a lot of the value we can bring early on.”
Both Granger and other Suntec leaders believe this unit is a unique arrangement for a concrete company.
Suntec crews work on an early morning concrete placement at the Central Station project in downtown Phoenix.
Photo courtesy of Suntec Concrete
Helping Employees Become “Heroes”
Wright says that providing a culture that helps employees feel that working for the particular company is more than just having a job requires more than day-to-day attention.
“How do we make them feel like heroes in their homes and in their communities?” Wright asks rhetorically. “If we can do that, we’ll win at work.”
Suntec’s Heroes in Hardhats program has helped the company do just that, he says. The biggest program under this umbrella is their teacher appreciation program, which involves employees going to schools, finding out from their children’s teachers what they need in the classroom, and then personally delivering it to the classroom of his student.
In 2023, Suntec selected 73 teachers for its appreciation program and distributed more than $300,000 worth of teaching materials that ultimately benefited about 2,500 students, according to the company.
“Getting them involved in their children’s education and delivering it in the classroom has an impact on their community,” Wright says. “It is a priceless image to be able to see a son or daughter looking at their parents who are making a difference in their classroom, in their school and in front of their community and their classmates. It’s incredibly shocking.”
For these reasons and more, ENR Southwest recognizes Suntec Concrete as its 2024 Southwest Specialty Contractor of the Year.
