On May 13, C.W. Driver, in partnership with Little Diversified Architectural Consulting, broke ground on the Kinesiology and Athletics Complex at Orange Coast College, a $36 million, 88,000-sf building within an Education sector that typically accounts for more than half of this Pasadena, Calif.-based general contractor’s annual revenue.
C.W. Driver, the oldest licensed builder headquartered in Southern California, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year, and is showing little sign of slowing down. The company, with seven offices and 365 employees across California, generates between $700 million and $850 million per year in revenue.
In a consolidating industry where firms are frenetically acquiring new practices and disciplines to stay competitive, C.W. Driver remains an anomaly: a GC that builds almost exclusively in one state. Its portfolio includes academic, entertainment and sports, retail, civic and cultural, office, commercial hospitality and gaming, healthcare, residential and senior living.
“It’s not that we haven’t tried in the past” to diversify, says Karl Kreutziger, the firm’s president, who spoke with BD+C last week. At one time, C.W. Driver was self-performing concrete and drywall. It also once had an international business in Singapore.
Kreutziger, who has been with the firm since 2011, attributes its longevity to sticking with its core competencies and focusing the bulk of its work in the Greater Los Angeles market. (Eighty percent of its revenue comes from repeat customers.)
The company also has management continuity, starting with its CEO Dana Roberts, who has been with C.W. Driver for 48 years. In the 1990s, Roberts brought in two partners: CFO Bessie Kouvara, who retired in 2017; and Executive Vice President John Janacek, who oversees estimating.
Karl Kreutziger, C.W.Driver's president since 2011, attributes his company's longevity, in part, to its careful selection of projects. Image: C.W. Driver
The company was founded in 1919 by John McDonald and Clarence Wike Driver, the latter of whom had been working for one of the oldest architectural firms in L.A. During its first decade in business, C.W. Driver worked mostly on smaller projects. Driver’s son, Douglas, led the company through its next era and was active until 1987, when he turned over the reins to Roberts.
At a time when recruiting and retaining talent are challenges for many AEC firms, C.W. Driver has been able to hold onto its employees in part by offering some of them ownership in the company. It currently has 25 owners. And over the past two years, says Kreutziger, “we’ve had some ‘boomerangs,’ people who had left the company and have returned.” The fact that it offers full health insurance to all of its employees doesn’t hurt, either.
Like other GCs, C.W. Driver must deal with labor shortages. Keeping its trades on board, says Kreutziger, starts with a focused business development strategy “that identifies the projects we can be successful doing.” That requires early involvement at the preconstruction level, and then “committing to our key trade partners,” he says.
To avoid commoditizing its services, C.W. Driver steers away from design-bid-build projects, which account for less than 2% of its annual revenue. And while it has done work in Nevada, C.W. Driver usually passes on projects outside of its primary markets because, explains Kreutziger, “we just can’t get the [subs] to go there.”
As it moves into its second century, C.W. Driver wants to continue to grow organically. Kreutziger says the firm has been spending more time lately on succession planning and employee training. It also wants to make sure it is ahead of emerging markets like modular and panelized construction.
The firm is open, albeit cautiously, to new ventures that include acquisition. In August 2013, C.W. Driver acquired Good & Roberts, a 34-year-old San Diego-based construction company, which helped to bolster a market where C.W. Driver had been growing since 2006.
C.W. Driver also operates Driver SPG, an internal group it formed in 2011 that specializes in tenant improvement projects ranging from $500,000 to $15 million. Driver SPG represents about $80 million of C.W. Driver’s annual revenue, and “there’s a lot of crossover clients,” says Kreutziger.
C.W. Driver is the oldest liscensed builder headquartered in Southern California, a state where the GC continues to do most of its work. Image: C.W. Driver
Related Stories
| Aug 9, 2022
5 Lean principles of design-build
Simply put, lean is the practice of creating more value with fewer resources.
| Aug 9, 2022
Designing healthy learning environments
Studies confirm healthy environments can improve learning outcomes and student success.
Legislation | Aug 8, 2022
Inflation Reduction Act includes over $5 billion for low carbon procurement
The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, recently passed by the U.S. Senate, sets aside over $5 billion for low carbon procurement in the built environment.
| Aug 8, 2022
Mass timber and net zero design for higher education and lab buildings
When sourced from sustainably managed forests, the use of wood as a replacement for concrete and steel on larger scale construction projects has myriad economic and environmental benefits that have been thoroughly outlined in everything from academic journals to the pages of Newsweek.
AEC Tech | Aug 8, 2022
The technology balancing act
As our world reopens from COVID isolation, we are entering back into undefined territory – a form of hybrid existence.
Legislation | Aug 5, 2022
D.C. City Council moves to require net-zero construction by 2026
The Washington, D.C. City Council unanimously passed legislation that would require all new buildings and substantial renovations in D.C. to be net-zero construction by 2026.
Cultural Facilities | Aug 5, 2022
A time and a place: Telling American stories through architecture
As the United States enters the year 2026, it will commence celebrating a cycle of Sestercentennials, or 250th anniversaries, of historic and cultural events across the land.
Sponsored | | Aug 4, 2022
Brighter vistas: Next-gen tools drive sustainability toward net zero line
New technologies, innovations, and tools are opening doors for building teams interested in better and more socially responsible design.
| Aug 4, 2022
Newer materials for green, resilient building complicate insurance underwriting
Insurers can’t look to years of testing on emerging technology to assess risk.
Sustainability | Aug 4, 2022
To reduce disease and fight climate change, design buildings that breathe
Healthy air quality in buildings improves cognitive function and combats the spread of disease, but its implications for carbon reduction are perhaps the most important benefit.