Robert Carlsen Bob Brosamer, president of R & L Brosamer Inc., based in Walnut Creek, says Gov. Schwarzenegger's construction program will usher in another golden age of building for California. Brosamer won the 2007 Golden Beaver management award.

California state officials' ambitious plan to rebuild the state of California will mean positive things for California's general contractors, according to some California general contractors interviewed Jan. 19 at the 2007 Beaver Awards. The awards are given annually by the social and honary organization of companies and individuals involved in heavy engineering constructed. The Los Altos Beavers organization was founded in 1955.

The state went through a golden age of building in the late 1960s and early 1970s, said Bob Brosamer, president of R & L Brosamer Inc., based in Walnut Creek. Now the state is poised to go through another age of nonstop building, he said.
"The bonds say there will be building for the next 20 years," said Brosamer, who received a Golden Beaver Award for management at the awards show.

The Beaver Awards, held at the Hyatt Regency Century Plaza in Los Angeles, also recognized four others. John F. McDonald of Traylor Bros. Inc. received the Golden Beaver Award for Supervision; Russell Fuhrman of Parsons Brinckerhoff Quade & Douglass received the Golden Beaver Award for engineering; Patsy Fitzpatrick of Charles River Company received the Golden Beaver Award for service and supply; and G.B. "Jerry" Toll, Jr. received a posthumous Golden Beaver Special Award for his work with the Beavers. More than 2,000 attended the awards with former Sen. Bob Dole serving as keynote speaker.

Construction was on the minds of the engineers and general contractors had the awards and general contractors had plenty to say about the state of California's construction industry.

Construction staffing was a concern for some general contractors. MCM Construction is having trouble finding qualified subcontractors to work in certain areas of the state such as northern California and portions of San Diego County, said Ed Puchi, treasurer and general counsel for North Highlands-based MCM.

The problem with finding workers in those sections of the state is the areas are too remote to find qualified workers, he said.

General contractors are interested in finding and training more qualified workers in the state. MCM has training programs with California State Sacramento and UC Davis in fields such as construction management, Puchi said.

"We would like to expand to the Bay Area schools," he said.
Alan Matt, chief financial officer with Santa Fe Springs-based Matt Construction, said his company has a regular recruiting program that seeks top staff, not just in California, but nationwide.

Matt needs to recruit across the nation because graduates leaving college have many opportunities available, he said."Each student has a lot of options," Matt said.

Finding qualified subcontractors for construction work has become somewhat more difficult but if anything it means that relationships have to be developed, said Jerry Overaa, chief executive officer of Richmond-based Overaa Construction.

"We have to be more sensitive," Overaa said. "We help them, they help us."
Redwood City-based Rudolph and Sletten is another company that has training programs available to help its staff, said Mike Castillo, vice president of operations.
Rudolph and Sletten puts on more than 400 in-house training programs each year, he said.

"It speaks to one of our core values. We don't build buildings – we build relationships," Castillo said.