Rosendin Electric is one of the busiest electrical contractors in the Southwest, but the confidential nature of its work precludes the firm from talking about many of its largest projects.
“I go to some industry events, and some people don’t know who we are,” says Jeffrey Dorf, Rosendin’s director of preconstruction services, Southwest division.
But other firms that work in mission-critical industries like data centers know Rosendin well. The firm topped this year’s Specialty Contractor Survey with $329 million in revenue for 2014 from its Southwest operations division, working mostly in Arizona. That was up from $129 million in 2013.
“I have had the opportunity to work with Rosendin for the past four years on some extremely complicated and time-sensitive projects,” says Adam Rogers, operations manager, Hensel Phelps Construction. “They approach all their projects as a partner to all stakeholders in regards to problem solving, production, quality and safety.”
California-based Rosendin expanded into Arizona in 1994. Rosendin’s Southwest division, based in Tempe, Ariz., also has a satellite office in Nevada. Its work varies from large commercial projects to a special projects group.
“We approach all jobs in the same way—whether it is a $100-million job or a $1-million job,” says Dorf.
Confidential Work
Rosendin’s Southwest division has performed nonconfidential work that includes an AMC Theatres complex in Phoenix and renovations at the iconic Arizona Biltmore resort, also in Phoenix. But the firm came to Arizona to work on a multiyear project for a confidential semiconductor manufacturer in Chandler, Ariz., in the late 1990s. Consequently, the Southwest division improved its work processes to meet the needs of the customer and expanded the use of technology to increase efficiencies.
“That took us to a new level,” says Mike Greenawalt, vice president, Southwest operations.
The semiconductor project included installing manufacturing tools and improving the building’s systems. Those included process gas and chemical monitoring systems and extensive life safety systems and controls. Although most of the details are confidential, the high-tech fabrication facility also included unique building layouts of multiple stories and varying levels of work protocols.
Work on the Chandler facility spanned more than a decade.
The Chandler project led to more work with the same confidential client across the globe, including at facilities in Oregon, California, New Mexico and Israel.
Rosendin’s total contract value for projects with that client is $385 million to date.
That experience established protocols and work practices that typically exceed industry standards on most work outside of the high-tech industry.
“There are not too many electrical contractors who have the standards that we have,” Dorf says.
Over the past several years, Rosendin has served as the construction manager and design-build electrical contractor on a $300-million, 1.3-million-sq-ft, high-tech project in Mesa, Ariz., referred to as Project Cascade. The work was completed well under the guaranteed-maximum price in just 11 months.
