Driving through Colorado Springs is like thumbing through the greatest hits of GE Johnson Construction Co.’s 50-year project portfolio. The contractor has built, expanded or renovated (sometimes all three) some of the city’s highest-profile structures, including the Broadmoor Hotel, World Arena, U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Museum, Pikes Peak Community College, El Paso County Judicial Complex, Colorado Springs Fine Arts Center, multiple hospitals and two ENR award-winning visitor centers—one atop the summit of Pikes Peak and the other at the historic Air Force Academy.

“We grew as Colorado Springs grew,” says Jim Johnson, speaking about the firm his father Gil Johnson founded in 1967 and of which he became president and CEO 30 years later.

Headquartered in Colorado Springs with regional offices in Denver and Wyoming, the contractor focuses on projects in the health care, education, multifamily, hospitality, advanced technology, commercial office, public-federal and cultural markets. GE Johnson was ranked fifth on ENR’s 2024 Mountain States Top Contractors list with $540 million in reported revenue.

Acquired by DPR Construction in 2021, GE Johnson continued to operate as its own contracting entity under the parent’s brand during a three-year transition. As of Jan. 27, GE Johnson now operates as DPR Construction. It ranks at No. 7 on ENR’s 2024 Top 400 Contractors list, with $9.45 billion in revenue.

GE Johnson constructed the 150-room Broadmoor West Hotel in the 1970s, the largest project in the firm’s history at the time. The firm returned in 2014 to complete a 27-week, ultrafast renovation and addition.
Image courtesy GE Johnson Construction Co.

Great Timing

As GE Johnson grew, so did its project reach—completing over $8 billion of projects from Michigan to California and Idaho to New Mexico, including work for Kansas State University, Jim Johnson’s alma mater.

Jim was thrust into the role of CEO at age 39 when his father died, and he says he had to learn on the job. “I had spent time in business development, as superintendent and project manager, but I was still young,” he recalls. Johnson says that as he grew into his leadership role he reached out to peers and a board of advisers for support, “whether navigating 9/11, the financial crisis, COVID or any of the challenges that came with running a large construction company.”

Johnson says it helped that he was willing to listen. “I was not afraid to make the tough calls, but they had to have a purpose and a strategy and be good for our people—it was not about me,” he says.

Johnson was not planning to retire in the near future, so when an unsolicited acquisition offer came from DPR, Johnson says it caught him by surprise. But then he asked himself: What if?

GE Johnson built the El Paso County Terry R. Harris Judicial Complex in downtown Colorado Springs in 2006.
Image courtesy GE Johnson Construction Co.

“There had been inquiries in the past, but none had come with an actual price tag,” he notes. “So I hired some consultants, and they asked, ‘What would make you want to do this?’ It made me think about accelerating and improving GE Johnson beyond what I can do and helping that next wave of leaders by exposing them to different leaders and [larger] markets.”

GE Johnson is an employee-owned firm, and its CEO says if he were to make this move, he knew he would have to find “someone like us that is a builder not a broker, who likes health care and technical projects.” As Johnson dug deeper into his research, he says he realized that DPR “knocked it out of the park.”

“We have to do this because it will make us a better builder,” he says. “I’m healthy and we had a succession plan, but there was always going to be a day when I’m not here, and we have this opportunity [right now] for a transition. It was just great timing.”

The Village at Northstar near Lake Tahoe in Truckee, Calif., is one of GE Johnson’s many high-end mountain resort projects.
Image courtesy GE Johnson Construction Co.

Community Builder

“Jim is known for always doing what’s right regardless of the outcome ... he has modeled that behavior for us,” says Scott Miller, DPR Mountain States business unit leader and a 25-year GE Johnson team member. “Jim taught us to invest in relationships and [as a result] the relationships take care of the business. Giving back to the communities in which we are working is ingrained in our culture, and that’s why it works so well with DPR—it’s the same culture, our values are aligned.

“We also are maintaining our hallmark commitment to our communities—treating every project, no matter the scope, like a community project,” he says.

“DPR was looking for an opportunity to grow, coming out of COVID,” says CEO George Pfeffer. “One of our strategies fit very tightly with this. We had expanded to the Mountain States [and], when the GE Johnson name came up, we said, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s a great company!’”

Pfeffer adds that “It has been one of the best [business decisions] because we’re so aligned at so many levels.” He says: “Jim’s reason for wanting to do this is all about his people having other opportunities, bigger than what they were getting as a great company in the local market, but [now] on a national level.”

Pfeffer says Johnson can now focus on his passion— recruiting new employees. “But of course he’s so well known in the area and with clients that he’s still involved. He’s just not doing the day-to-day things.”

“Jim did a lot of due diligence in trying to select the right company” to be its parent, says Justin Horsch, general superintendent, who, like Miller, graduated from Kansas State and has spent his entire 25-year career at GE Johnson.

The Pikes Peak Visitor Center was named ENR Project of the Year for Colorado/Wyoming in 2022.
Image: The Unfound Door

“As Jim interviewed people and brought in experts and our leadership team, culture was always at the top of the scorecard—how they deal with their employees all the way down to the carpenters and laborers in the field. [With DPR], it feels like going to another GE Johnson job; so far, it’s been great,” Horsch says.

“My biggest joy is when teams accomplish something exceptional they didn’t think they could do,” Johnson says. There have been several of those projects, and he recalls the satisfaction of rebuilding the Kansas State football stadium between two seasons.

“No one thought it could be done, and our team knocked it out of the park,” he notes. “That was so fun, doing something different and having our team exceed their expectation.” GE Johnson went on to work on the university campus for eight years.

Miller recalls that while working on the Broadmoor West hotel expansion and renovation in 2013, Johnson stopped by the site several times a week. GE Johnson had constructed the original building in the 1970s, returning 40 years later for this upgrade. “We stripped it to the studs, tore off the roof, increased the footprint of the building and did a two-story addition—all in 26 ½ weeks,” Miller says.

GE Johnson also built the original Summit House atop Pikes Peak in the 1970s, returning 50 years later for its replacement, the Pikes Peak Visitor Center. “It took so much energy and innovation to figure out how to do that at 11,000 feet,” says Johnson. The firm took over transportation and logistics for all subcontractors in the extreme high-altitude environment.

“The project represents so many great parts of the company; it’s incredible to see what that team accomplished,” he says.

GE Johnson rebuilt the Kansas State University football stadium between two seasons.
Image courtesy GE Johnson Construction Co.

Busy Behind the Scenes

passion for the community extends to his involvement in local causes. He is a board member of the Colorado Community College System, holds several leadership roles for Kansas State University and serves on boards of YMCA of the Pikes Peak Region, Colorado Business Committee for the Arts and Discover Goodwill of Southern and Western Colorado. He was named Business Citizen of the Year by the Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance, received the Colorado Governor’s Citizenship Medal and was inducted into the Colorado Business Hall of Fame.

“Jim’s done so much behind the scenes and has been instrumental in bringing projects to Colorado Springs,” says Mike Trapp, president of Olson Plumbing and Heating Co., an industry peer. “If there was not enough money to make [a project progress], he would help,” says Trapp. “He has a lot of influence and has done more for the community than anyone you’ll ever know.”

In 2018, Jandel Allen-Davis became CEO and president of Craig Hospital, the renowned neuro-rehabilitation acute hospital in Englewood, Colo., just as GE Johnson finished its multiyear capital expansion. “I thought, ‘Oh, I’m going to meet a giant, a titan of the industry.’ But you couldn’t meet a nicer guy if you tried,” she says. “He’s humble and down to earth, and that’s been my impression since then. He’s a good man.”

Craig Hospital is about to launch a new expansion project with GE Johnson. Allen-Davis says, “One of the things that makes Jim so remarkable is he sees the importance of how each and every person matters and how each of the pieces of the puzzle fit together. If one piece doesn’t fit, it erodes the culture of the company.”

“The legacy of collaboration and trust GE Johnson has built in the Mountain States is enviable,” adds Miller. “We’ll continue to build on that foundation while unlocking new opportunities for growth and innovation.”