Local economies are booming in both Seattle and Portland, and construction is playing a big role.

When ENR Mountain States announced that Denver attorney Gene Commander would be honored with the magazine’s 2015 Legacy Award for Colorado, fellow attorney Ryan Warren promised a resounding roast at the awards ceremony. Commander just smiled and told Warren, “Remember, I get to go on after you.”

Take a quick tour across the greater Salt Lake City area, and you will see the influence of the Dale Barton Agency all over town—from the light-rail system, the City Creek Center and the 21,000-seat conference complex for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints to the venues for the 2002 Winter Olympics, the University of Utah’s Rice-Eccles Stadium, along with more than 120 other campus buildings.

When Letitia Haley Barker returned to Haley-Greer Inc. in 1995 to become vice president and chief financial officer of her father’s Dallas-based glass and curtain wall business, longtime employees grumbled so much that company co-founder Don Haley decided to do something about it.

“Safety first.” What construction manager doesn’t utter those words loudly and clearly just about every day?