- Finance & Banking
Below is a list of the top ten construction companies in the United States, ranked by their 2019 revenue data. This data was found at levelset.com.
DETAILED LIST OF THE 10 LARGEST CONSTRUCTION COMPANIES IN THE UNITED STATES
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2019 Revenue: $21.8 billion
Bechtel was founded in 1906 in San Francisco, California. Warren Bechtel founded it, and today it remains owned by the Bechtel family.
They have an extensive history of many engineering feats, including designing and constructing Olympic facilities, civil engineering projects like airports and public transportation systems, and energy construction projects like oil pipelines and nuclear power plants.
Bechtel had a hand in engineering and constructing the Hoover Dam, handled project management for the 1984 Los Angeles Summer Olympics, and managed the creation of the “Chunnel,” the undersea tunnel connecting France and the UK.
Bechtel also was involved in creating around 40% of the nuclear plants in the United States, and due to their experience, they were asked to assist in nuclear cleanups, like that of Three Mile Island in 1979.
They also have experience in engineering public transit, including large airports in Saudi Arabia and the metro in Washington, D.C.
They are known both domestically and internationally for their accomplishments, making them one of the most notable construction companies on our list.
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Turner Construction. New York, New York.
2019 Revenue: $15.28 billion
Founded in 1902 by Henry Chandlee Turner, the Turner Corporation got its start in concrete, creating stairways for the New York City subway. In their early years, Turner Corp. built facilities for some of its largest businesses, including Western Electric and Standard Oil.
They have constructed large sports stadiums, including the Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Pitt Stadium for the University of Pittsburgh.
They also took on projects like the United Nations Secretariat Building and Madison Square Garden and Vanderbilt University Medical Center Hospital, and the John Fitzgerald Kennedy Library.
Today, they have 45 offices worldwide, serving twenty countries, and they specialize in construction in the healthcare, residential, education, transportation, and infrastructure industries.
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McDermott International. Houston, Texas.
2019 Revenue: $12.4 billion
McDermott International has its origins in oil rigs, founded in 1923 by Ralph Thomas McDermott, who wanted to profit off Texas’s oil boom. Ralph McDermott brought his father into the business, who already had experience in lumber and oilfield construction.
After expanding across Texas to pursue oil, McDermott would place oil drilling equipment in the marshes of Texas and Louisiana. By the 1940s, the company had constructed off-shore oil rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
Today, they handle engineering, procurement, construction, and installation of many structures, primarily in the oil industry. The company has over seventy thousand employees.
Its notable projects include the Astoria Power Plant in Queens, New York, BP Chemicals Adsorber Vessel in Lima, Ohio, and Baton Rouge FCC Unit Turnaround in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
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AECOM. Los Angeles, California.
2019 Revenue: $11.1 billion
AECOM finds its roots in the Swiss Drilling Company founded in 1910 by J. Fred Miles. This company would later become Ashland Oil and Refining Company.
The company could use the byproducts of the refinery process to create asphalt and then expanded its reach into highway and industrial construction, becoming one of the nation’s largest road construction firms.
AECOM was founded in 1990, after a series of acquisitions and mergers, with its acronymic name standing for its main services: architecture, engineering, construction, operations, and management.
They have acquired over fifty companies, and today they are listed as #164 on the Fortune 500 list of America’s largest companies. They employ forty-seven thousand people worldwide, and in 2021 it was named on Ethisphere.com’s list of the World’s Most Ethical Companies.
Their notable projects include the One World Trade Center in New York City, Warner Brothers World in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and One Shenzhen Bay in Guangdong, China.
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Kiewit. Omaha, Nebraska.
2019 Revenue: $10.6 billion
Kiewit Corporation was founded in 1884 as Kiewit Brothers Masonry Contractors. In their early years, they constructed the Nebraska State Capitol Tower, the Joslyn Art Museum, and Union Station in Omaha.
They are also credited with building many highways, tunnels, and dams. Kiewit claims that it “built more lane-miles of the interstate highway system than any other contractor.”
During WWII, Kiewit would gain a contract with the U.S. government to build army bases, military airfields, factories, and other facilities across the Western United States.
During the Cold War, they were tasked with building the Gaseous Diffusion Plant in Portsmouth, Ohio, to refine uranium for military and civilian nuclear projects. These projects allowed them to gain entry to the infrastructure sector, and it gave them access to many projects outside of Nebraska.
Today, they provide services including building and construction, mining, transportation, and water management.
Their notable projects include The Holland Performing Arts Center in Omaha, Nebraska, the Homestead Motorsports Complex in Homestead, Florida, and the Salt Lake City University Line in Salt Lake City, Utah.
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The Whiting-Turner Contracting Company. Baltimore, Maryland.
2019 Revenue: $9.83 billion
Whiting-Turner was founded in 1909 by two classmates at MIT, G.W.C. Whiting, and LeBaron Turner. Today, they are a construction firm that focuses on many industries, including commercial, education, transportation, healthcare, and technology projects.
One of its founders, G.W.C. Whiting, had the School of Engineering at Johns Hopkins University dedicated to him in 1980.
According to Forbes, Whiting-Turner is one of the largest private businesses in the United States.
Some of their more notable projects include Porsche North America Headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia, Ravens Stadium in Baltimore, Maryland, and the NASA Langley Research Center Headquarters Building in Hampton, Virginia.
Whiting-Turner has over fifty locations nationwide and employs over 3,600 people.
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PCL Construction. Denver, Colorado.
2019 Revenue: $9.57 billion
PCL began in 1906 as Marin and Poole Construction, founded in Stoughton, Saskatchewan. It became known as Pool Construction Company Limited in 1913, and in 1975, it opened its U.S. headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Today, it has over twenty U.S. offices and 9,500 employees.
PCL specializes in many sectors, including industrial construction, such as manufacturing, power, oil and gas, and civil construction, including infrastructures like bridges, roadways, and ports.
Its notable projects include the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California, the Hillcrest Solar Project in Brown County, Ohio, and the Mystic Lake Center and Promenade Hotel Tower in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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Structure Tone. New York, New York.
2019 Revenue: $8.4 billion
Founded in 1971 by Patrick J. Donaghy and Lewis R. Marino, Structure Tone is known for industrial construction, such as warehouses and manufacturing plants and commercial, healthcare, and higher education construction of correctional facilities, jails, and prisons.
Structure Tone is a conglomerate made up of eight construction firms, including Abbott Construction, Ajax Building, BCCI Builders, Govan Brown, Layton Construction, and LF Driscoll.
Their notable projects include the restoration of historic St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, New York, the construction of Sage Plaza in Houston, Texas, and the renovation and restoration of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Structure Tone employs 2,200 people, and they operate 43 offices.
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Skanska. New York, New York.
2019 Revenue: $7.36 billion
Skanska is unique on this list, as it is not an American company, but it remains one of the larger players in the industry.
It was originally founded as a cement casting company in 1887 in Sweden, and it had a hand in creating Sweden’s infrastructure, such as roads, power plants, and offices. However, they quickly became an international company.
Skanska entered the U.S. market in 1971, and it remains one of the largest companies in the construction sector. Skanska is unique due to its commitment to be especially environmentally friendly. In 2007, Skanska was named the number one “green builder” in the United States.
Some of their notable projects in the United States include MetLife Stadium, home to the Giants and the Jets, renovation of the United Nations headquarters, reconstruction of New York City Subway tunnels, and restoration of the World Trade Center site after the attacks on 9/11.
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Gilbane Building. Providence, Rhode Island.
2019 Revenue: $6.6 billion
Gilbane Building Company was founded in 1870 by William and Thomas Gilbane as a carpentry shop, focusing first on building homes but then expanding into other, larger buildings such as hospitals. Throughout their long history, they have built industrial buildings, Olympic facilities, hospitals, and memorials.
Today, they have over twenty-five offices in the U.S., and they employ over 2,700 people. In 2020, they celebrated 150 years of operation.
Some of their most notable projects include the 1964 New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows, New York, and Terminal 5 of O’Hare International Airport in Chicago, Illinois.
Suppose you have visited the nation’s capital. In that case, the odds are that you have seen one of Gilbane’s projects, as they were tasked with constructing the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum, and the WWII Veterans Memorial.
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- Finance & Banking
Author
Chris Kolmar is a co-founder of Zippia and the editor-in-chief of the Zippia career advice blog. He has hired over 50 people in his career, been hired five times, and wants to help you land your next job. His research has been featured on the New York Times, Thrillist, VOX, The Atlantic, and a host of local news. More recently, he's been quoted on USA Today, BusinessInsider, and CNBC.
