Builder: Local construction edging up

Construction is picking up slowly in and around Carson City as the economy heals, according to a principal at Shaheen Beauchamp Builders LLC.

“I’m hoping it’s a trend,” said Mark Beauchamp, a 17-year resident of the capital city and a man who isn’t bothered by slow but steady as she goes. “Give me a slow trend,” he added, “over a fast erratic trend.”

Beauchamp said he also has heard that others in the construction field are seeing general improvement, in part because of increased work and also due to them “all running lean and mean.”

Beauchamp and Jeff Shaheen, who founded their builder business in the late 1990s, survived the recession despite the curtailed construction environment in part because they handle medical-related building projects. That isn’t all they do, but it has been a good share of their work.

“Specializing in medical anchor buildings helped,” said Beauchamp, “but we do all forms” of building in both the private and public sectors. “We even do a custom home once in a while.”

The company, which currently employs 15, did have to cut back during the recession but in the past six months has added a half dozen employees.

“It was not easy,” Beauchamp said of the recession’s trough. “We went down. We had to scale back.”

But the firm, he said, was able to retain key construction people who are “the backbone of our company” and keep working; it still is as clients cautiously emerge from the downturn.

“We’re busy right now,” the builder said. “It’s kind of a variety of work.” He cited office renovations, retail and industrial jobs -- many of them smaller scale projects rather than the anchor medical buildings that have been among those that provide the firm’s bread and butter.

“We’re seeing smaller to mid-sized projects,” the builder said, but currently no larger anchor building work. “That’s what we’re lacking.”

He said the company also has been doing work for the Carson City School District at Seeliger, Fremont and Mark Twain elementary schools. He said Seeliger was a conventional bid contract; the other two are construction management at risk contracts.

In 2012, Shaheen Beauchamp completed Carson Medical Group in Carson City. Other company projects have included St. Teresa of Avila Roman Catholic Church, City National Bank, Harley Davidson, Carson Urologists, the Fernley Nugget Casino and the Battle Mountain Hospital.

Beauchamp said the firm also is handling work for the Mutual of Omaha Bank north of the downtown and The Hub business incubator, which is in the heart of Carson City’s downtown.

Shaheen Beauchamp is located in north Carson City not far from the corner of East College Parkway and Goni Road.