Dive Brief:

• Concord, California-based Swinerton is expanding its operations in the Carolinas in anticipation of 75% growth year-over-year in the region and the exit from the market of an industry partner.
• The company announced that it was growing its reach in the area following the closure of Indianapolis-based contractor Shiel Sexton’s Charlotte, North Carolina, office, according to a press release shared with Construction Dive. Swinerton said it will hire as many as 12 construction and trade professionals in Charlotte over the next six months, bringing the total headcount there to 60.
• More than $300 million worth of construction projects within Swinerton’s Carolinas division are underway or in the immediate pipeline, the company said. The majority of the projects are driven by tenant interiors, multifamily developments and mass timber builds, a niche Swinerton fills with its affiliate company, Timberlab.

Dive Insight:

Kevin Hunt, Shiel Sexton’s president and chief operating officer, said that the company had a rough few years in the Southeast, and that it was opting to shift focus and deploy capital closer to home in its central Indiana market. The company is still completing $50-60 million worth of work in the Charlotte region, which Hunt expects to wrap up near the end of the year.

Jared Hoeflich, vice president and division manager at Swinerton, noted the struggles that come with recruiting skilled labor in the construction industry, a situation that has only been exacerbated by an increase of 129,000 job openings. 

Shiel Sexton’s Eric Little will be among Swinerton’s new employees as director of business development, according to the release. Formerly in the same role at Shiel Sexton, Little is a Charlotte native with more than 25 years of construction and real estate experience, who brings a large network of clients and referrals to the company, according to the release.

“We are fortunate to be afforded this opportunity to expand our team with top-performing superintendents, project managers, craft workers and others that are impacted by the closing of the Shiel Sexton office,” Hoeflich said.