Texas 2010 rank: No. 4

Market, rank: Concrete, No. 1

Photo Courtesy Baker Concrete

Baker Concrete

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Sticking to its values and what it knows best—concrete—Baker Concrete in Houston completed the year with $195.5 million in regional revenue.

“We stick to our mission and core values—having the right safety on the job, doing right by our people, giving quality services with a smile, and bringing value to all projects we get involved in,” says Jon Chastain, coordinator of preconstruction services for Baker Concrete. “If we apply that to everything we do, amazingly enough, it seems to work out.”

Baker picked up additional concrete work in the nuclear market and has dived deeper into the wind farm industry with the acquisition in 2009 of RD in Clovis, N.M. In 2009, the company built five tanks to house liquefied natural gas at the Golden Pass LNG Terminal in Sabine Pass, and worked on the 1-million-sq-ft administrative services building at the University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston.

Baker Concrete arrived in Texas in 1982 and has made inroads in the state, hiring skilled craftspeople to develop formwork teams that could handle more complex high-rise and stadium projects. Chastain remains optimistic about work. He sees opportunities in which Baker can provide the right teams.

“Our people are what sets us apart,” Chastain says. “There is autonomy at Baker. We honor the entrepreneurial spirit, and try to get people doing what they are best at. That’s where people are the happiest, and the company thrives the most.”