For its strong project portfolio, commitment to its employees and communities, along with strong regional presence and achievements, ENR Mountain States has named Staker Parson Materials & Construction its 2023 Intermountain Contractor of the Year.

Asphalt paving progresses on the West Davis Corridor, a 17-mile, four-lane highway project in Davis County, Utah.
Photo courtesy of Staker Parson Cos.

Driving Growth

Commercial and infrastructure work led the way toward solid regional performance and helped bolster Staker Parson’s Intermountain revenue in 2022. A team of 3,000 employees—up 4% year over year—is the company’s strength, and they are empowered by a culture that encourages innovative thinking, according to several people at the firm.

That boost came despite the tightening labor market, supply chain issues as well as rising energy and fuel costs, notes Travis Canfield, vice president.

To bring on new talent, Staker Parson “developed new recruiting tactics focusing on employee training and retention,” Canfield says. This included grassroots efforts and partnering with higher education institutions to develop new avenues for recruitment.

Remaining nimble and making a slight shift from residential to commercial and infrastructure enabled the firm to work on nearly the same number of projects in 2021 and 2022, Kurz says.

Creativity played a vital role in keeping projects on track as well. Staker Parson’s teams began preordering materials even further in advance, particularly for higher wear or frequently purchased items. “This required a greater commitment to our vendors and management support of the planning that our production teams put together,” Canfield says.

Multiple companies fall under Staker Parson’s umbrella and serve in a variety of roles, including Jack B. Parson Ready Mix Concrete, Idaho Materials & Construction, Western Rock Products, Hales Sand & Gravel, Burdick Materials, Reynolds Excavation, Demolition & Utilities and Nielson Construction & Materials. Company officers say the firm identifies and selects acquisitions by researching opportunities and identifying those that match both Staker Parson’s business model and company culture. Its most recent acquisition of Chapman Construction in Roosevelt, Utah, took place this year.

“We believe success for Staker Parson is driven through great partnerships with our customers, and our network of resources and plants offering high-quality materials and services to meet the ever changing needs of the markets that we operate in,” says Derrick Pack, vice president, Jack B. Parson Ready Mix Concrete, a Staker Parson firm.

Staker Parson’s charity efforts include providing materials and construction services to Habitat for Humanity. Here, an insulated concrete form placement continues on such a project in Brigham City, Utah.
Photo courtesy of Staker Parson Cos.

Project Successes

With work spanning across numerous sectors and parts of the Intermountain states, Staker Parson’s team is keeping busy. A $40-million project for the Idaho Dept. of Transportation (IDT)—U.S. Highway 20/26, Chinden Boulevard, I-84 to Middleton Road in Boise—was the firm’s largest to break ground in 2022.

“The biggest reason that we love working with Staker Parson is their consistent performance of standing behind their work and working as a team with all stakeholders to come to the most mutually beneficial outcome possible for all involved,” says Alec Green, president of MC Green & Sons in North Salt Lake, Utah.

Together with MC Green, Staker Parson has been working on Western Acres Phase 1 and 2 since summer 2022. “They have done a great job of meeting project schedules, safety standards and work quality,” Green says. “There was one section of asphalt paved that had some issues, and before we even noticed the issues, I was notified of the issue and that they already had it scheduled to be repaired.”

Another collaboration is the Owens Corning parking lot expansion, which a Staker Parson estimator actually referred to MC Green, since it was more of a concrete and utility project. “We were awarded the project thanks to the Staker Parson referral and then hired Staker Parson to do the asphalt portion of the job,” Green says. “They again did a great job on meeting a demanding schedule, weather issues as winter hit early and worked with us and the owners to overcome project obstacles.”

On the Salt Lake Temple renovation for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City, Staker Parson is providing construction services and materials. Salt Lake City-based general contractor Jacobsen Construction is leading this multiyear effort that aims to preserve the historical and cultural landmark.

“Our firm has had a relationship with Staker Parson for many decades. Most, if not all, of our projects are a partnership with Staker Parson,” says Scott Braithwaite, executive vice president at Jacobsen, adding that another recent project includes the 40-story Astra Tower. “The services performed by Staker Parson have always been of the highest quality. The level of commitment from both parties is of the highest importance, and our success in our core business relies on this relationship.”

Other large jobs last year in Utah and Idaho include the ITD US-93 in Jerome, Idaho, which involved adding two through lanes on US-93. Another is Taylor Mountain Road in the Vernal, Utah, area, which is a seven-mile rural corridor project; crews have placed about 18,000 tons of road base, 16,000 tons of hot mixed asphalt and installed 25 culverts in sizes ranging from 18 in. to 72 in.

An aerial view showcases ongoing bridge work on the Utah Dept. of Transportation’s West Davis Corridor project, due for completion in fall 2024.
Photo courtesy of Staker Parson Cos.

Also on the infrastructure side, Staker Parson is part of the Farmington Bay Contractors Team—a joint venture consisting of Staker Parson Materials & Construction, Ames Construction and Wadsworth Brothers Construction—that is working on the West Davis Corridor for the Utah Dept. of Transportation (UDOT). This 17-mile, four-lane highway project will connect communities across Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties. Duties include underground utility work, drainage, fence installations, preliminary bridge work, placing stabilization fabric and excavation and embankment work to prepare for granular borrow and road base placement. The team is also completing asphalt paving throughout the corridor.

In collaboration with Ralph L. Wadsworth Inc., Staker Parson is also providing asphalt paving services on the I-80 & I-215 Renewed Project, which will reconstruct a major interstate that cuts through a critical portion of the Salt Lake area.

“Although asphalt paving can be described crudely as digging rocks out of the earth and gluing them together for the people to drive on, there is a huge amount of precise science involved,” says Robert Stewart, Region 2 director at UDOT. “The controls required to produce a consistent product that meets UDOT standards are enormous, and even then, there aren’t too many projects where asphalt is perfect. Staker Parson has remained committed to delivering a quality product and/or project, and this commitment has allowed resolution of difficult issues with an outcome where the product quality remains the focus.”

With the company’s large presence throughout Utah and its long history in working with UDOT, they understand the agency’s culture, values and products at a local and statewide level that’s difficult to match, says Stewart, who has worked with Staker Parson throughout his 23 years at UDOT. “They have a willingness to work through issues that, while not easy, always focus on creating a value for the taxpayers of Utah,” he adds.

Staker Parson teams and clients take a breather during a recent customer appreciation barbecue.
Photo courtesy of Staker Parson Cos.

Efforts Beyond

In 2022, the Utah Safety Council honored Staker Parson with an Award of Merit and Honor, which recognizes outstanding achievements in corporate safety programs. This year, the firm earned a Diamond Safety Award from the Associated General Contractors of Utah.

An employee-driven safety culture has helped Staker Parson achieve an EMR of 0.60 so far for 2022-2023. Safety is a shared responsibility, so all staff are trained to be safety professionals and have the ability to stop any process at any level if they feel something is unsafe.

Beyond the jobsite, the company and staff donate both their time and materials to various charities such as Habitat for Humanity in Utah as well as schools in both Idaho and Utah. Under that charity umbrella is a program called Rocks Build Our World, where Staker Parson employees teach 4th graders about the importance of mining and mined materials, the construction industry and possible career opportunities.

A recent Staker Parson campaign in partnership with LiveOn Utah promoted suicide prevention, with messaging wrapped around 26 concrete mixer trucks that included a new 988 suicide hotline number to reach individuals across the much-affected construction industry.

Looking ahead, although residential work has been slowing over the last couple years, “all indicators lead us to believe that we may see some growth in the residential sector in the second half of 2023,” Kurz says. Strong market demand continues, promising a solid finish to the year.

“Staker Parson has a growth mindset and anticipates the second half of 2023 to be strong as we work to complete the projects that we have on hand,” Kurz says. “We operate in very strong growing markets and anticipate future growth for the Staker Parson Companies.”