Colorado/Wyoming Firm of the Year: Strategic Diversity Gives PCL Its Edge
Keynote projects push Colorado/Wyoming Contractor of the Year to new heights in the Mountain States
An old movie theater has been transformed to mimic the rabbit hole experience described in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland.” The 13,000-sq-ft entertainment venue inside Vail’s Solaris Plaza features four distinct spaces: a 2,300-sq-ft restaurant, 830-sq-ft library, 1,200-sq-ft speakeasy and 2,700-sq-ft arcade and cinema area.
A focused strategic diversification plan launched in 2022 has helped PCL Construction grow by 15% in Colorado and Wyoming over the past year, firm representatives say. The contractor reported revenue of $501 million in those two states in 2024, up from $434.26 million in 2023, and $970 million for the larger seven-state region.
In addition to significant projects at the Denver airport, commercial mixed-use developments, education, hospitality, high-end residential and government/public facilities, PCL’s civil infrastructure division is also addressing the region’s growing demand for water and wastewater infrastructure. Data centers are a new initiative for the firm, and PCL’s mission critical group is constructing a number of them around the country, including its first data center project in Colorado.
The Denver-based contractor celebrated its 50th year in business last year, opened an office in Arizona and was named to the Denver Business Journal’s 2025 Best Places to work, ranking No. 2 in the “Giants” category for the second year in a row. PCL has also been named one of the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For in 2025 for the 16th time.
PCL’s Jack Sample oversees all building operations east of the Rockies, including offices in Colorado, Minneapolis and Florida. ENR Regional Editor Jennifer Seward sat down with Sample to check in on the firm’s big year. The following Q&A has been edited and condensed.
You’re nearing completion on the 16th Street Mall in Denver. What are some lessons learned from that project?
The toughest challenge was how to put all the work in place and keep all those businesses operational. We had a plan, and that plan had to change, as plans do, to make it more efficient for the contractors. We tore everything up, replaced all the underground utilities, poured a new slab, new granite pavers, landscaping, etc. While there was a lot of planning that went into all of that, the toughest challenge logistically was keeping all the businesses open and allowing for the foot traffic that was needed to get through to support those businesses. We had some great leaders on that [PCL] team and hats off to them for getting everyone to focus on the job at hand [despite the high-profile and pedestrian-heavy nature of the project]. It was a long process and tough for some of the businesses, but the end result is fantastic, and we’re receiving positive feedback from the public and some business owners.
PCL’s Colorado Projects at a Glance
Aspen Chalet Renovation
Luxury overhaul of historic Aspen boutique hotel with rooftop solar and snowmelt systems.
Cherry Lane Redevelopment
Transformative mixed-use redevelopment spanning entire city block with residential, retail and dining.
MSU Denver’s Summit House
Student housing development on the Auraria Campus with 550 beds, retail and career-focused amenities. It will be Colorado’s tallest mass timber building.
Klein Facility Enhancement Project
Civil infrastructure effort in Commerce City will help reduce PFAS concentrations and support long-term water quality.
What is PCL doing to navigate the threats of tariffs and potential supply chain issues?
Tariffs were certainly the worry a few months ago, and that sucked up a lot of the oxygen in every conversation we were having internally as well as with our clients, subs and vendors. One good thing that came out of the pandemic was that we got a lot smarter and more strategic on our procurement strategies because there were so many supply chain disruptions across the world. So when talk of tariffs came up, we started implementing some of those strategies and backup plans. I’m feeling much more confident today than I was a few months ago now that we’re getting to a place of more certainty.
How are you managing workforce challenges?
Right now it’s manageable, but the concern is that if the work continues to grow, and especially with what is happening at the border, that could definitely constrain things because so much of our workforce in any areas we operate, including Colorado, are immigrants. Just personally, I think we need to fix our immigration program to set a system up that allows us to vet people who want to come here and help us put work in place; I’m optimistic we can get there.
“Our great family culture is what has kept me here for 30 years.”
—Jack Sample, President, Eastern U.S., PCL Construction
We self-perform quite a bit of work so that means we hire the laborers and carpenters ourselves, particularly for concrete and mass timber projects. We lean on those crews to help us grow, and to bring their friends and relatives to join the PCL family. We also do a lot of work with apprenticeship programs to help young people see the great opportunities that exist in our industry. So we’re attacking it from a few different angles.
One thing we’re so proud of is placing on the Best Places to Work lists with the Denver Business Journal and Fortune magazine. It speaks to our culture, of which our employee-ownership model is the bedrock. Our great family culture is what has kept me here for 30 years. Over time, our employees have given over $20 million to Mile High United Way; we built their headquarters, and we’re building a new project for them. We understand how fortunate we are to be part of such a great company, and the level of engagement we have with Mile High United Way, Habitat for Humanity, Food Bank of the Rockies and other programs is our way of giving back.
What’s next on the horizon for PCL?
We feel hopeful that manufacturing will continue to grow. We have a manufacturing center of excellence that works with our existing business units across the U.S. to secure more manufacturing work, and once things settle in [with regard to tariffs] we think there will be more onshoring of products. Some of our clients are waiting to see where everything lands before deciding where to deploy their capital, whether on expanding or developing new manufacturing facilities.
