Our annual Top Contractors rankings will be published in the Aug. 1 issue of ENR California, but here’s a quick peek:

Though contractors say that it may not yet be back to “business as usual” in the California construction industry, some are seeing silver linings in upcoming project opportunities. In the meantime, many firms are still coping with the downturn – our top 10 firms dropped 10.3% in total revenues from a year earlier.

“I think the market bottomed out last year, and overall our business in California is down 15%,” says Richard Bach, Turner Construction’s senior vice president in the San Diego office. “We don’t see huge increases by 2012, but a steady increase from then on for sure.”

Also seeing an unpredictable market in the year ahead is McCarthy Building Cos., according to Rich Henry, president, Northern Pacific division, San Francisco.

“The market’s still very unpredictable for the remainder of this year and into 2012,” says Henry. “The housing market that often drives many of the commercial markets is still struggling in most areas of California with some areas not seeing recovery for three to five years or longer.”

The Top 25 Contractors (from a final list of 70) include:
  1. Turner Construction Co.
  2. McCarthy Building Cos.
  3. Swinerton Inc.
  4. DPR Construction
  5. Webcor Builders
  6. PCL Construction
  7. Rudolph and Sletten
  8. Clark Construction Group, California
  9. Kiewit Corp.
  10. Balfour Beatty US
  11. Flatiron Construction Corp.
  12. Bernards
  13. PIMORIS
  14. The Whiting-Turner Contracting Co.
  15. Sundt Construction
  16. Skanska USA
  17. Harper Construction Co.
  18. ValleyCrest Landscape Cos.
  19. FTR International
  20. Archer Western Contractors
  21. Roebbelen Contracting
  22. Morley Builders
  23. O’Neil Industries Inc./W.E. O’Neil Construction
  24. T.B. Penick & Sons Inc.
  25. EDGE Development Inc.