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This year, as San Francisco-based A. Ruiz Construction celebrates its 30th anniversary, it continues to look ahead to new developments and innovations in technology to continue offering customers cutting-edge services. “These days, companies have to stay up to speed with all the current and recent innovations in communication, estimating and construction methods in general,” President Tony Ruiz explains.

A. Ruiz Construction monitors the competition to ensure the company’s services remain on the leading-edge. “We always try to have a good, clear vision of what our competition is doing, so we can see what’s ahead,” Ruiz explains. “We try to adopt new equipment that comes out because it makes the work that much easier. Equipment today has been adapted to run a lot cleaner, as well.”

In addition, the company is proud of its diverse capabilities in the industry. The company’s biggest growth market is its general engineering work, but it is also known for its capabilities in excavation, shoring, underpinning and seismic upgrading.

True Survivor
Ruiz says the company has survived the many ups and downs of the market due to the dedication of its employees. “We’ve survived many changes in the U.S. economy, and I would say that has everything to do with the attitudes of our employees,” he maintains.

“We treat them well, by offering good benefits packages to our union employees, and keep people busy all year round. When you can keep a good group of employees busy, they tend to become more effective. In the end, this helps the company become more competitive, and gain a better return, which can be reinvested in the people.”

The People Mover
The company was recently involved with San Francisco International Airport’s $14 million People Mover train system project. The two-year project required the company to build several train stations, and perform tenant improvement work on a design/build maintenance building.

Ruiz himself maintained the budget of the project, and performed cost analyses on a daily basis. “We keep our costs under control by looking at everything on a daily basis,” the company explains. “We have a job cost system that we input information into every day. Every time sheet or invoice is entered into the system. So, the next day, I can tell exactly where the job costs are at.”

Professional Development
The company seeks employees that have a diverse skill set, Ruiz says. Many of its employees have worked in a number of trades, and take on a number of responsibilities at the firm.

“Many of the project managers we have on staff today came to us with very little experience,” he explains. “We helped developed them into the very sophisticated project managers that they are today.”

The company’s training program consists of an administrative training system, and it also urges employees to take construction management classes outside of its own method of operation, Ruiz explains. “For the first three months of employment – the trial period – employees are allowed to work with other seasoned managers,” he says. “Then, they are interviewed and graded.”

Sophisticated Staff
Ruiz is content with the company’s position in the industry, and plans to continue to grow and expand the business at a controlled rate.

“We don’t believe in rapid growth,” he maintains. “It’s fine if a company can truly maintain that type of expansion, but it’s very difficult to maintain your thumb on the pulse of the market if you grow too quickly.

“Our pace of growth works well for us, because we are still able to keep our employees interested and maintain good morale,” he adds.