San Francisco’s Greatest Common Contractors

History and local connections matter when building in San Francisco — especially as the city emerges from the post-pandemic collapse of its downtown office market and tries to overcome negative coverage in national news.

Firms based in the city dominated TRD's first ranking of San Francisco general contractors. Several of them have belonged to the same family for generations.

“We have relationships that go back 30 years or more,” said Bob Nibbi, CEO of third-place Nibbi Bros., founded in 1950 by his grandfather. “That’s an advantage in times like these when things get tight.”

The pandemic and resulting negative perceptions of San Francisco represent another chapter in the city's ongoing boom-and-bust story, beginning with rapid development during the Gold Rush era, followed by the famously destructive earthquake and fires of 1906.

The top-ranked company on the list, Cahill Contractors, was founded when founder JR Cahill was “inspired to rebuild the city” after the 1906 earthquake, according to the company’s website. Today, Kathryn Cahill Thompson, the company's CEO since 2016, represents the fourth generation of family leadership.

Thompson and others on the list are all operating at a time when financing construction loans and slow-moving projects is difficult.

“The construction sector is always the last to feel a recession. We are out there building it, and in the meantime the developers are not preparing the next project.”
Bob Nibbi, Nibbi Brothers

According to the city's planning department, there were 6,600 housing units under construction in San Francisco in the first quarter of 2023 – a key segment for general contractors. That's down from 9,600 in the first quarter of 2020.

The TRD ranking is based on a three-year review and records both the number of projects that companies are working on and the total cost of the projects. The construction projects did not have to be in progress to count toward the total, and both companies received joint venture credit. Data is based on San Francisco permits issued between November 15, 2020 and November 15, 2023 and only covers projects within city limits.

According to the city, during that time Cahill was the general contractor on 10 approved projects totaling about $600 million. All of these projects involved housing, except for a $16 million Buddhist temple and community center near the Polk Street corridor. Another notable project is in Bayview, where 118 affordable housing units account for $100 million of that.

Swinerton Construction took second place with 10 projects totaling about $485 million. Nearly half of that came from one project, a 16-story, 500-unit apartment building in SoMa.

The company recently announced that it will name President David Callis as CEO this month when current CEO Eric Foster retires. Swinerton is even older than Cahill, with more than 130 years of history in San Francisco.

Nibbi Brothers had approved eight projects with a total value of about $450 million. CEO Bob Nibbi is the third generation to lead the company alongside his brother Michael, vice president, and father Larry, chairman.

Bob Nibbi said affordable housing projects keep his staff busy while the rest of the development pipeline dries up and market-rate multifamily housing is “virtually non-existent.”

With fewer projects to choose from, Nibbi is competing “aggressively” for GC work and as concrete subcontractors for other GC projects, he said. But even if labor costs have fallen slightly, higher material prices, higher interest rates and lower rents still mean most projects outside of affordable housing and public sector work are out of the question for developers, he added.

“The construction sector is always the last to feel a recession,” he said. “They have the work on the books and we are out there working on it and in the meantime the developers are not preparing the next project.”

Fourth-place Webcor Construction had three projects in the works totaling nearly $260 million, according to permitting data.

Two of Webcor's projects – an $84 million residential tower on Treasure Island that broke ground in mid-2022 and a $45 million R&D building near Potrero Hill that was completed last year – According to the city, they are joint ventures with other construction companies. Webcor's only single project, also on Treasure Island, is also its largest: a 22-story mixed-use building with 250 apartments estimated to cost $130 million.

At 50 years old, Webcor is one of the younger companies on the list. It started on the peninsula. Oracle's headquarters in Redwood City, the Academy of Sciences in San Francisco and SFO's Terminal One are among the most significant projects in its history, according to the company.

Turner Construction was the only construction company based outside the Bay Area to make the top five. The company is headquartered in New York's Hudson Yards and has a Bay Area office in Oakland.

Its work on a $231.1 million project called Brannan Square, developed by its New York landlord Tishman Speyer, landed the company on the list. Turner built two of the three buildings in the 1 million-square-foot SoMa office and retail project centered around a 1-acre park and recently began leasing.