Perera Construction’s team culture allows it to take the lead on complex projects and deliver remarkable results.

By Janice Hoppe-Spiers, Senior Editor at Knighthouse Media

Hank Perera relocated from Anchorage, Alaska to Los Angeles in 1989, leaving behind his residential construction company to start a new firm focused on commercial and institutional construction. Perera knew starting over in a city with 10 million people that the competition would be fierce. To differentiate himself he took on complex projects in the niche specialties of healthcare, telecommunications, higher education and energy.

“Those were my primary focuses when I came to California and I was able to penetrate that market pretty well,” Perera remembers. “The clients I developed in the early ’90s are the same ones we serve today. It’s all about building long-term relationships. City of Hope has been a client since 1990, Southern California Edison has been a client since 1992, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center has been a client since 1993 and Verizon has been a client since 1994, and we are still doing work with our original clients.”

Based in Ontario, Calif., Perera Construction adopted the belief early on that in a highly competitive marketplace like the construction industry, one has to be remarkable in the eyes of its customers to create differentiation. The company has nearly three decades of expertise in providing clients with talented staff who create a collaborative alliance with stakeholders utilizing high-tech tools and systems in order to optimize project results.

“I am very proud of being a 29-year-old company and establishing real respect in the construction community with the client base we have,” Perera notes. “I came down from a different state not knowing California at all and the clients that we have developed relationships over the past few decades, I consider them best-in-class clients.”

The market has been increasingly busy over the past two years and Perera Construction has become selective in taking on new projects to ensure it continues to deliver the high-quality work on which it has built its reputation. “I always felt it’s a great opportunity for contractors to get in trouble by overextending themselves and taking on more work than they can fulfill,” Perera says. “In some cases, we turn work down because we don’t feel we can do a great job. We are very focused on making sure the work we provide is remarkable.”

Rewarding Culture

In 2010, Perera sold 49 percent of the company to the employees and he continues to hold 51 percent of company stock. He does plan to transition to 100 percent employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) over the next three to five years. “When you own a piece of the company it makes a big difference,” Perera says. “You go from collecting a paycheck to being an employee-owner of the company. It’s worked out really well for us.”

Perera Construction’s foundation is built on long-term relationships and that extends to its employees. Perera made the decision to become an ESOP company because he felt it is employees who build a company and there is no greater reward for them. 

“It just makes great business sense when you have people who are very good at what they do to do your best to keep them and make them happy,” Perera adds. “It makes no business sense to take on a project with a whole new staff you just hired the day before to perform work with a client you have had for many years. The chances of losing a client become too high of a risk. Construction is all about risk tolerance and the best way to keep the tolerance under control is to build your team on a long-term basis and to get to know each other well.”

Bryan Glass, business development, says becoming an ESOP has positively impacted the company culture. “As an ESOP company we feel that when Perera is filled with leaders and team members who think and act like owners, work is more meaningful, fulfilling and enjoyable,” he says. “When the management team becomes transparent in all aspects of the company and the employees are involved in knowing the financial aspects of the company and how we are doing on projects, that has a direct relationship to things being completed well.”

Perera Construction strongly believes in investing in its people. The company pays its employees for the training they receive and increases their salaries once it has been completed. The company ensures its employees have the latest software to deliver remarkable projects. Its employees specialize in Procore, Bluebeam, BIM, Autodesk Revit, Primavera p6, on-screen takeoff, SharePoint, Yammer, among others.

The company also prides itself on promoting from within. “Succession planning is something we put a big emphasis on,” Perera says. “We are recruiting out of colleges for start-up positions to develop them for higher-level positions.”

Diverse Portfolio

As one of the largest construction companies in California’s Inland Empire and throughout the western United States, Perera Construction is adept at handling the complex and technically challenging projects within the healthcare, higher education, telecommunications and energy sectors. “The most important thing is to not overextend ourselves with these specific clients and to have very qualified individuals who are knowledgeable doing this work,” Perera says.

Perera Construction oversaw the gut-out and build-out of the 30,000-square-foot President Richard M. Nixon Library and Museum that included the construction of a replica oval office, replica cabinet room and multiple exhibit rooms with real artifacts. The project also required the relocation of original President Nixon motor vehicles using cranes in a confined space. Mechanical and electrical systems included a high-end HVAC system with temperature and humidity controls, high-tech security and UV-sensitive lighting.

Longtime client Cedars-Sinai partnered with Perera Construction to oversee the build-out of an existing 5,801-square-foot shell space for its new gastrointestinal outpatient center. The project included three procedure rooms, 10 pre/post holding bays, a decontamination and scope processing room and medical gas room. The center also required the installation of a new switchgear section to power the suite and the installation of a new rooftop generator for emergency power.

Perera Construction has been involved in a number of Southern California Edison projects, including its Energy Education Center, known as the Smart Home, that showcases how modern technologies can improve lifestyles while conserving energy in homes, and it built the largest solar rooftop project in the United States. The company is also working with Disney and Universal Studios on upcoming projects.

When Perera Construction bids for projects, the company already has a team assigned that the clients know or recognize because of its long-term relationship and repeat work. Although the company has dedicated teams for each project, it also cross-trains its superintendents to use them for each sector.

About 80 percent of Perera Construction’s work is done by subcontractors, which the company also relies on to maintain schedules and cost control. “The industries we work in seem to be pretty community-based,” Perera says. “We all seem to know each other very well. Our sub base is extremely important and we must have that kind of relationship with them to have a successful project.”

Safety is part of Perera Construction’s culture. Its field teams are all OSHA 30-hour certified and its safety compliance officer is OSHA 510. It also has a third-party safety consultant visit each job site monthly and reports its findings.

Moving forward, Perera Construction continues to set its sights on delivering remarkable results. “Our name is out there, and we work hard to be known as a successful company with longevity and a strong focus on culture,” Perera concludes.