COBALT 8/7/08 1:31 PM Page 87

c o b a lt c o n s t r u c t i o n profile

“We’re very customer service-oriented –

we put effort into solving problems and
we come up with solutions that save a
significant amount of time and money
before the project starts.”
> Larry Persons, vice president
Superior Service
+ Simi Valley, Calif.-based Cobalt Construction is com-
pleting complicated projects ahead of schedule and under
budget, thanks to thorough planning. By Genevieve Diesing

Cobalt Construction maintains

its position as a leading
Southwestern general contrac-
tor with a reliable, service-ori-
ented approach to business.

Cobalt Construction
www.cobaltcc.com
Annual sales: $125 million
Headquarters: Simi Valley, Calif.
Services: General contracting, pre-construction
and heavy engineering
Employees: 160
> Now in its third generation of family
ownership, Simi, Calif.-based Cobalt
Construction is a leading general con-
tractor in the Southwest construction
market. The 58-year-old company’s pre-
construction, general contracting and
heavy engineering services have earned
it a reputation as a reliable, service-
based firm, Vice President Larry
Persons says.
“We’re very customer service-orient-
ed – we put effort into solving problems
and we come up with solutions that
save a significant amount of time and
money before the project starts,”
Persons stresses. The company’s value-
added engineering and preconstruc-
tion services enable it to confront
potential problems ahead of time,
he adds.
This was the case with River Park,
a 400-unit apartment complex in
Oxnard, Calif., for which the company
signed a $60 million contract. As the
general contractor on the project,
Cobalt finished 14 three-story buildings
in July, ahead of schedule and under
budget. Cobalt began planning for the
project nine months before construc-
tion began in September 2006.
“The advanced planning was essen-
tial,” Persons says. “A project works
smoother from all phases if you can make
the time to solve the problems ahead of
time, on paper.”
Cobalt eradicated conflicts with the
building’s structural steel design
through its advanced planning, “rather
than having to rebuild something in the
field,” he adds.
Persons says Cobalt finds itself “get-
ting drawn into larger, more complex
projects,” and succeeding because of its
skill sets. He estimates 50 percent of
Cobalt’s business is large, complicated
projects that “once awarded, take a
whole team effort to design and get
under construction.”
The company is currently working >>

2008 fall b&c southwest 87