Pivotal Construction is a medium-sized general contractor operating in the Puget Sound area, specializing in industrial, medical, and commercial tenant improvements, as well as ground-up construction for retail, office, restaurant, and professional service spaces. Whatever the scope, Pivotal approaches it’s projects with a client-centric, relationship-driven, and team-focused mindset. “We primarily serve the industrial concrete tilt up industry,” says Chief Executive Officer, Matt Terlau. “We do a lot of big box retail, restaurants, hospitality, breweries, medical, dental, veterinarian and general tenant improvement.” Operating out of Kirkland, Washington, Pivotal Construction has found success in the design-build method which allows the client to have one point of contact for the whole project. “We ultimately manage the design element from architectural to structural to all the MEPs,” Matt says. “Ultimately it just makes it a lot easier on the client, and there’s less communication breakdown.” The design-build method eliminates the ‘lost in translation’ risk that comes with the client communicating with multiple design disciplines and contractors. This streamlined communication structure helps keep the project on track by maintaining alignment between client expectations and contractor delivery. The result, when done right, is a finished project that is true to the clients original vision, and one that both the client and design-build contractor can take ownership of and pride in.
Most companies start small, but not this one. In just over six years, Pivotal Construction has established itself as a leading medium-sized design-build contractor, breaking the $40 million annual turnover mark last year and on track to continue this upward trajectory. Pivotal Construction was built to operate at scale from the beginning, with large projects quickly becoming the standard. “Our very first job was a $12 million job,” Matt says. “Within the first 3 years of business, we were building a $30 million project. Breaking $40 million annually for us was a pretty big milestone.” The high-profile clients Pivotal has built for – like Chick-Fil-A and Floor & Décor – is another indicator of the company’s fast success in the commercial and industrial space. “Considering the financial qualifications and project experience that a lot of those clients require – it’s a pretty big deal for a company as young as us. It happens, but I don’t think it happens often.” When I point out that Pivotal Construction must be doing something right when it comes to delivering large-scale construction projects for high-profile clients, Matt says that they are doing their best to figure it out as they go. “We’re probably doing a whole lot wrong too,” he says, “but that’s alright.” It’s a refreshing mindset in an inherently imperfect industry, where experience – and the ability to problem-solve and navigate inevitable challenges – matters far more than the pursuit of unattainable perfection.
“It’s a refreshing mindset in an inherently imperfect industry, where experience – and the ability to problem-solve and navigate inevitable challenges – matters far more than the pursuit of unattainable perfection.”
“Floor and Décor was a 78,000 square foot big box retail store on a little less than five acres,” says Matt of a recent high-profile project for the leading flooring and tile retailer in Woodinville, WA. The project included full ground-up construction with a Concrete Masonry Unit (CMU), structural steel roof framing, wood trellises and canopies, and a complete interior buildout. “It had a concrete detention vault that was 14 feet deep and larger than a football field. It was 310 feet long by about 90 feet wide. The project has over $1.3 million just in decorative mass timber.” An already aggressive timeline of eight months became even more so when Pivotal received the building pad seven weeks later than originally planned. “Their steel supplier held us up two months,” Matt says, “and then their permitting held us up another month. They stole almost three months from us, and we still built that project in almost the same time frame, which is pretty incredible.” Despite navigating several challenges along the way, Pivotal were able to push forward with the tight program and bring this unit to life for a well-respected client who it now considers a partner.
“SMARTCAP DC North was an industrial development built in the winter of 2021, going into 2022,” Matt says of a notable Distribution Centre project in Marysville, WA. “It was the wettest winter ever on record in Washington State. Every other contractor gave up because it was just too much, but we continued on, and we finished it on time.” The development included Building A and Building B which were built concurrently, with a total square footage of almost 300,000. This approach provided the developer better economics over two projects and ensured that both projects were built with the highest degree of quality.
A notable project that showcases Pivotal’s experience in the Tenant Improvement (TI) space is Bellevue Brewing, a new flagship commercial restaurant and brewery located in downtown Bellevue’s Spring Street District. “It’s about 9,000 square feet with a full brewery inside, and a restaurant and a patio area,” says Matt. “The cool part is, over the bar, there are five big copper sub storage tanks. The beer gets brewed in the back and there’s a clear garage door with glass all the way around, so you can see inside this brewery, and the beer gets ran up to those cool copper tanks overhead which you can see when you sit at the bar. It was thousands of feet of hand TIG welded stainless steel and copper lines. A really cool build, and at around $5.4 million, expensive for a TI restaurant.” Unlike many projects, those open to the public – particularly those in the hospitality sector – give contractors the chance to return and engage with the finished space. This was true for the Pivotal team and the Bellevue Brewing project, particularly given the strong rapport Matt established with the client. “We built another custom restaurant for that same client in Bothell,” Matt says. “And we’re starting another one for him in Mulvey. He’s a tough client, a super wealthy guy, and now a business partner and a really good friend of mine.”
Reflecting on Pivotal Constructions’ early days – when it officially launched in September of 2019 – it would be remiss not to acknowledge the global pandemic that shaped the years that followed. Yet, this unprecedented challenge from the outset did not define the company’s trajectory. With almost seven years of impressive growth behind it, the question now is what lies ahead for this commercial and industrial design-build powerhouse. “The goal is 250 million a year in the next seven to eight years,” Matt says. Part of Pivotal’s strategy for achieving this growth is to become a multi-state service provider, moving into at least 10 states in that seven-to-eight-year timeframe. “We’re pushing our way into civil construction and have started our civil division, so we’ll be doing our own dirt work and site development.” Knowing where its strengths are and with a growing book of clients, the plan is to “continue to hyper-focus on big box retail, the industrial sector, and restaurants.” Equipped with six and a half years of industrial and commercial project experience, a client-centric approach and a clear vision for growth – and now strengthened by the addition of a civil division – Pivotal Construction shows no signs of slowing down as it enters its next phase of design-build excellence. The trajectory, as it has been from the outset, is firmly upward.
