Cooley Construction

What Cooley Construction does

Cooley Construction Inc. is a third-generation, family-owned general engineering contractor headquartered in Hesperia, California. Founded in 1975 and incorporated in 1977, the firm operates across Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada, providing grading, paving, site demolition, and asphalt services to public agencies and private commercial and industrial clients.

The company's service portfolio centers on earthwork and asphalt paving for both horizontal construction (subdivisions, logistics sites, retail pads) and public infrastructure (highways, school campuses, agency facilities). It deploys a non-union direct-hire workforce with prevailing wage credentials, owns its earthmoving fleet, and uses Trimble GPS-enabled precision grading technology to manage earthwork volumes on complex sites. The historical track record includes large-scale subdivision grading (millions of cubic yards), 120,000 cubic-yard excavations for Walmart sites, 12,000-ton asphalt projects for Northrop Grumman, and logistics site work for FedEx and NextEra Energy.

Cooley pursues work via competitive bidding on public works (Cal-Trans / Department of Transportation, NASA-JPL, school districts) and negotiated contracts on private commercial and industrial projects. Customer segments span federal and state government, aerospace and defense, retail, logistics, energy, rail, and education. Revenue is generated through unit-priced and lump-sum construction contracts, with project scale ranging from small repairs to multi-million-dollar site packages. The firm is led by third-generation family principals Benjamin Cooley and Ron Walker, who assumed operating control in 2015.

Name

Cooley Construction

Legal name

Cooley Construction Inc.

Website

https://cooleyconstruction.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1975

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

101–250 employees

Short description

Cooley Construction is a third-generation, family-owned site-work and paving contractor based in Hesperia, California, serving public agencies and private developers across Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada with grading, paving, demolition, and asphalt services.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Civil Construction Services (Site Preparation, Grading, and Paving)

NAICS

Site Preparation Contractors (238910), Other Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction (237990)

SIC

Heavy Construction Other Than Bldg Const - Contractors (1600)

akta.pro primary industry

Mass Excavation & Bulk Earthmoving (Cut/Fill, Grading) (IMAFAKAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Pavers & Road Construction Equipment (IMAHAAAI), Hauling, Spoil Management & Disposal (Muck Away) (IMAFAKAJ), Topsoil Stripping, Stockpiling & Reinstatement (IMAFAKAB)

Keywords

• Site grading services
• Asphalt paving
• Earthwork contractors
• Public works construction
• Site demolition

Headquarters

HQ city

Hesperia

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Supply Chain, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Construction Services - Project-Based: One-time project-based contracts for grading, paving, asphalt services, and site demolition. Revenue generated through competitive bidding on public works and private sector projects, with services ranging from small-scale to massive earthwork operations involving millions of cubic yards of dirt.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels2 records

Marketing channels1 record

Core offering

Cooley Construction provides site preparation, grading, paving, and demolition services for public works and private sector clients across Southern California, Arizona, and Nevada. The company delivers end-to-end site development covering mass earthwork (from a few to millions of cubic yards), Trimble GPS precision grading, earthwork demolition, and asphalt paving for parking lots, subdivisions, city infrastructure, and private aviation facilities. Services are delivered through competitive bidding on one-time project contracts with government agencies, school districts, commercial developers, and industrial clients.

Product overview

Cooley Construction offers a unified suite of grading and paving services for Southern California. The core offerings include Mass Grade for large-scale earthmoving, Precise Grade utilizing Trimble GPS technology for accuracy, Site Demo for demolition, and Asphalt Services for paving. The company operates as a single-service construction firm rather than a modular platform, with services designed to work together on projects from site preparation through final paving.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Mass Grade Large-scale earthwork service for moving massive quantities of dirt, from a few cubic yards to millions of cubic yards. Designed to complete dirt work efficiently to save customers money.
• Precise Grade

Quantifiable outcome

• 80% market share in High Desert subdivisions through 1990
• +1 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature1 record

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights4 records

Broad incumbents

• CalPortland Company: Major Western U.S. construction materials and paving contractor with California operations. Comparable asphalt paving and site work capabilities but at significantly larger scale with vertically integrated materials supply.
• Granite Construction: One of the largest U.S. heavy civil contractors with deep California roots in grading, paving, and infrastructure. Directly comparable services (mass grading, asphalt paving, site preparation) but operates at significantly larger national scale than Cooley.
• Ames Construction: National heavy civil and earthwork contractor with significant grading and paving capabilities. Comparable core service offering but operates at significantly larger scale across multiple western states.
• Vulcan Materials Company: Largest U.S. producer of construction aggregates and a major asphalt/paving provider. Adjacent/overlapping as a vertically integrated supplier and contractor, particularly relevant given Cooley's heavy reliance on aggregates and asphalt supply.

Direct peers

• Griffith Company: Long-established Southern California heavy civil contractor specializing in grading, paving, and concrete. Family-owned with comparable service mix and customer base including public agencies and private developers in the same SoCal geography.
• Security Paving Company: Southern California-based grading and paving contractor with overlapping service lines (mass grading, asphalt paving, site prep). Comparable size and regional focus, competing for many of the same Southern California public works and private clients.
• Sully-Miller Contracting: Southern California paving and grading contractor (subsidiary of BrightView historically, now Colas). Directly competes with Cooley on asphalt paving, site preparation, and public works grading throughout the LA/Inland Empire region.
• Herman Weissker Inc. Southern California earthwork, grading, and paving contractor. Similar privately held operating model serving public works and private development in the Inland Empire and High Desert regions directly overlapping Cooley's territory.
• Coffman Specialties: San Diego-based site preparation and concrete contractor with overlapping mass grading, site demo, and paving capabilities. Comparable family/private operating model serving Southern California public and private clients.

Regional players

• Ghilotti Construction Company: Northern California family-owned earthwork and grading contractor. Comparable private family-business model with mass grading, site prep, and paving services, but operates in the Bay Area/North Coast rather than Southern California.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

Compliance3 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Cooley Construction