Carter-Kelly Inc

What Carter-Kelly Inc does

Carter-Kelly, Inc. is a privately held commercial construction company founded in 1980 by Jim Carter and Gary Kelly in Placerville, California. The firm provides an integrated suite of construction services — general contracting, commercial facility construction, concrete and framing, metal building sales and erection, and construction management — to public and private clients across El Dorado, Sacramento, Amador, and Placer Counties in Northern California. Carter-Kelly operates as a traditional general contractor with direct project engagement, using its own workforce alongside subcontractor relationships to deliver buildings such as schools, medical facilities, fire stations, office buildings, libraries, warehouses, metal buildings, and retail spaces. The firm holds California Contractors License #407415 and is headquartered at 171 Middletown Rd, Placerville, CA 95667.

The company holds no proprietary technology platforms, software systems, or AI-driven tools; all construction execution relies on conventional methods and standard estimating and project management workflows. Its distinguishing technical capability is regulatory rather than technological: Carter-Kelly maintains extensive experience within California's Division of State Architect (DSA) regulations for K-12 and educational construction and the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development (OSHPD) regulations for healthcare facility construction — credentials that gate access to public school and hospital project pipelines.

Carter-Kelly generates revenue on a project-by-project basis through construction contracts with public sector clients (municipalities, school districts, healthcare systems) and private sector clients (commercial developers, nonprofits, industrial customers). Its go-to-market is sales-led and relationship-driven, relying on referrals, community reputation, and direct outreach rather than digital marketing or formal sales infrastructure. The firm received the General Contractor of the Year award from the American Subcontractors Association in 2010 and remains founder-owned, with no disclosed external investors, funding rounds, or M&A activity.

Name

Carter-Kelly Inc

Legal name

Carter-Kelly, Inc.

Website

https://carterkelly.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1980

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Carter-Kelly Inc is a privately held commercial construction company founded in 1980 in Placerville, California. It provides general contracting, commercial facility construction, concrete and framing, metal building sales and erection, and construction management across four Northern California counties.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Commercial Construction Services

akta.pro primary industry

Commercial General Contracting (New Build) (IMAFAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Public Works General Contracting (IMAFAAAG), Industrial/Process Plant General Contracting (IMAFAAAH)

Keywords

• Commercial construction services
• General contracting services
• Construction management services
• Metal building erection
• Concrete and framing

Headquarters

HQ city

Causeway Bay

HQ country

Hong Kong SAR China

HQ region

Asia

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Commercial Construction Services: Revenue is generated through providing commercial construction services including general contracting, commercial facility construction, concrete and framing, metal building sales and erection, and construction management. Revenue is project-based and derived from construction contracts with both public and private sector clients.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Carter-Kelly, Inc. is a commercial construction company founded in 1980 that delivers five integrated construction services: General Contracting, Commercial Facility Construction, Concrete & Framing, Metal Building Sales & Erection, and Construction Management. The company serves public and private sector clients across El Dorado, Sacramento, Amador, and Placer Counties in California.

Product overview

Carter-Kelly, Inc. is a commercial construction company offering a unified suite of construction services rather than a software platform. The company's service portfolio consists of five core offerings: General Contracting, Commercial Facility Construction, Concrete & Framing, Metal Building Sales & Erection, and Construction Management. These services are delivered as an integrated offering to serve the full lifecycle of commercial construction projects, from initial delivery and execution through project management and completion.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• General Contracting General contracting services for commercial construction projects, managing project delivery, subcontractor coordination, and construction execution from start to finish for commercial clients.
• Commercial Facility Construction Construction services for commercial facilities including office buildings, retail spaces, warehouses, and industrial structures for private and public sector clients across Northern California.
• Concrete & Framing Concrete and structural framing services for commercial construction projects, including cement mixing and structural concrete work for commercial building projects.
• Metal Building Sales & Erection Sales and erection services for metal buildings, providing pre-engineered metal building solutions for commercial and industrial applications.
• Construction Management Construction management services overseeing project planning, scheduling, budgeting, and coordination for commercial construction projects.

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves3 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Broad incumbents

• Swinerton: Established California-headquartered commercial general contractor with national reach. Offers the same core general contracting and construction management services as Carter-Kelly, but at materially larger scale and broader geographic footprint.
• Clark Construction Group: Large national commercial general contractor with deep institutional and public-sector expertise. Represents the upper-scale end of competition for institutional projects similar to those Carter-Kelly pursues.
• DPR Construction: National commercial general contractor with strong healthcare and education expertise, including OSHPD-experienced teams in California. Competes for the same institutional project types Carter-Kelly serves, but at enterprise scale.
• Brasfield & Gorrie: Large private commercial general contractor operating across healthcare, education, and commercial sectors. Comparable in project types to Carter-Kelly but with materially greater geographic and operational scale.
• McCarthy Building Companies: Large national commercial general contractor with extensive healthcare and education portfolios including California projects. Competes for the same DSA/OSHPD-regulated work as Carter-Kelly at a much larger scale.
• Robins & Morton: Private commercial general contractor with significant healthcare and institutional construction expertise. Overlaps with Carter-Kelly's vertical mix while operating at a much larger scale across multiple states.
• Sundt Construction: Employee-owned commercial general contractor with strong institutional and public-sector experience. Comparable services to Carter-Kelly across healthcare, education, and municipal work, but with regional-to-national scale.

Direct peers

• Deacon Construction: Regional commercial general contractor with comparable size, multi-vertical capabilities, and a focus on institutional and private commercial work, making it a strong analog for Carter-Kelly's operating model.
• Otto Construction: Sacramento-based commercial general contractor serving Northern California. Highly comparable in size, regional focus, and service mix to Carter-Kelly, with overlapping institutional and private-sector clients across adjacent California counties.
• BNBuilders: Pacific Northwest-based regional commercial general contractor with similar headcount range and service offerings in healthcare, education, and commercial sectors, serving as a close size and model comparable.

Market position

Strengths3 records

Weaknesses3 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

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 Carter-Kelly Inc