Haydon Companies, one of the largest general contractors in the Southwest with the unique ability to provide turnkey solutions to its clients, is celebrating its 30th anniversary with a prestigious award and the passing of the torch to new leadership.
Headquartered in Phoenix, Haydon was founded in 1991 and has grown to more than 450 employees. For the past 30 years, Haydon has provided construction management at-risk (CMAR), design-build and general contracting services for both the public and private sectors.
“It’s hard for me to imagine that it’s been 30 years,” said Haydon President Gary Haydon. “It certainly doesn’t seem like it now, but the most exciting thing is transitioning the company to the next generation and thinking about what they will do with it. I’m proud of what we’ve put together here.”
Haydon was named 2021 ENR Southwest Contractor of the Year. It was honored for its commitment to employees and culture, in addition to a strong portfolio of projects and record-breaking backlog. Haydon doubled its revenue over the past three years, from about $150 million in 2017 to nearly $300 million in 2020.
Haydon also announced a succession plan with the promotions of Executive Vice President | Partner Katie Haydon Perry and COO | Senior Vice President Matt Carpenter. Katie Haydon Perry is transitioning into the role as president of the company over the next two years.
Haydon’s recent projects include the $30 million Legacy Sports Complex Athletic Fields and Infrastructure in Mesa; the $100 million Hance Park revitalization in Phoenix; the $35 million Banner Aspera medical office building in Glendale; and the $22 million Lindsay Road & SR202L freeway traffic interchange in Gilbert.
Haydon started out as SDB Building Division then changed its name in 1998. Besides Gary Haydon, its leadership includes Fritz Behrhorst, who joined the company in 1993, and is currently Vice President of Pre-Construction, Building Division and Partner; Les Keeble, Vice President of Risk Management/Partner, he joined Haydon in 1994; and Mark Eklund, Vice President/Heavy Civil/Partner, he joined Haydon in 1998 and launched the heavy civil division.
“Fritz, Mark, Les and I have worked hard for a lot of years to develop what we have today,” Gary Haydon said. “But we didn’t get here without all our people. It’s exciting to see Matt and Katie and their generation take it and go with it.”
As Haydon looks to the future it boasts a technology, H3D Solutions (a wholly-owned virtual construction subsidiary), that was created in 2019. Led by Jason Young, Director of Virtual Construction, H3D provides state-of-the-art modeling, coordination and reality capture services across the construction spectrum.
“The heartbeat of our organization is our culture,” said Katie Haydon Perry. “Starting with our extensive and inclusive hiring process, our employees feel our culture; that sense of belonging, the consistent indicator that you made the right decision to join Haydon. We are committed to embracing improvement, celebrating successes and leading employees to be the best they can be. We are a family, we are Haydon.”
