Haydon Family Values

Gary Haydon, born in Arkansas and raised in Arizona, was the son of a ranch hand, developing discipline and grit while growing up. In his early days, Gary held jobs
as an iron worker and heavy equipment operator. After graduating from college, he worked as a superintendent and project manager, gaining experience and knowledge along the way. Eventually, he landed at SDB Contracting Services and reconnected with longtime friend Dominic Spagnuolo, who watched Gary raise his daughter as a single dad. It was this commitment to family that drew Spagnuolo to Gary. The two developed a strong mentor/father figure relationship and remain close to this day. In 1991, Spagnuolo started a Building Division of SDB and selected Haydon to manage the division. Spagnuolo saw something in his friend — a capability to lead the company and do things never done before.

Key Players Joined: These five years were instrumental in developing Haydon’s current leadership team. Many people who started during this time are still working at Haydon today. We are very proud of the longevity of our team members.

Kansas native Fritz Behrhorst joined SDB on November 8, 1993 as an Estimator and quickly became a key player during a time when hard bidding was how most commercial and public projects were delivered. As the industry began to move toward construction management-at-risk and other alternative project delivery methods, Behrhorst was instrumental in advancing a business development and marketing program. He rose quickly through the ranks and is now Vice President of Preconstruction, Building Division, and a partner of the company.

Les Keeble, a Texas native with a strong desire to build a project as interesting as MOS 21, joined the team as a project manager on July 11, 1994. He was charged with the task of bringing the ever-changing Motorola project across the finish line. Keeble was later named Vice President of Building Operations and continues as Haydon’s Vice President of Risk Management and partner.

As Haydon began offering civil construction, Mark Eklund joined the team on August 3, 1998. He spearheaded the development of a full Heavy Civil Division. Eklund joined and continues as the Vice President of the Heavy Civil Division for Haydon, and is now a partner. Mark Eklund grew the civil division from a handful of employees to the force that they are today.

The project that launched Haydon was the Motorola Bipolar 3/MOS 21, a semiconductor manufacturing facility built in Mesa. SDB had been working with Motorola as a tenant improvement/ sustaining maintenance contractor for many years, and had built a strong reputation for quality work and timely completion. Spagnuolo’s relationship with the wafer fab managers resulted in SDB being considered as the construction manager for the upcoming Bipolar 3 expansion.

Spagnuolo proposed that together, Haydon’s construction experience and SDB’s knowledge of the plant would be a winning combination. SDB’s Building Division was selected to build the Bipolar 3 expansion, later renamed MOS 21.

As the fast-tracked project began in 1994, Haydon recruited Cub Carter as Project Manager and Cub quickly brought on Les Keeble as Superintendent.

The project’s design incorporated the latest cleanroom construction technology and building techniques to produce 30,000 square feet of class 10 cleanroom space. In addition, research and development labs, support facilities, and administrative areas were included. This project had extensive complex mechanical and electrical systems, as well as industrial waste handling and treatment systems, hazardous material handling and storage areas, and scrubbed exhaust.

Despite a technology change midway through the project, MOS 21 delivered its first silicon on schedule and finished $2 million under budget.

xHaydon decided to jump into the world of healthcare based on the knowledge and experience gained from the MOS 21 project. We leveraged our work in cleanroom environments to win the project, which consisted of a 46,000 square foot expansion and renovation. This project was completed with DPA Architects and included a 13,000 SF third floor Telemetry addition, a 22,000 SF Obstetrics addition, a 11,000 SF remodel, as well as other miscellaneous areas.

Haydon added the third floor to the existing two-story hospital wing without a single service interruption or even a roof leak. The Obstetrics expansion involved relocating the hospital’s main entrance and completely reworking the hospital parking lot. Despite the complexity of the project, Haydon was able to keep the hospital completely operational 24-hours a day during construction.

Working in healthcare brought a stability to our project log that was difficult to achieve in the technology sector. Since then, healthcare has been a keystone of our building portfolio.

In 1998, SDB’s building division became its own company, which was renamed Haydon. The following years brought incredible growth as the market in Arizona boomed and alternative delivery methods such as Construction Manager At Risk (CMAR) and Design-Build became the new norm for public work. Haydon set itself apart from other contractors by adopting these partnering approaches early-on with owners and industry associates to deliver the best value on its projects.

We saw this as an opportunity to take our culture of family and partnership and leverage it to improve how we all come together to build the best projects. People build projects, which means there’s teamwork, accountability and problem-solving involved. All of these elements define Haydon.

Gary Haydon

pIn 1998, Gary met with the Vice President of Commercial Development for American Nevada Corp, who presented Gary with the opportunity to manage a civil job on a fee basis. Given that Gary was looking to break into the heavy civil sector, this was an ideal first project with one small caveat: Haydon did not have a Heavy Civil Division.

Despite the set back, Gary pitched the hell out of Haydon and was requested by the Commercial Development for American Nevada Corp to give a presentation in order to win the job. As Haydon didn’t have a civil department at that point Gary hustled to put one together. Mark Eklund was Gary’s first choice to lead the new department and Mark jumped on board when presented with the unorthodox opportunity. They quickly put together a winning presentation and were hired. Mark subsequently spearheaded the developed our Heavy Civil Division.

This opportunity led to Haydon’s first civil job: the site development of six subdivisions in the Seven Hills Master Planned Community. That job further provided Haydon with the opportunities to work for the Green Valley Ranch, the Hearthstone Subdivision, and Beazer Homes.

As the new Haydon Heavy Civil department began breaking ground on multiple projects across the Valley, Mark Eklund and Gary Haydon decided to purchase our first pieces of heavy civil equipment to be used on the Green Valley Ranch and Seven Hills Master Planned Community in Nevada. This equipment included a 2,000 gallon water truck, a 12,000 gallon water tower, a Cat 140 H Blade, and a Cat 950 F Loader. This decision led to further growth of the company including the creation of an equipment department to service our new machinery. With this, Haydon had the power to pursue different kinds of work. The new equipment further improved the quality and production of Haydon projects.

In 2000, Matt Carpenter was pursuing his Master’s degree at Arizona State University when he saw an internship opening for a position at an up-and-coming general contractor, Haydon. He faxed over his resume, had an interview with Debbie O’Conner, and started his career at Haydon as an intern for the Civil department.

After working as an intern and an Estimator for two years, Matt was promoted to Project Engineer to help manage the biggest civil job Haydon had to date: the $11M Ruthrauff Road / Wetmore Road Project.

After successfully closing the job in Tucson in 2005, Matt came back to Phoenix and worked in the Estimating Department for two additional years as a Senior Estimator, solely focused on winning hard bid jobs. He loved the competition.

Once the recession hit in 2008, Gary Haydon decided to pivot the company into the Texas market where there was less competition and more opportunity. He hand-selected Matt Carpenter to spearhead this move and for the next ten years, Matt managed Haydon’s work all over Texas, adding multiple large bridges, traffic interchanges, and highway improvement jobs to Haydon’s portfolio.

In 2019, as the work in Texas became more competitive and opportunities in Arizona were becoming more diverse, Matt led the transition out of the Lone Star state and found himself back in the Civil Estimating department; but not for long.

In November 2019, Matt officially became the Chief Operating Officer of Haydon. Since then, he’s been working tirelessly toward his goals of centralizing purchasing, increasing efficiency, investing in technology, and increasing self-performance capabilities to support his long-term mission: to make Haydon a better, more profitable company with continual responsible growth in our chosen industries. Matt’s ultimate goal is to accomplish all of this while keeping the family feel that captured his heart in 2000. To Matt, the future looks bright.

Haydon’s first Department of Transportation job was a partnership with ADOT on the Phoenix Casa Grande I-10 SR 84 Jimmie Kerr Boulevard Project in Casa Grande. This project was valued at $1.3 million. The scope included reconstruction of the ramps, roadway improvements, lighting improvements, box culverts, and signage.

This project was the first step to creating an important relationship with ADOT which would lead to larger and more substantial jobs like the $7.8 million ADOT – Holbrook Business Route Project in 2006, and the $2.4 million Benson Douglas Highway (SR 80) Strategic Motor Carrier Station in 2009. As well as larger projects like the $11.2 million 75th Ave Intersections at Cactus & Peoria Ave Project in 2018, the $13.4 million Gila Bend Highway (SR 85) Phase I project in 2013, and Haydon’s largest bridge project in Arizona, the $46 million US 60/SR 303L Interim TI CMAR project finished in 2016.

As of 2025 Haydon has now completed 24 Jobs with ADOT and
built a very close working relationship – a long ways from our humble beginnings and bridge work of 2016.

Haydon had been building with the CMAR method for several years
with the Town of Gilbert and the City of Chandler, thereby giving us the experience and confidence to pursue one of the City of Phoenix’s first CMAR projects: the $10 million Pecos Park and Aquatic Center. Fritz Behrhorst was leading our CMAR pursuits at that time and crafted a winning proposal and interview. We were soon selected and created a very successful project with the City.

The finished 78-acre park consisted of a public aquatic center/swimming pool facility. The complete Aquatic Center included “fun water” components with a custom decorative animal-themed splash pad with shade structures, dual water slides, a play pool with a walk-up edge, and play water features such as a dive tank and lap pool. Other scope on this project included: concession building, restrooms, 7-acre maintenance facility, skate park, armadas, 15 lighted play fields & sport courts, 5-acre skate park, site utilities, concrete curb & gutter with asphalt paving, pathways, area lighting, irrigation & landscaping, and expansive parking.

In 2007, this project was awarded APRA’s award for Outstanding Facility. After adding this prominent Parks and Recreation Facility to Haydon’s portfolio, we were even better situated to pursue other Park and Recreation centers to build the expansive portfolio that Haydon has today.

Haydon made the strategic decision to start a landscaping business to increase its efficiency on roadway projects and to open opportunities in the parks and recreation market. Today, Earthscapes, the firm’s commercial landscape and maintenance subsidiary, has grown to more than 50 team members. Together, Haydon and Earthscapes have completed more than 70 parks and recreation projects.

Earthscapes was conducting work on a polo field when Gary Haydon hired Mike Rhode to bring stability to the struggling subsidiary. Mike joined the company full-time at the end of 2009 as the Director of Operations for Earthscapes. Rhode’s goal was to get involved early in both Building and Civil projects to assist in scheduling and planning for Earthscapes integration into Haydon’s various projects. Many of the first hires under his leadership are still with the company today.

In 2023, Earthscapes boasts over 50 employees and an annual revenue upwards of one
million dollars. Much of this can be owed to implementing a strategy of sustainable growth, field efficiency, creating partnerships, maintaining relationships, and consistently delivering high quality results.

Not only have we seen growth in the size and profitability of Earthscapes, but also in the depth of our internal relationships at Haydon. Since 2009, Earthscapes leadership has consistently invested in creating strong synergy with all Haydon divisions to win, build, and open state-of-the-art projects. It is this company-wide synergy that sets Earthscapes apart as one of the top three landscape contractors in Arizona.

Earthscapes submitted on and won their first CMAR contract in 2022, and is expectant for the future as they continue to grow and expand their services with clients across the state.

Haydon was proud to win the AGC of America Safety awards in 2006-2008 and in 2010.

BIM had early beginnings at the start of the 1980’s with several programs being used at this time, mainly in Europe showing the basis of what could be accomplished digitally. Used mostly for architecture, it wasn’t until the early 90’s that BIM took off, especially in the United States which is now the largest sector for BIM.

BIM allowed for rapid changes in design, ultimately saving money. Haydon saw the value in creating an in-house BIM department and in 2008 with the City of Scottsdale Appaloosa Library project, we created our first BIM model and ended up completing the project under budget.

From this beginning we have grown the BIM department into our subsidiary, H3D, which as of 2023 boasts a department of five.

In 2006, Haydon employed more than 200 personnel and outgrew the rental office at 4640 E McDowell Rd. In 2007, Haydon purchased a lot that was centrally located, in an established business park, and close to the airport. In a twist of fate, the Haydon office was moving from 4640 E McDowell to 4640 E Cotton Gin Loop.

Haydon partnered with DFDG Architecture due to our experience working with them on a Design-Build project to build the Development and Community Serivces Building (DCSB) for the City of Peoria, furthering our good relationship with the architecture group. After programing discussions, the new building ended up being twice the size of the office we were in before. Eight months of construction later, the 22,000 square foot building was finished with a LEED Silver certification.

In 2021 the office was updated to support a larger workforce and new technology requirements. The renovations consisted of two new conference rooms, an updated open floor plan, new finishes, and updated wall art. With the new renovations, the office was prepared to support the future of Haydon.

Katie Haydon grew up around construction — her father, Gary Haydon, started Haydon 20 years ago — but she never thought her career would lead her back to where it all started. Early on, Katie knew she wanted to pursue a career in business. She received a bachelor’s degree in accounting from Arizona State University and an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

In 2010, she joined Haydon as assistant controller, (starting in a small cubicle in front of Cindy Lee’s office) and over the years, she held many positions in the organization while continually learning the business. But it was her intentional focus, passion, and relentless commitment to enhancing Haydon’s culture that led to her being named executive vice president in 2019.

“The heartbeat of our organization is our culture,” Katie said. “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.”

In 1999 when Haydon’s Civil department bought their first heavy civil equipment, the Equipment Department was created. The beginnings of this department were mobile and consisting of three field mechanics. These mechanics would travel to Haydon’s projects across the valley and service equipment at each individual jobsite where necessary.

Eventually the workload and extensive traveling became too great for the mobile mechanic team, as well as an inefficient use of the mechanic’s time. Haydon wanted to push the department forward and began plans to build a permanent equipment location with room for future growth; and thus, the Haydon Shop was born.

Haydon chose a site in South Phoenix and began building the Haydon shop with the leadership of Matt Herrmann and Cub Carter, building it in record time. Since establishing an official yard, the Equipment Department has grown enormously. Compared to just three mechanics in 2010, that number has nearly tripled in the course of ten years.

In 2022, a significant expansion of the Haydon Shop was completed to the south of the current building which expanded the shops capabilities. The Haydon Shop is now optimistically looking forward and preparing for future growth.

In 2010 Haydon received the American Institute of Architects Arizona Chapter’s  Contractor of the Year Award and recognized Haydon for being an excellent partner in the AEC industry.

Haydon had built a strong market presence in Arizona and Nevada. A test for any company, but especially general contractors, came with the market crash of 2008. In order to survive, Gary Haydon decided it was necessary to diversify our portfolio and find new revenue streams. Haydon made a pivot into the Texas market where there was less hard-bid competition and more opportunity for growth. He hand-selected Matt Carpenter to spearhead this move.

For the next 10 years, Haydon would leave its mark on the people and places of Texas across 19 cities and towns, building work from El Paso, Amarillo, and Dallas with our heavy civil and building divisions. During the company’s time in the Lone Star state, we completed a total of $493 million across 35 jobs, bolstering Haydon’s already impressive resume.

However, as the construction market in Texas became fiercer and opportunities in Arizona became more diverse, the time had come to bring Haydon home. Armed with new extensive heavy civil experience and building jobs in our portfolio, we pivoted the majority of our operations back into Arizona to become an even stronger competitor in the market.

Gary Haydon served with Doug Declusin and Doug Duplisea. Among hosting many events, Gary was a integral part of the Recovery Plan which was released in 2011 and aimed to boost private sector construction activity, improve aging infrastructure, and cut needless and costly regulations.

President of the AGC David Martin, and Arizona Builders’ Alliance executive director Mark Minter, and CEO of the AGC Steve Sandherr look on as Gary Haydon, chair of the Arizona AGC Chapter, talks about the crushing job losses the construction industry has experienced.

Arizona’s Historic Gila River Bridge Rehabilitation project was one of the most successful construction partnerships of 2012 the Associated General Contractors of America announced today. As a result, the project’s contractor, Phoenix-based Haydon., was one of only two firms to receive the association’s Marvin M. Black Excellence in Partnering Award.

“Knowledge, skills, and experience are vital to any successful construction project, but without a strong foundation of teamwork the project will crumble,” said Joseph H. Jarboe, the association’s president and senior vice president of Bethesda, Maryland-based Clark Construction Group. “These projects demonstrate the type of effective collaboration that is critical to building great things.”

The Historic Old US80 Gila River Bridge was built in 1926 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The bridge spans the Gillespie Dam, between Arlington and Gila Bend, Arizona, and required replacement and renovation. The Haydon. team addressed the bridge deficiencies and corroded anchorages, and replaced roller bearings locked in place by corrosion, all while protecting and preserving cliff swallow nests located beneath the bridge. The partnering process allowed the project team to deliver the project in only 90 days, which required accelerated materials delivery, traffic control restrictions and construction sequencing. This project was completed under budget, and successfully maintained the historic look of the bridge.

The Marvin M. Black Excellence in Partnering Award recognizes unique and successful partnerships needed to complete complex construction projects. A panel of judges representing all areas of construction evaluated a number of outstanding projects, assessing contractors’ ability to resolve conflicts, the quality of communications with all involved parties and the ability to get a multitude of groups to achieve one goal, amongst other key criteria. The awards, which were announced during the association’s annual convention in Palm Springs, California, are considered by many to be the most prestigious recognition of construction accomplishments in the United States.

In 2017, the company’s personality changed as it acquired more employees and larger projects, as the economy changed, and as technology progressed. It was time for the firm to evolve. One of the largest challenges was typical: Divisions had become silos and needed to be engaged in different ways. Katie Haydon recognized that the culture that had worked over the past 20 years, would potentially not work over the next 20 with the new millennial workforce. She created an organizational development department within the human resources umbrella, the sole focus of which was maintaining company culture.

This new culture was inspired by insurance executive David J. Friedman’s 2011 book, “Fundamentally Different,” which examines the critical role culture plays in organizational success.

This new way of thinking and behaving resulted in 31 fundamental behaviors that are practiced by all Haydon team members. “They’re the cornerstone of who we are. We open meetings with our behaviors and provide mentoring and coaching tools based on them as well,” Katie explains. “These behaviors clearly define our expectations and enforce our commitment to delivering the best service to our clients and industry partners.”

The fundamental behaviors also extend to the firm’s recruiting efforts. Haydon has a five-step hiring process that uncovers not only a potential employee’s technical experience, but also his or her personality and behavioral characteristics. It allows the company to learn more about the person and better determine how he or she will fit into the organization.

“At Haydon, there’s an excellent balance of being able to build lasting relationships with our clients and being an advocate for their construction needs,” Katie says. “I feel rewarded at the end of every day being able to work as a team to find solutions.”

Although we were awarded our first Job Order Contract with ASU in 2015, it wasn’t until we began receiving consistent work in this area that the Job Order Contract Division was officially formed in 2017. Rebranded as Special Projects in 2021, the division has since become a strong and growing part of the company. With 10+ repeat clients across multiple market sectors including Higher Education, Parks and Recreation, Water/Wastewater, and Transportation, Haydon’s Special Projects team is positioned for continued growth and long-term impact.

By 2019, Haydon had been performing BIM services for over a decade. We had built an impressive portfolio of 3D modeled buildings, yet we noticed that Haydon’s trade partners did not have VDC in-house. While our trade partners were outsourcing it to expensive third-party contractors, Haydon was not getting the quality we wanted from these third parties and losing money.

Haydon decided to start a VDC consulting subsidiary focused on the entire project team and project life-cycle. H3D had our clients’ best interests in mind while protecting the path for Haydon. H3D has grown from only one employee to a team of five who work on drone photography, to laser scanning, MEP build-outs, and more. With a wide variety of clients, H3D is able to support Haydon as a company while also bringing in a separate reliable source of income.

Haydon’s design/build collaboration with Richärd Kennedy Architects earns the team the prestigious 2021 International Architectural Award.

The $4.5 million project includes the design and construction of a new 10,000 square feet single-story branch library within Asante Park. The library includes multiple study rooms, designated children’s, teens,’ and adults’ reading rooms, a multi-purpose maker space, and administrative areas.

“There was an incredible synergy between Haydon and Richärd Kennedy Architects as the design/build team for this project,” said Haydon Executive Vice President | Partner Katie Haydon. “As a team, we created an award-winning design for the City of Surprise on a very limited budget. This project positions us for future library opportunities.”