San Diego is one of the most dynamic construction markets in the western United States — and one of the most structurally complex.
A metro area of over 3.3 million people anchored by defense and aerospace, life sciences, healthcare, and a rapidly expanding tourism and convention industry, San Diego generates a remarkably diverse pipeline of construction projects.
From the $3.8 billion Terminal 1 rebuild at San Diego International Airport to a 3.2-million-square-foot wave of new life science lab space, the region’s construction activity in 2025 and heading into 2026 is defined by a handful of landmark mega-projects and a robust undercurrent of healthcare, education, and tenant improvement work.
This guide profiles the firms capturing the most significant work in the San Diego market — both national powerhouses with strong local offices and homegrown contractors with decades of regional expertise — along with the sectors and projects shaping the 2026 construction landscape.
The National Powerhouses with Deep San Diego Roots
Turner Construction — T1 Airport, the Defining San Diego Project
No construction story in San Diego over the past five years is more significant than the new Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport.
The $3.8 billion project — the largest construction project in San Diego County’s history — was built by a joint venture of Turner Construction and Flatiron Construction, with Gensler serving as lead architect.
Phase 1A opened in September 2025, replacing the 58-year-old Terminal 1 with a modern facility designed to elevate the passenger experience.
Construction on Phase 1B will begin in early 2026, with three additional gates opening in spring 2026 and the remaining eight gates expected in early 2028, bringing the terminal’s total gate count to 30.
The T1 project’s economic footprint is extraordinary. Upon full completion, the program will have created an estimated 25,300 jobs paying $2 billion in wages to local workers, and is projected to generate more than $4.5 billion for San Diego’s economy.
It is also the clearest demonstration of Turner’s position in the San Diego market — the firm that handled the most complex, highest-profile build in recent memory.
Turner’s broader San Diego portfolio spans healthcare, higher education, and commercial facilities, consistent with its national strategy across all major market sectors.
DPR Construction — The Life Sciences and Healthcare Specialist
Redwood City-based DPR Construction, which maintains a major San Diego regional office, has made the city one of its most important markets.
DPR’s primary markets in San Diego are life sciences, healthcare, and higher education. Scott Sass, DPR’s San Diego business unit leader, described the company as “super busy” with significant backlog heading into 2025, though he noted that some life science projects were shelved as that market cooled from its pandemic-era peak.
DPR’s San Diego office is itself a landmark project — the firm converted a suburban tilt-up office building into a net-zero energy facility that became the first commercial building to achieve LEED Platinum for new construction in San Diego.
The building features natural ventilation, daylighting strategies, and renewable energy integration, embodying the company’s commitment to sustainable building that has become a competitive differentiator in the San Diego life sciences and healthcare market.
McCarthy Building Companies — Healthcare’s Go-To Contractor
St. Louis-based McCarthy Building Companies has cemented its position as San Diego’s leading healthcare construction firm.
The company’s active project roster reads like a who’s who of the region’s healthcare expansion: McCarthy Construction’s ongoing projects have included the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center in Chula Vista, the Scripps Health La Jolla Tower II hospital tower, the UCSD Triton Center, and the Bioterra life science campus by Longfellow Real Estate Partners in Sorrento Mesa.
The Gaylord Pacific assignment is McCarthy’s most high-profile San Diego project in years.
Built in partnership by the Port of San Diego, City of Chula Vista, and RIDA Chula Vista, LLC, the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center opened on May 15, 2025 — representing Gaylord Hotels’ first West Coast location and Chula Vista’s first world-class hotel and convention center.
The 1,600-room property includes more than 10 restaurants, multiple pools, and a convention center with four ballrooms and three levels of meeting space.
As the general contractor on a $1.4 billion hospitality project completed on a bayfront site with complex logistics and phasing requirements, McCarthy delivered one of the most watched projects in San Diego’s recent history.
McCarthy’s healthcare pipeline remains deep. The Scripps Health La Jolla Tower II and the Kaiser Permanente San Marcos Medical Center represent the regional trend toward hospital tower expansion as San Diego’s population ages and healthcare demand grows.
Balfour Beatty US — Infrastructure and Civic Projects
UK-headquartered Balfour Beatty has maintained a meaningful San Diego presence through its US operations.
The firm’s work in the region spans civic infrastructure and transit. Balfour Beatty was awarded approximately $9 million to deliver the next phase of the City of San Diego’s Park Boulevard at-Grade Crossing project — located near Petco Park and within the railroad right-of-way of the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway, the San Diego and Imperial Valley Railroad, and the San Diego Metropolitan Transit System.
The project creates a new vehicular roadway connecting Harbor Drive to Park Boulevard, completing one of the final pieces of public infrastructure for the ballpark district.
Balfour Beatty’s earlier work in San Diego included the Mesa College Fitness Center, which received LEED Silver Certification, and the company has been recognized with multiple awards from the American Society of Civil Engineers San Diego Section.
The firm is well-positioned for civic and transit work as San Diego continues investing in its public infrastructure and downtown mobility networks.
Suffolk Construction — National Scale, Local Ambition
Suffolk, the $8 billion national contractor headquartered in Boston, maintains a San Diego office as part of its California expansion strategy.
With a strong track record in healthcare, life sciences, education, and mission-critical facilities, Suffolk has been actively building its regional presence.
Ranked No. 8 on ENR’s list of Largest Domestic Builders, Suffolk brings national procurement leverage and construction management sophistication that appeals to institutional clients in San Diego’s competitive healthcare and biotech sectors.
San Diego’s Homegrown Leaders
Barnhart-Reese Construction — A Local Institution
Barnhart-Reese Construction is among the most respected locally rooted contractors in San Diego County.
The firm’s chairman, Douglas Barnhart, is a former president of the Associated General Contractors of America — a national leadership credential that reflects the company’s standing in the industry.
Tami Barnhart-Reese, the firm’s president, is a LEED Accredited Professional, underscoring the organization’s commitment to sustainable construction.
The firm has earned repeated recognition from the AGC Build San Diego program, including the 2021 Merit Award for Unique Special Project.
Notable work includes the Skyline Hills Branch library, which received LEED Silver Certification, and a range of civic and municipal projects across the county. In 2024, Barnhart-Reese completed a new El Centro police station among its active civic portfolio.
Bycor General Contractors — Commercial Construction’s Quiet Leader
Founded in 1981 by Rich Byer and Scott Kaats, Bycor General Contractors has built a four-decade track record in San Diego’s commercial construction sector.
The firm is headquartered at 6490 Marindustry Place in San Diego and has built its reputation on integrity, consistent on-time delivery, and budget discipline.
In 2018, Bycor strengthened its leadership continuity by bringing on Tom Brunson and Brian Stanton as partners — ensuring the next generation of management was in place.
Bycor is particularly well-regarded for tenant improvement and commercial interiors work, a segment of San Diego construction that remains active even in cycles when large ground-up projects slow.
Pacific Building Group — Tenant Improvements and Healthcare
Established in 1984, Pacific Building Group has grown into one of the largest and most recognized local general contracting firms in San Diego County, with a specialization in tenant improvements across hospitality, healthcare, and commercial sectors.
President and CEO Jim Roherty brings over 25 years of industry experience to the firm.
Pacific Building Group is a recipient of multiple AGC Build San Diego awards, including the 2019 Award of Excellence for Walkabout Australia at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park.
Andre Childers, the firm’s president noted for San Diego Business Journal, that the company entered 2025 with a strong backlog of anchor projects and a steady pipeline of tenant improvement work — positioning it well for the wave of commercial activity expected as interest rates ease.
Kitchell Corporation — Design-Build Excellence
Phoenix-based Kitchell maintains a significant San Diego presence and has established itself as a leading design-build contractor in the region, particularly for healthcare and public facilities.
The firm’s San Diego Fire Station 44 project earned it the National Design-Build Merit Award from the Design-Build Institute of America in 2019.
Its work on the UC San Diego Jacobs Medical Center received the Award of Merit for Best Health Care Project in 2017.
Kitchell’s Steve Whitworth, head of Southern California offices based in San Diego, is a Designated Design-Build Professional — a credential that speaks to the firm’s technical depth in a delivery method increasingly preferred by healthcare and institutional clients.
davisREED Construction — Rising Regional Force
davisREED, which places among the top 200 general contractors nationally, operates seven locations including a strong San Diego presence.
The firm emphasizes preserving the values of a smaller, client-focused organization while leveraging the resources of a sizable regional contractor.
davisREED’s approach — combining local relationship-driven business development with scaled procurement and execution — has helped it compete effectively against both national firms and local incumbents across commercial, retail, and institutional sectors.
Key Sectors Driving San Diego Construction
Healthcare
Healthcare construction is arguably the most durable and recession-resistant sector in San Diego.
The region’s major health systems — Scripps Health, Sharp HealthCare, UC San Diego Health, Kaiser Permanente, and Rady Children’s Hospital — have all been executing or planning significant capital programs.
The Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla expansion, UC San Diego’s Triton Center, and Kaiser’s San Marcos Medical Center represent a pattern of sustained investment in hospital capacity, reflecting an aging population and growing demand for specialized care.
McCarthy, DPR, Kitchell, and Turner are the firms most consistently winning this work.
Life Sciences and Biotech
San Diego’s reputation as a biotech hub is expanding rapidly, with 3.2 million square feet of new lab space coming online.
The region holds a top-four ranking nationally for life science and biosciences locations. Companies including Illumina, Dexcom, and a cluster of fast-growing startups in genomics and RNA technology continue to drive demand for highly specialized lab construction in submarkets like Sorrento Mesa, Sorrento Valley, and Torrey Pines.
However, the sector overcorrected after the pandemic-era gold rush. Life science projects were shelved as the market became saturated, particularly in Sorrento Mesa and environs, where some projects planned as life science are being retooled for other uses.
Contractors with life science experience — DPR above all, but also Swinerton and McCarthy — are adapting by diversifying into adjacent segments while waiting for demand and supply to rebalance.
Defense and Military Infrastructure
San Diego has been ranked No. 1 in concentration of world military and defense assets.
The U.S. Navy’s footprint in San Diego — Naval Base San Diego, Naval Air Station North Island, Naval Medical Center, NAVWAR, and other installations — generates a continuous stream of construction and renovation work for firms with security clearances and federal contracting capabilities.
McCarthy, Turner, and Skanska USA have all executed defense-related projects in the region. The presence of defense contractors like Northrop Grumman and General Atomics also supports ongoing construction of private R&D and manufacturing facilities across the county.
Hospitality, Tourism, and Convention Facilities
The opening of the Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention Center in May 2025 signaled a new chapter for South Bay and for San Diego’s hospitality construction sector.
Developers are now riding its coattails, with the Pacifica Companies planning their 35-acre Amara Bay development nearby — featuring a 250-room hotel, seven towers with 1,500 condominiums, and 400,000 square feet of commercial and office space.
Downtown San Diego is also preparing for a major convention center expansion.
he City of San Diego has secured hundreds of millions through Measure C for the project, though an expansion is not expected to begin before 2026 given legal and permitting requirements, and the estimated cost has risen to approximately $1 billion.
When it does proceed, the convention center expansion will be among the largest public building projects in the city’s recent history.
Transit and Public Infrastructure
The North County Transit District plans to break ground on a Coaster extension to the San Diego Convention Center in 2026, with operations expected to begin in late 2027 or early 2028.
This project, years in the making, will extend the Coaster commuter rail from its current Santa Fe Depot terminus into the East Village, adding a second track through portions of downtown to ease freight train bottlenecks.
The extension represents the kind of transformative public transit investment that creates multi-year construction pipelines for civil and rail contractors.
2026 Outlook: Opportunities and Headwinds
San Diego’s construction market enters 2026 with genuine momentum across its core sectors. The city’s diverse economic base — defense, life sciences, healthcare, tourism, and education — provides a buffer against the sector-specific volatility that can devastate more mono-industry markets.
The most immediate opportunity is the continuation of the T1 airport expansion. Phase 1B construction beginning in early 2026 will keep the Turner-Flatiron joint venture — and its extensive local subcontractor network — active for the next two years.
The Chula Vista Bayfront will also see continued investment, with Harbor Park South Phase improvements anticipated in 2026 and subsequent phases extending further into the decade.
Healthcare capital programs will remain active as San Diego’s health systems continue their post-pandemic infrastructure catch-up.
The convention center expansion, once underway, will add a major downtown construction site to an already busy civic portfolio. Transit investment — including the Coaster extension and ongoing Trolley improvements — will provide sustained work for civil and infrastructure specialists.
The headwinds are real but manageable. Life science construction will take time to rebalance after the 2022–2023 overbuilding cycle.
Residential construction remains constrained by affordability — despite being one of California’s most supply-limited markets, San Diego’s home prices have priced many buyers out, and elevated mortgage rates continue to dampen new housing starts.
Contractors active in ADU (accessory dwelling unit) construction and infill multifamily development have found more activity than traditional for-sale homebuilders.
Material costs, particularly for steel and electrical components, remain elevated relative to pre-pandemic baselines.
Labor supply in electrical, mechanical, and specialty trades is tight — a constraint felt more acutely in San Diego than in some inland California markets given the region’s high cost of living.
Firms that have invested in apprenticeship programs, trade partnerships, and prefabrication capacity are navigating these pressures more successfully than those relying on traditional open-market subcontracting alone.
For contractors — both national firms with San Diego offices and homegrown regional leaders — the outlook for 2026 is one of cautious optimism backed by tangible project evidence.
The backlog is real, the projects are funded, and the underlying economic drivers of healthcare demand, defense investment, life science research, and tourism growth are durable over the long term.
San Diego’s construction market may not experience the explosive growth of peak years, but it offers something arguably more valuable: depth, diversity, and resilience.
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