Oltmans Construction Co. makes boxes really nice, big boxes.
Consider what it’s building in Whittier at Gateway Pointe Industrial Park one of the county’s largest new industrial parks: five buildings totaling 1.6 million square feet.
Other mammoth projects over 1 million square feet include the Port of Los Angeles Distribution Center. Ontario Gateway West and the Inland Empire Gateway.
Indeed, the Oltmans name has become synonymous with concrete tilt-up construction, the most economical method for building warehouses, offices and manufacturing plants.
The company first employed tilt-up construction in the late 1940s when it was a novelty; it’s now the standard method for building warehouses worldwide.
“Around here the organization chart is filled with talent and continuity. That gives customers confidence going forward,” said Chairman Joe Oltmans II, grandson of founder J.O. Oltmans.
The company was founded in 1932 as a general contractor and has been run its entire history by family members. On any given day, company crews are at more than 20 major tilt-up projects. The company also works on about 100 smaller ventures such as tenant remodels.
Dennis Hill, a partner in HPA Inc., an Irvine architectural firm that works with Oltmans, said the company has refined the art of tilt-up construction.
“The technology has been around for awhile, but in Southern California in general, and Oltmans in particular, we’ve developed a strategy for putting them together that’s the best in the country,” Hill said.
After pouring a foundation, Oltmans makes forms on the building’s floor and pours the walls on the spot. When dry, the walls are lifted into place by cranes. The huge slabs connect to the foundation and roof, but not each other. A half-inch gap between them, filled with rubber caulking, allows for temperature and seismic movement without cracking.
The method allows Oltmans to build fast. A project normally goes from grading to standing walls in six to 10 weeks. A typical warehouse, from ground-breaking to grand opening, might take six months. Speed translates into savings.
“Most of our business is repeat, because we deliver on time with high quality,” President John Gormly said.
BEST CONSTRUCTION COMPANY
Oltmans Construction Co., Whittier
Employees: 350
Notable Projects: Stater Bros. headquarters; Gateway Pointe Industrial Park; Port of Los Angeles Distribution Center
Key Fact: Company a pioneer in tilt-up
construction in the 1940s
