Last year, we highlighted how DBE firm SRK Engineering (SRK) has grown from a team of two (2) full time employees (owner Sherry R. Kirkpatrick and husband Jeremy Kirkpatrick) with an initial $500,000 contract, to having 20 employees and a $13 million contract. Well, this DBE success story just keeps getting better! Going into 2019, SRK now has 25 employees, their contract is over $23 million and they are still growing!
This local San Diego firm was established in 2014, became DBE certified the following year and joined the Project in January 2017. Sherry attended MCTC and SANDAG outreach events in order to learn more about the Project, specifically the retaining wall needs, and eventually had the opportunity to bid on that initial contract. Since then, Sherry and her SRK team have proven to be a tremendous asset to MCTC and the Project.
In 2017, MCTC was searching for a different way to build retaining walls adjacent to a LOSSAN (Los Angeles - San Diego - San Luis Obispo) Rail Corridor. The original design was proving to be a challenge because the terrain was so difficult to drill into. SRK proposed an alternative design using a counterfort wall system. Their value engineering effort would ultimately result in $5 million of savings to the Project.
Because of SRK's initiative, they received the MCTC contract to design and build the counterfort retaining walls. They had to construct five walls totaling nearly 100,000 square feet. They were also under a time crunch to finish their work in sync with the completion of a major Project milestone, an important LOSSAN track switch. SRK's ability to deliver under these conditions has not gone unnoticed.
According to MCTC Construction Manager Terry Martin, "SRK demonstrated tremendous leadership, skill and tenacity in building their young company to rise up to this challenge." He says that the SRK team approaches their work "with a can-do attitude, never backing away from the many challenges and issues that arose." SRK's success on these retaining walls has led to additional subcontracting packages arising from MCTC including civil, storm drain and utility work.
Since starting with MCTC, SRK has hired more employees and even purchased additional equipment (including loaders, excavators and dump trucks). They have proven themselves to larger firms like MCTC, which has led to contracts on new projects in Colorado, Washington and Orange County, California. As Terry has said, "SRK's performance represents the most successful DBE story that I have been part of in my career in construction. They are also one of the very best subcontractors that I have worked with, period."
We couldn't agree more. Keep up the great work, SRK!
