— General Contracting
When the mechanical drives the schedule.
Most of our work is renovation and rehabilitation inside buildings that stay open, like hospitals, courthouses, labs, campuses, and offices. As general contractor or prime contractor, we take on turn-key mechanical and MEP infrastructure projects and carry every trade the scope touches, from the electrical and plumbing to the ceilings, roof, and TAB. We self-perform the HVAC and controls, which are usually the trades driving the schedule. We’ve been building in California for forty years, with a B license and bonding capacity behind us.
— Capabilities
What we GC.
We’re a general contractor that self-performs the specialty trades, and we’re at our best when the building’s systems are the heart of the job.
Renovation in occupied buildings
Most of our projects happen in buildings that can’t shut down. We phase the work and run nights and weekends, so tenants, patients, and staff stay in place while the systems are replaced around them. A recent example is the Kaiser Ontario ambulatory surgery center build-out.
Turn-key mechanical & MEP infrastructure
As prime, we handle the whole job: the mechanical and controls, the electrical feeds and plumbing, the roof penetrations, and the ceilings, drywall, and paint that close it back up. You get one contract and one schedule instead of a dozen subs to coordinate.
General contracting
As GC of record, we manage the sub-tier, own the schedule, and run safety on site. We do it best on projects where the mechanical, electrical, and plumbing infrastructure is most of the scope.
Design-build delivery
We deliver progressive design-build and integrated projects, with one team owning both the design intent and the construction schedule instead of two contracts on competing timelines. Our Kaiser Permanente partnership started with a design-build job in 2011.
Self-perform trades in-house
Mechanical, building automation, sheet metal, and ductwork all stay in-house, so the GC schedule and the trade schedules are the same schedule. On controls modernizations, our legacy migration approach keeps the existing wiring in place.
Public-sector delivery
We deliver for schools, universities, water utilities, and government facilities, with prevailing wage, DIR, SB/LSBE, and bonding in place. Agencies can buy building automation, controls, and security scopes through OMNIA Partners cooperative purchasing.
— Where we fit
Prime on the systems work. Partner on the big builds.
As prime
Renovation and infrastructure projects
When the job is replacing or upgrading a building’s mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems, we’re most valuable as the prime. That includes central plant replacements, HVAC and controls modernizations, MEP infrastructure upgrades, and tenant improvements where the systems are most of the scope. We carry every trade and hand back a finished space. See our prime contractor projects.
With your GC
Building conversions and new construction
On full building conversions, such as an industrial building becoming a data center, and on ground-up or core and shell construction, we usually work for the general contractor as the mechanical and building automation subcontractor. The GC runs the building, and we bring the same crews and the same planning to the systems. See how we work as your mechanical sub.
— The trades in-house
GC with the trades that matter.
Most general contractors are coordinators. They schedule and coordinate the trades, but they don’t install the ductwork or wire the controls themselves. That works when the schedule is forgiving and the scope is broad.
It works less well when the mechanical or controls scope is the critical path. When the schedule hangs on the chiller commissioning sequence, the BAS startup, or the boiler tie-in, it matters that those trades sit inside the GC instead of three layers down a sub chain.
For the record, we hold the California B license to GC, plus C-4, C-7, C-10, C-20, and C-36 for the mechanical, low-voltage, electrical, and plumbing scopes. We subcontract the other trades the scope calls for and manage them under one contract and one schedule. Subcontractors who want to work with us can start with our prequalification process.
California contractor licenses (#523044):
— Public sector
Bonded. Prequalified. Practiced.
Public-sector prime contracting takes capacity as well as capability: bonding, insurance, prevailing wage compliance, and prequalification with multiple agencies. We have the paperwork, the financial standing, and the project history to win and deliver public work.
We’re certified as a minority-owned business by SCMSDC and NMSDC, and our safety program scored top tier in two independent reviews in 2025. We’ve been on the bidder lists of Southern California’s cities, counties, and special districts for forty years.
— Further reading
More on how we build.
— Next step
Have a renovation where the systems lead?
Tell us about the scope and the schedule, and we’ll talk it through with you.
— Other expertise
Explore the rest of what we do.
— Building Automation
Building Automation
We install and service Schneider, Johnson Controls, and Argus systems, natively or on Niagara, and we migrate legacy systems without ripping out the wiring.
Read more— Mechanical
Mechanical
We self-perform HVAC installation and service. It’s the trade Athena started with in 1984, and it’s still in our own hands.
Read more— Security & Access
Security & Access Control
We install Schneider Access Expert and Security Expert, with card readers and mobile credentials tied into the BAS you already trust.
Read more— Service & Maintenance
Service & Maintenance
Multi-year contracts covering BAS and mechanical — scheduled visits, T&M, software upgrades, remote hosting, and the client portal that keeps your team ahead of the system.
Read more
