How Northern California Contractor EFA Has Thrived For 8 Decades

After several turbulent years, the San Francisco Bay Area’s commercial real estate market is seeing renewed momentum. 

Office leasing activity has seen a significant uptick, with 2.8M SF leased in the first quarter alone — the region’s biggest quarter since Q3 2019. Multifamily vacancy rates dipped to 6.1% earlier this year, with rents ranking among the nation’s highest. In the past year, the Bay Area also added 600K SF of new retail space to the market. 

Although it is now known as one of the nation’s largest and most successful CRE markets, the Bay Area’s construction landscape was very different 80 years ago when Swedish immigrant Eric Anderson founded Eric. F Anderson Inc., a leading construction firm in Northern California. 

“The construction market has definitely changed. Projects are more complex, and there is a lot more to consider when building a project, including how to be more competitive,” said Kristin Anderson, CEO of EFA and granddaughter of the founder. “You hear stories from the old days of deals being done on a handshake. It was, ‘We’ll give our projects, get it done and just send us a bill.’ Those days are over.”

Today’s deals in the Bay Area involve a much more competitive bidding process, stringent compliance requirements in accordance with both state and federal regulations, and a lengthy path to permitting and entitlement, Anderson said. In addition, elevated construction costs and a tight labor market continue to have an impact on the sector.

“A lot more is put on the general contractor today than it was in the old days,” Anderson said. “I think GCs are in a holding pattern right now. We’re laser-focused on maintaining our efficiency, implementing new technologies to improve our management strategies and retaining our talented workforce.” 

Company Values Shaping The Future

Although development and construction processes have evolved significantly since 1945, EFA has maintained its core values of integrity and honesty throughout its history, Anderson said. 

Starting when it provided carpentry services to grocery stores, EFA’s values have been carried from generation to generation, including Anderson, the company's first woman CEO and president. 

“I grew up with the message that we get up in the morning to keep food on our employees' tables,” she said. “That message has continued through today, with our vision to put food on our community’s tables, a roof over their heads and to keep our community healthy. These values have helped us build our reputation in the Bay Area and beyond.”

Other notable long-term clients of EFA include Wells Fargo, CVS, Whole Foods and many other Bay Area grocers.

One of the company’s first clients was Safeway, the mostly western U.S.-based supermarket chain — and it remains a client today. After 80 years in business, the company’s mission is to build long-term relationships and be as “transparent and customer-focused” as possible, Anderson said. 

“Optimizing efficiency and client relationships is a culture at EFA and not a product of the economic environment,” said Cassian Castillo, field operations manager at EFA. “We’re always looking for improvements, even when markets are calm.”

Beyond Retail: EFA's Expansion

EFA has expanded its offerings and services since its inception. In addition to ground-up construction, EFA handles tenant improvements, open-business remodels and commercial projects — something that has become more common as undeveloped parcels start to dwindle and the Bay Area’s infrastructure ages, Anderson said. 

“We’ve diversified a lot of our project types over the years,” she said. “While we still do many projects in the grocery, food and beverage space, we also do projects in the residential and healthcare spaces. We've been really fortunate to reach into these areas.”

Anderson said that her team is working on a new grocery store project in South Lake Tahoe, California, for Save Mart Supermarket that, when delivered, will be a flagship store for the grocer. EFA is also undertaking a student housing project for the University of California, Berkeley, as well as another ground-up grocery store project in Manteca, California, that will break ground next month. 

EFA has also seen success with athletic facilities, including a new pickleball facility, Pickle Athletics, in Oakland, Anderson said.  

In addition to its construction services, EFA has a 24/7 service and maintenance team to tend to commercial properties. The team has grown to 20-plus employees providing building maintenance and repairs, from small issues like patching walls to 24-hour emergency response after a building has been hit by a car. Recently, the EFA team was the first on-site after a roof collapsed at a Safeway in Chico. This arm of the business has grown exponentially over the past several years, Anderson said. 

“We've also taken a small cabinet shop that we had in the back of our warehouse that was just helping us with our construction and built that into its own business unit, too,” she said. “Five Star Fixtures is our cabinet shop that can fabricate and install custom cabinets and fixtures.”

Celebrating 80 Years

Only about one-third of companies make it past their 10th anniversary, and fewer still make it to their 40th, 50th or 60th anniversaries. EFA, however, stands proud in its 80th year.

Anderson said growing from a small, local contractor to one that operates in California and Hawaii couldn't have been done without the support of all of the people it has worked with throughout the years. These include clients, employees, subcontractors, architects and developers, she said. 

“Doing business over three generations and 80 years in the construction industry is an amazing accomplishment, especially with the ever-changing economic environment and competition in the industry,” said Jim Krieger, vice president of construction at EFA. “I believe that EFA’s success has been built on the pride and expertise of its employees and continues to do so because EFA puts it’s employees first, above all else.”

Anderson added that her firm has now transitioned to a woman-owned business, with women project managers and leadership within the company. This is another way in which EFA is pushing the envelope in the construction industry, she said. 

“That's another big part of our 80th celebration: How do we celebrate women?” she said. “We’re always looking at ways to do better, be better mentors and improve our culture so we can open doors for others in the future.”

This article was produced in collaboration between EFA Inc. and Studio B. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com.