She moved to Tucson in 1995 and at the age of 19 started working for Granite Construction as a receptionist. She liked the industry and has been in it ever since. When her last employer had to cut employees back to part time, Escarcega started a little company on the side to help make up the difference in her income by providing construction administration and consulting services.
“It took off overnight,” she said about the birth of Eagle EGC LLC. “I now have three on-going clients and seven companies I assist when they need it.”
 Jennifer Escarcego |
“There are lots of government jobs out there and many construction companies don’t go after them because they don’t understand all the procedures or processes involved in that,” she said. “It really isn’t as complicated as people think, but there are steps you have to go through.”
Escarcega can help a company network with other sub or general contractors, send new work leads daily, registrater with government organizations to be approved for government jobs, send out monthly newsletters for the company, create marketing plans, set up monthly billings and more.
Escarcega is careful not to represent competing companies so there is no question of favoritism or sending jobs to one and not the other.
“I know how tight of a community construction is, everyone knows everyone,” she said. “I don’t want to have any conflict of interest in my business.”
She attributes her early success to the time she spent in the industry, the contacts she has, being accessible and rapidly responding to clients’ needs. Always one to enjoy learning and teaching Escarcega says this is the perfect job for her because she can teach businesses how to do many things but also is learning from her clients.
“They’re teaching me all kinds of things about owning a business,” she said. “I like it. This industry is usually so cut-throat that it is nice to have this kind of relationship with clients.”
For more information, visit www.eagleegc.com.
1 of 3 jobs lost
Construction employment in Tucson dropped 29.2 percent from August 2008 to August 2009 according to the Associated General Contractors of America.
Percentage-wise, Tucson saw the fourth largest drop in the country, behind Pascagoula, Miss., which was down 38.8 percent and Reno, Nev. and Redding, Calif., both of which were down 31.2 percent.
The Tucson region had 16,300 construction workers on the job in August, down from 23,600 in August 2008.
The Phoenix area lost 27.8 percent of its construction workers over the same, down to 105,500 workers this year, from 146,100 in August 2008.
Across the county construction employment was down in 276 of 299 metro areas.
Areas that saw gains in construction employment were led by Odessa, Texas, up 8 percent; Baton Rouge, La., up 7.3 percent and Decatur, Ill., up 5.7 percent.
Del Lago reopens
Pulte Homes has opened Rancho del Lago by Del Webb for sales in time for the arrival of snow birds.
Pulte purchased the 480-lot community in the master-planned community of Rancho del Lago near Vail from K. Hovnanian Homes, the original developer, in July. The community has 276 completed lots with 35 homes closed.
“While it’s been a tough market, we continue to receive considerable interest for a Del Webb-branded community in Southern Arizona,” said Shawn Chlarson, Tucson Division president for Pulte Homes and the Communities of Del Webb. “This is a milestone that allows us to continue the Del Webb legacy that started nearly 50 years ago, right here in Arizona.”
There are 12 floor plans ranging from 1,212 to 2,823 square feet and are priced from the $130,000s. The company has also refurbished 12 model homes for the sales opening.
The community has a 14,000 square foot recreation center, outdoor pool complex, 4,500-square-foot Sales Pavilion, the largest 18-hole putting course in Arizona, tennis and bocce ball courts, a fully-landscaped community and the security of a gated entry. The state-of-the-art del Lago Golf Club is located just across the street.
Rancho del Lago by Del Webb is at 10260 S. Blendu Way, Vail.
Kid designed playground
Little Sprouts Child Care Learning Center is getting a new playground this week, based on drawings provided by children who attended a design day event in August.
From those drawings, volunteers from the center, along with Huggies and Kaboom, a national nonprofit organization that helps build playgrounds, will combine to build the new playground on Wednesday (Oct. 7).
Volunteers are invited to help, starting at 8:30 a.m. at Little Sprounts Child Care Learning Center, 1010 E. Broadway. The plan is to dedicate and open the new playground at 2:30 p.m. that day.
Based in Lawrence, Mass., Little Sprouts Learning Centers promotes the power of literacy- social, emotional, and cognitive- to promote the commonality of humanity by celebrating diversity.
Sales and leases
• Adelita’s Mexican Food leased 1,180 square feet of space at 5470 E. Speedway, Suite B-101, from Larsen Baker. Andy Seleznov the director of leasing at Larsen Baker represented the landlord.
• Jack Belin and Dianne Belin leased 1,093 square feet of space in the Crossroads East Shopping Center, 4951 E. Grant Road, from the Machado Family Properties. The couple plans to operate a PostNet store in the space.
• Rita Ranch Foot Reflexology leased 960 square feet of retail space in the Shoppes at Rita Ranch, at the northwest corner of Rita and Houghton roads, from Rita & Houghton LLC. Aaron LaPrise and Brian Harpel, with the Harpel Company Inc., handled the transaction.
E-mail items for this column to
jpangburn@azbiz.com. Real Estate and Construction appears weekly.
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