General Construction Company’s history began early in the twentieth century, when the company was founded as the Inland Empire Hassam Paving Company, headquartered in Spokane, Washington. After four years the company was renamed General Construction Company. About the same time, brothers Dan and Jack McEachern founded the J.A. McEachern Company in Seattle in 1911. The two companies formed a partnership to build the Owyhee Dam in Oregon in 1928 and merged into one company in 1929, retaining the name General Construction Company. Several large projects followed throughout the 1930s and 40s, including the five massive piers that still support the suspension bridge that links San Francisco to Yerba Buena Island and the rest of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, and the two massive caissons for the first Tacoma Narrows bridge in joint venture with Pacific and Columbia Construction Companies.
Robert McEachern, the third generation of family owners, sold General Construction in 1981 to Wright Schuchart, Inc. and General Construction became the Marine Division of that company. In 1987, the Wright Schuchart companies were acquired by New Zealand-based Fletcher Challenge. The Company was renamed Fletcher General Construction in 1993. During this era, significant projects included the Alsea Bay Bridge in Oregon, the Lacey V. Murrow I-90 Floating Bridge across Lake Washington in Seattle, an aircraft carrier pier for the U.S. Navy in Everett, Washington and Pier 66 on the Seattle waterfront.
In 1996, company president Bill Urban and other senior managers at General, re-purchased the assets from Fletcher Challenge and renamed the company General Construction Company. Many large marine and industrial projects along the west coast followed, with significant fish passage projects at Shasta, Ice Harbor, John Day and Bonneville dams; outfalls in San Diego, California and Vancouver, Washington; and the expansion and modernization of industrial facilities for both Boeing and Kimberly-Clark in Washington State.
In 2001, a subsidiary of the Kiewit Corporation, Kiewit Pacific Co., acquired General Construction Company as a wholly-owned subsidiary. GCC continues to perform marine, industrial and heavy civil projects, maintaining their long-standing relationships with numerous customers throughout the western U.S., including port authorities, state departments of transportation, various county, city and local government agencies, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, U.S Coast Guard, and numerous private commercial, manufacturing, and industrial companies.