HC Contractors
CORP OR ATE 10 0 SPECIAL SEC TION
Right Time, Right Place, Right People By Tasha Anderson 72 | April 2021
B
y the time Bill Hoople founded HC Contractors in 1993, he’d been working in engineering and construction in Alaska for fifteen years. Educated as an engineer (he earned his PE in 1971 and his master’s in civil engineering in 1982), Hoople moved to Alaska in 1975 to work on a construction project. Following that first project, for several years Hoople alternatively worked as a tradesperson or providing engineering services. “During the time I was working as an engineer, I received a call from a larger contractor in Alaska that asked me if I would be interested in working for them, so I took the job because I actually prefer construction to design: the outdoors, and the activity, and the change of pace is much more my style,” Hoople says. That was in 1981, a few years before the mid-80s recession in Alaska. During the recession, the company Hoople worked for closed—and he was out of a job. Hoople’s wife, family, and friends encouraged him to start his own business, but he was hesitant. Instead, he went back to school, taking night classes to study accounting, hoping to build up his skillset to run a business. “I did that for a year or so and then I thought, ‘Oh, I’ll just do it.’”
Alaska Business www.akbizmag.com
