DBE POWER PLAYER
Yerba Buena
Comes Full Circle
It has been a long and winding road
to Success
up to be. So, he decided to revisit his goals and determine the optimal size for the company for profitability, the president and founder enjoyment and happiness for his family of Yerba Buena Engineering and employees. This revelation allowed and Construction, to find ultimate Galarza to step back, re-assess and success for his company. The road has reorganize the company for optimum taken him from humble beginnings in efficiency and even greater success. 2002 as a small startup construction “I had to think about why I was doing firm in San Francisco to it – was I doing it for the people achieving award-winning who work with me in the success while growing company or for my the company to ego,” Galarza said. sales of more Galarza began than $30 million. a strategy of During this time, scaling back his company the company to completed the streamline its Small Business services and Administration to reduce its 8(a) Business market area 100 Development miles from the Program and home office in San exceeded the DBE Francisco. While this Program size limits to change resulted in less “graduate” from the revenues, profitability Miguel Galarza, founder and program. This level soared. “It’s not about president of Yerba Buena of growth came with the gross, it’s about Engineering & Construction. opportunities to open the net,” Galarza said. satellite offices in “I found that we are cities like San Diego, making more money at California, and Salt Lake City, Utah, in $7 million than we were at $30 million.” the process growing to more than 125 The change also made his employees employees and working in a variety of happier to stay close to home and not industry sectors. have to live away while completing jobs However, at what seemed like outside of the greater San Francisco the peak of the mountain, Galarza area. Galarza remembers that traveling recognized that his goals were to complete projects in other areas was changing and that running a company exciting at first, but as he and his team of this size was not all it was cracked members got older, the excitement of
for Miguel Galarza,
24
/ summer 2020
being on the road was not the same. Yerba Buena’s business now focuses on providing civil and heavy construction services to government agencies around San Francisco. Approximately 90% of the business is construction and the other 10% is engineering services for construction projects. The company has built a strong niche in designing and building urban trails for clients like the National Park Service and other municipalities. “Our jobs are a little more artwork than construction, because we are working within the parameters of the landscape and determining how we can facilitate bringing the public into space so that it is an enjoyable experience,” Galarza said. One of those projects is a current federal Hub Zone contract with the National Park Service to restore walking trails leading from the back of the Fort Mason National Park to the Ghirardelli Square and Fisherman’s Wharf area. The park is the site of a former U.S. Army Base that sits on a mountain overlooking the Pacific Ocean, and the walking trails were once used by soldiers to move down to the shore. The trail has become dangerous over the years due to noxious weeds overgrowing the passage, broken concrete in the walkway and stairs, and damaged
