Sabre Springs-based general contractor ECON Construction is talking like a future heavyweight, setting its sights on becoming a billion-dollar company while staying firmly planted in the multifamily trenches across San Diego County. Led by founder and CEO Eric Aguilera alongside partners Geoff McMillen and Andrew Morris, the firm says it is targeting larger market-rate, student and affordable housing contracts, with plans to grow its staff as existing backlog and fresh wins move from paper to construction sites.
As reported by the San Diego Business Journal, Aguilera puts ECON's current annual revenue at about $200 million, with an ambition to scale that up to as much as $1 billion while increasing headcount to somewhere between 100 and 200 employees. The outlet reports that leadership is deliberately building capacity so ECON can self-perform more work and handle larger portfolios across the region.
Projects on ECON's slate
ECON already has its name tied to a lineup of sizable San Diego-area developments. It is listed as the contractor on Dos Lunas, a three-building, 202-unit project in Encinitas, according to REBusinessOnline. City permit filings also show ECON as the general contractor on an eight-story East Village project at 1452 K Street, per city building records. The firm is also linked to The Riva in Solana Beach, a roughly 260-unit community that began move-ins earlier this year, according to listings on ApartmentFinder.
Work mix and footprint
Company writeups and contractor databases show ECON favors staying in the game from day one through ribbon-cutting, with a focus on market-rate apartments, student housing and affordable units. Its Procore company profile describes ECON as a general contractor that handles project management and coordination. Permit histories and BuildZoom records back that up, charting a steady run of mid-to-large multifamily projects scattered across the county.
Why the timing matters
San Diego's permitting pace has fallen behind housing demand, which can funnel work toward contractors that have the muscle to scale quickly, as reported by Axios. At the same time, developers like Raintree and others are moving ahead with major Bankers Hill and Encinitas projects that are expected to keep multifamily builders busy for years, according to trade coverage of those recent deals.
What to watch
ECON has already notched dozens of completions and, according to the San Diego Business Journal, counts about 71 finished jobs as it chases that billion-dollar revenue target. McMillen told the outlet that "what he needed and what we needed was really like hand and glove," while Aguilera said the company has "a lot of runway ahead of us" as it pursues the larger goal. How far and how fast ECON can go will hinge on its ability to turn backlog, permits and project wins into sustainable scale while navigating supply-chain and labor pressures in the months ahead.
