As a kid and a young adult, liking it or not, by this time Stephen Roel had been exposed to nearly every aspect of the business. And he knew the players. Or rather, his father Paul Roel knew the players and son Steve hung around a lot. Both Norwegians, Paul Roel and S. Falck Nielsen, who grew Nielsen Construction Co. to become San Diego's largest general contractor when he retired, well before his successors sold to Dillingham, were great friends. Steve Roel is one of the exceptions.
Construction companies are very entrepreneurial.
You've got to get a guy who's willing to take risks. A contractor, particularly when he bonds, puts his entire net worth on the line when he bids on a job. The company's traditional specialty is pouring structural concrete. The specialty evolved not long after Paul Roel and his partner George Line, hired originally in 1949 as Roel's bookkeeper, moved to San Diego in 1959, discovering the market pretty well locked up by the established builders. Paul Roel had built a fine reputation in North Dakota, founding the first regional chapter of the Associated General Contractors, building military bunkers and barracks, winning the AGC's second-ever SIR Award.