Bryan Paulson, President of CME Builders, has a philosophy about construction: its better to use equipment if possible to do the work instead of wearing down the man doing the same work. This philosophy has helped to set the expansion goals for CME Builders over the past ten years that Bryan and Manuel and Armida Martinez have operated their business.

	(Top) CME’s Volvo Loader can pick up a pallet of blocks with ease. (Above) Dig wall footings dug by a Volvo compact excavator.

To that end, CME Builders owns 47 pieces of equipment, from several manufacturers. They have been particularly pleased with their Volvo compact equipment, purchased from Mathews Machinery.

“Volvo has been a great product for us,” Armida explains. “We appreciate the variety of work we can do with the compact skid steer loaders and mini excavators, as well as the fact that they can be serviced quickly and locally.

“Mathews Machinery staff are more than helpful,” she continues. “Jim Harrison from Mathews comes to me on my time to get business done. He’s been able to get us the piece of equipment we need at a price that we can live with.”

CME Builders uses both the Volvo compact skid steer loaders and the mini excavators.

According to Volvo’s website, the Volvo compact skid steer loaders are packed with versatility to handle all types of jobs. They offer power, maneuverability, comfort and ease of service. They also have a variety of attachments for every job.

CME Builders uses the forklift attachment in order to lift pallets of block and transport them from the street to the back yard of home sites. This is one of the ways that they use equipment to more efficiently and more easily do the work that men have done in the past.

The biggest advantage to the mini excavators is that they can be towed behind a standard pickup truck, Armida says.

“Our men can get past the scales and on the job easier towing the equipment behind their pickup trucks,” she continues. “All our Volvos are easily towed up the mountainside, without the pickup truck losing speed.”

The other advantage of being able to tow the equipment is that it can be quickly and easily transported between small job sites that are within a mile of each other—something CME Builders is doing on a series of smaller projects in Victorville.

“This way, the equipment stays busy all the time,” Armida says.

Bryan has been working construction since he was 16 years old, doing back yard construction projects for homeowners. He was part of a 6-10 man team that would do whatever the homeowners needed. In 1985, Bryan started his own business, Paulson Construction, with a pickup truck and a mixer towed behind. In 1996, the company incorporated and began operating as CME Builders. Armida and Manuel joined the company at that time. Armida is the company controller and Manuel is a field superintendent managing eight projects at a time.

	(Above, L to R) Judan Pasillas, operator, Julio Martinez, CME Assistant Field Superintendent.

Although the company has a general contractors license, they perform only specialty work generally in the form of masonry walls for tract housing developments. This includes retaining walls, perimeter walls, side yard walls, cutoff (return) walls, seat walls and planter walls. They also complete other projects, including: pilasters and monuments, real and artificial stone veneer, masonry CMU buildings, model home hardscapes, coverings and structures, and brick and glass block.

CME Builders is currently using the two Volvo compact skid steer loaders on a three-year project in Palm Springs. CME has been on the job for just over two years with a crew of seven men, led by Julio Martinez, Manuel and Armida’s son. The 1400-home development has been built in phases and CME has been responsible for the perimeter walls around the development, the interior walls between the houses, including front and sidewalls, walls around utilities, and gate walls. This project is a typical size project for CME Builders.

CME Builders works with many different developers in the area surrounding Riverside, where their office is located. Some of their clients include: KB Homes, Beazer Homes, Osborne Development, John Laing Homes, and Frontier Homes.

Their first big housing development project was Eagle Glen in Corona in 1998 for Forecast Homes.

“That project really put us on the map,” Armida says.

A recent project at Victoria Arbors has given CME Builders the opportunity to continue to grow and purchase more equipment.

	K. Hovnanian 4 Seasons project in Palm Springs

The company has had 100% growth every year, over the last three years, which although exciting, has come at a cost, Armida says. The challenges have been in finding enough manpower and being able to purchase equipment quickly enough.

CME Builders currently has about 400 employees, including 30 office staff. They did $34 million in sales last year. Armida says CME will continue to grow, but at a slower pace. The company is targeting 20% growth for this year, with $40 million in gross sales by the end of the year.

Armida doesn’t foresee the housing industry in the Inland Empire, where they complete their projects, slowing down in the future. The trend she has seen is that more houses are being built per acre of land.

“It used to be that one house sat on an acre, but now we see 10 houses on an acre,” she says. “More houses in a smaller area means more walls that need to be built.

“We build miles of walls each year,” she adds.

Armida says that several developers have told Bryan that they appreciate CME Builders’ ability to provide manpower and equipment for a project “at the drop of a hat.”

“As soon as the developer says go, we’re off and on the job with the field superintendent, some guys and an excavator ready to dig,” Armida says.

For more information look online at www.cme-builders.com or call (951) 360-9640.


(Bottom) Marino Martinez uses a Volvo compact excavator to dig wall footings.