About Precision

Precision Construction Services is an award-winning commercial construction firm headquartered in San Luis Obispo and serving clients throughout California and the Western United States. Our work encompasses every aspect of construction — design-build, general contracting, and construction management — and our clients range from leading developers and winemakers, to private aerospace firms and utilities, to federal agencies and nonprofits.

As the fastest-growing construction firm in California, Precision has built rocket launch pads at Vandenberg Space Force Base, a 3D printing lab for the Centers for Disease Control, the world’s first Hyperloop tunnel, and projects throughout Yosemite National Park, including restorations on the historic Ahwahnee hotel.

Our progressive approach to construction, and particularly our work at Vandenberg, has received numerous awards and recognition, including a 2022 Spirit of Small Business Award, presented by the Small Business Administration and the Pacific Coast Business Times, and two 2023 Top Professionals awards from the Engineering News-Record. Precision was designated a 2023 Valued Diverse Supplier by Sempra Energy, while our exemplary performance for the Federal Government earned a nomination for the SBA’s 2022 Prime Contractor of the Year.

Precision’s current projects include a 125,000-square-foot wine storage facility in Paso Robles and a two-story operations building for Southern California Gas in Santa Clarita. Precision is also the on-site contractor for the Missile Defense Agency at Vandenberg.

A Native American-owned company, Precision was founded in 2013 by Erik Wright, Karl Vaillancourt, and Jared Malapit, three friends who connected over a shared passion for rock climbing. With complementary backgrounds in construction — Erik was the vice president of a major firm specializing in concrete construction, Karl was a real estate developer, and Jared managed large green building projects — they created a company dedicated to challenging construction’s status quo and fostering collaboration among owners, architects, engineers, and contractors.

No matter what the project, Precision believes in finding the best solution specific to our clients’ needs and considers each project from every perspective. Our open-minded and rigorous approach is part of the reason we have been awarded numerous first-ever builds, and the guiding idea behind Precision itself.

Inspiration

Precision’s talented construction-trade professionals helped rehabilitate the legendary Ahwahnee hotel, a national historic landmark built in 1927 at Yosemite National Park. Our other projects at the park include the ground-up build of a heavy-timber comfort station, visitor center, and interpretive plaza at the South Lot and the replacement of the 4,000-square-foot roof on Yosemite’s headquarters for emergency services.

Precision planned for construction during severe winters, the ongoing stresses of weather and usage, the demands of maintaining a design consistent with the park’s architecture, and the challenges of working in a remote location.

As avid climbers and outdoors enthusiasts, we are particularly proud of enhancing the Yosemite experience for everyone.

Innovation

In 2015, SpaceX was laying the groundwork for the most futuristic transportation system on Earth: A hyperloop that would move people and cargo at the speed of sound. The project — building the first hyperloop tunnel in the world — was presented to dozens of contractors, but it was quickly awarded to Precision after we devised a simple, elegant way to build what others had deemed “impossible.”

Projects for other private aerospace firms – Firefly, Relativity, and United Launch Alliance – soon followed, along with a host of challenging new work, from building the first rocket landing facility in the U.S. to constructing a 3-D printing lab for the CDC.

Sustainability

Precision serves a wide range of clients with environmentally sensitive projects, from winemakers dedicated to sustainable practices to nonprofits including The Bay Foundation of Morro Bay and the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County. For The Bay Foundation, Precision oversaw the $1.5 million restoration of the Chorro Creek floodplain and Morro Bay watershed, on what is now the 580-acre Chorro Creek Ecological Reserve. For the Land Conservancy, Precision’s projects include the 880-acre Pismo Preserve (pictured). Throughout construction on the Preserve, Precision maintained a minimal environmental impact and worked closely with the Northern Chumash tribe after culturally sensitive areas were identified on the site.

As part of our focus on sustainable building practices, Precision’s key staff are members of the U.S. Green Building Council and are LEED accredited.

Progress

Precision helped design, build, and operate the manufacturing facility for the precast segmental tunnel liners used in the United States’ first steel fiber-reinforced passenger tunnel. Precision assembled a world-class team to support the project and the results included an innovative method for constructing tunnels at a cost far below industry norms. The project changed the domestic tunneling industry and ushered in more economically viable tunnel development throughout the U.S.

Precision’s mission to advance the construction industry includes the professional development of our staff members, on projects like this one as well as through sponsored continuing education in engineering, design, construction project management, and more.

Restoration

The U.S. Coast Guard Station at Humboldt Bay serves 250 miles of California coastline – but the structure itself, built in 1935, is also one of the last traditional lifeboat stations in the country and listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Precision replaced the station’s steep, Cape Cod Revival roof, decorative wrought-iron balustrade along the widow’s walk, copper gutters and flashing, and redwood fascia. All repairs complied with strict rules protecting the station’s historic exterior from any alteration.

Precision understands the importance of preserving great works of the past as markers of culture, tradition, and history. It is our privilege to have the skill and resources to support these efforts.

Leadership

From the beginning, Precision has built projects that transform innovative ideas into reality. This is particularly true for the aerospace industry, where our work on multiple launch pads and support facilities has helped Vandenberg Space Force Base become a facility for 21st Century aerospace. Our planning, cost analysis, and design-build services fast-tracked Vandenberg’s West Pad Landing Zone, literally paving the way for the West Coast’s first rocket landing on terra firma.

Precision thrives on the complexities of innovative projects and discovering creative solutions. As a company that defines itself as a leader within the construction industry, we find inspiration in clients who are pushing the limits of “the possible.”

Our Founders

Jared Malapit

Jared Malapit is a Native Hawaiian who grew up in a contractor family on the Big Island. He earned a bachelor’s degree in landscape architecture at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, is a sustaining member of the American Association of Cost Engineers, and is registered through the California and Colorado Contractors Licensing Boards.

He manages Precision’s preconstruction planning and cost consulting divisions. When the company was founded in 2013 – with headquarters in Mr. Malapit’s living room and a mission to empower clients and advance the construction industry – Precision was a construction consultancy. Largely because of Mr. Malapit’s work, it became known for providing detailed, insightful cost estimates and construction analyses for major projects throughout the United States, including the United Launch Alliance facility upgrade at Vandenberg Space Force Base, the Jefferson Lab Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator facility in Newport New, VA, the Philadelphia Inquirer historic building renovation, and the Texas Launch Complex in Brownsville.

Mr. Malapit oversees cost estimating, budgeting, scheduling, and constructability review services, and was named a 2023 Top Professional by the Engineering News-Record, the leading publication of the construction, architecture, and engineering industries. Mr. Malapit is passionate about delving into every detail of complex projects, and identifying and implementing efficiencies in time, scope, and budget. Before Precision, he was project manager for a large green building contractor and a senior construction estimator for an infrastructure and structural construction firm.

He lives in San Luis Obispo with his wife and son, and enjoys rock climbing and the outdoors, and mentoring for Big Brothers Big Sisters and his church youth group. He is also a professional photographer with a particular focus on landscapes and has shot many of the images on this website.

Karl Vaillancourt

Karl Vaillancourt has worked in construction since he was a 17-year-old apprentice with a Philadelphia custom homebuilder. He earned a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the University of Colorado at Boulder and an MBA from Pepperdine University, and is an expert in real estate development, property acquisitions, construction management, and commercial real estate finance.

Before founding Precision, he was vice president of development and asset management for Accord Interests in Los Angeles and vice president of development and finance for Wilson Jacobsen Design Development in Santa Monica, CA. In his 20-plus years in the construction industry, Mr. Vaillancourt has successfully managed more than $3.5 billion in public and private projects.

Mr. Vaillancourt oversees Precision’s business and financial operations. After starting as a construction consultancy in 2013, Precision expanded into a full-service construction firm in 2016. The company has roughly doubled in size every year since, with clients ranging from headline-making aerospace and real estate-development firms to federal, state, and local entities and nonprofit groups.

Mr. Vaillancourt has managed this phenomenal growth, both laying the groundwork for it and developing the corporate culture to allow Precision to continue to evolve into a dynamic organization.

Away from the office, he has chaired the Economic Development Committee for the San Luis Obispo Chamber of Commerce and is an active member of the REACH Council, a regional economic action coalition on the Central Coast. He is an avid rock climber and volunteers with the Land Conservancy of San Luis Obispo County and other organizations. He and his wife and daughter live in San Luis Obispo.

Erik Wright

Erik Wright grew up in Truckee, CA, and with a Horatio Alger scholarship for disadvantaged students, studied construction management at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa. After building schools, a stadium, and a factory in South and East Africa, he returned to California and became a lecturer on sustainable development at Cal Poly and vice president of a major concrete construction firm on the Central Coast.

He oversees Precision’s construction division, where he has been project executive on the first rocket-landing facility on the West Coast at Vandenberg Space Force Base, the world’s first hyperloop tunnel for SpaceX, all access and facilities for the 880-acre Pismo Preserve open space area in San Luis Obispo County, a 3D-printing lab for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Spokane, WA, a 125,000-square-foot wine storage facility in Paso Robles, and many other projects.

Mr. Wright’s passion for construction innovation led him to co-found Precision in 2013 and inspired its mission of empowering clients and advancing the construction industry. Mr. Wright oversees all of Precision’s construction services: general contracting, design-build, construction management, and self-performed trades. He is a LEED AP (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional) and a member of the U.S. Green Building Council. He was named a 2023 Top Professional by the Engineering News-Record, the leading publication of the construction, architecture, and engineering industries.

As a longtime resident of the Central Coast, Mr. Wright supports the community through donated construction services and financial support for numerous civic groups. In 2017 he was honored as one of the county’s best young leaders in The Tribune’s Top 20 Under 40 competition. He is also an avid rock climber, staunch advocate for the arts, and past Rotary president. He lives in San Luis Obispo with his wife and son.