Menu Home

Salinas Construction and Hispanic Heritage Month Business Spotlight

October 15, 2024

The United States observes National Hispanic Heritage Month annually from September 15th to October 15th to recognize the contributions and unique experiences of Hispanic Americans. The Port of Seattle is a proud partner of diverse firms, and we’d like to take the opportunity to spotlight one of the numerous Hispanic businesses that have worked on a Port project. The Diversity in Contracting team had the pleasure of learning so much from John Salinas II owner of Salinas Construction, about his journey as a Hispanic business owner, and we are excited to relay the rich wisdom he had to share with other Hispanic, diverse, and small businesses who are interested in working with the Port.

About the Business

Tell us a little about your professional background and what inspired you to be a businessowner.

John Salinas II, Owner & President, Salinas Construction

Salinas Construction started as a partnership between my grandfather Juan and my father John Sr. in 1976, so from a young age I was surrounded by construction. My earliest experiences with Salinas construction began when I was just eight years old. Back then the rules were a little different so my brother and I would go to the family’s construction yard to pick up cans and our dad would take us to the recycling facility to get paid for turning in those cans. The summer when I was about 11 or 12 years old, my father began taking me out on projects and I would work as a laborer where I learned a lot about the construction culture and jargon. When I turned 16, I got an official job with the company. 

My early days working for the company must’ve burned me out because when I went to college, I had no interest in working for the family business or in construction. I attended Seattle University to pursue a business management degree and during my summers in undergrad, I would work for Salinas as an assistant project manager. When I graduated college, I still had no interest in construction, so I continued my education at Gonzaga University and received my MBA in 2007.

After I completed my MBA, my father noticed some financial trends in the company that were a bit eye-opening and asked for my help, so I obliged. At this point my grandfather had retired from the company and my father became the owner but hardship came quickly after that. With the economic crisis in 2008 many hard decisions were needing to be made to keep the company afloat. My father was an incredibly loyal employer, and he wasn’t comfortable making some of those decisions, so I took over the company in August of 2011. 

What does your company do?

The two main types of work our company does is horizontal flatwork and paving. Flatwork for us looks like handicap ramps, sidewalks, curb and gutter, driveways, etc. There's also paving and for us that looks like streets and airfields. We haven't traditionally done big structural vertical buildings and have kept our focus on horizontal flatwork and paving.

What makes our work unique is mainly the very large hand or fixed form paving we have the capacity to do. For example, we’re out at the airfield project pouring 1000 cubic yards not using a slip form machine. It would take some companies a long period of time to do that, but we’ll do that in a day. Also, when we do use the unique slipform pavement technique, it’s because it’s a job required by a handful of large government entities (FAA, military, DOTs, etc.). Our company has massive capabilities when it comes to those things. 

More importantly though, we still care about the things many may take for granted. From the beginning of Salinas Construction in ’76, to becoming incorporated in ’79, and up to today, what distinguishes Salinas Construction from others are the names on the door.  I take pride in vowing to be accessible like my father and grandfather were. I also come from a line of hard workers who followed through on their word. We pride ourselves on being a company with integrity and a company that is reliable. We show up when we’re supposed to, and we don’t take that lightly. We take a chance on some businesses and projects because people have taken a chance on us. And for every project, we give maximum effort.

Words of Advice for Other Businesses

What projects have you worked on at the Port? What did it take to secure those projects?

Photof os Salinas Construction workers at Sea-Tac Airport
Salinas Construction at SEA

Over the last four years we’ve been on multiple contracts with the Port. We’ve been incredibly fortunate to be on the Airfield Pavement Repair Contract 1 for the past few years as a sub to Scarsella Bros. We’ve also been on the Widen Arrivals with Scarsella Bros doing flatwork stuff. Some other contracts we’ve been on are the Remote Aircraft DIC contract as a sub to Goodfellow, Terminal Solid Waste, and the Concourse A Fuel Hydrant projects. 

What it came down to was we had to build relationships with General Contractors, and we had to offer maximum effort and reliability. I know I’m emphasizing maximum effort but it’s because we’ve worked hard to have a good reputation but also, we are in a low bid industry. When we do win contracts, it’s important we’re as efficient as possible so we can reap a profit. 

What are things you wished you would have known before you began government work?

Many contractors are hardworking people that have been successful despite having much smaller firms and that can sometimes blind them from the nature of working on a government contract. They’ll go into contracts not understanding that by signing as a subcontractor they are subject to the rules of that governing body, not just your prime. Those contracts have hundreds of reference documents and plan pages that are important to be familiar with. For example, you must know the imposed rules and regulations of SeaTac Airport if you’re working on a project there. You may need to undergo drug testing, background checks, they may need your driving records, and that process can take your crew away from work for days because to navigate the airport you need to have the proper badging and security clearances. 

Additionally, you may need to increase your insurance limits because these projects are vastly bigger. I would highly advise to have a lawyer look over the contract as well so that in the event something goes bad, you can have peace in knowing you purchased enough insurance. Spend the money upfront to get a lawyer that will outline the various number of things that can really impact your business in the event of a disaster. Payment cycles, paperwork you need to turn in, apprenticeships goals, equity goals, are some more of the many things you’ll need to understand as well. 

You need to also understand the specifications of the scope of work you do because the expectations for paving a residential road come nowhere close to the expectation of doing concrete at an airfield for the government. You cannot think that you’ll be successful if you land a giant contract and don’t have any experiences that have prepared you for a contract of great magnitude. I say all these things to say, don’t bite off more than you can chew. It’s better to start out smaller and build your way up. The only way to really learn all of this is by going through it and it's better to learn lessons on smaller projects that are a little less consequential. 

What advice do you have for other WMBEs and small businesses when it comes to finding opportunities and bidding for Port projects?

Networking and relationship building will be key in finding opportunities. As a WMBE firm, it’s important to be certified so that you are put on various mailing lists for events directed at WMBEs. Often, the GCs (general contractors) will have “meet and greets” and those opportunities can be helpful because it gives you an opportunity to not only network with the hosts of the event but the attendees too. Get on more mailing lists for projects the firms you’re connecting with are pursuing. You’ll want to get signed up for their portals so you can consistently check current solicitations. Also, get in touch with each firm’s diversity compliance officer or third party that monitors the WMBE and equity goals. Their job is to ensure WMBEs are hearing about opportunities and that WMBEs get their just due. 

The other part is you need to educate yourself. Once you have access to various solicitations, start reading. Most firms have an insurance broker, and I would ask them to clarify things on the reference documents. You should budget money each year just to have education sessions with your firm’s attorney to ensure you understand the language of the documents. Building actual industry information is vital and things like the Advanced PortGen and courses alike will help. However, the most effective way to get grounded in this work is to put yourself in it. 

What advice do you have for other WMBEs and small businesses who have just secured their first Port project?

Now that you’ve secured your first Port contract, get in front of the schedule because there may be long lead items that you may need to procure. Nobody wants to be delayed on a project because a certain item isn’t going to arrive for the next couple of months. This has been a common thing projects run into because of the supply chain shortages stemming from COVID. Things that used to be picked up at the hardware store may be a specialized item that needs to be ordered now. If there are any issues procuring something, make sure to make that known to the prime on the contract. You also want to get in front of the copious amounts of paperwork because you don’t want to be the subcontractor that’s holding up everyone’s payment because some paperwork hasn’t been submitted. 

Photo of John and his team working
John Salinas and his team on the jobsite

Being a Hispanic Business Owner and Hispanic Heritage Month

What are some unique hurdles you've faced and feel other Hispanic business owners face in running their businesses?

In today’s environment, it’s important to know the English language well. Whether it’s reading, writing, or communicating in general, it can be harder to access information if English is not the primary language.  From dispute resolution, impacts, delays, etc., the documentation is already confusing enough. It’s imperative to be confident in the English language. 

Financing is also a difficult hurdle facing Hispanic people and people of color in general. With their businesses being smaller, capital is harder to have on deck but there’s more opportunity for financing now. Knowing what they’ve done in the past to people of color, I’m thankful banks have so many loans, grants, and capital programs specifically for the BIPOC community. It may take twenty attempts to get some financing, but the reality is you need to be persistent and educated to make it through this industry. If you stay the course, use your willpower, and have a little bit of luck, you can achieve many things. That’s what makes our country a place of opportunity!

Why is it important celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month?

A lot of people don’t understand how much Hispanics have built and how much value they bring to our country. Spending this month to highlight their numerous contributions will get people to understand the value they bring to our society. If you look at the cement mason unions, you’ll see that traditionally, these groups consist of Hispanic men. Concrete is the most used material on earth for building and there is no way we would have the infrastructure we have without the contributions of Hispanic people. It’s important to highlight their successes because our American society benefits greatly from their skills and work ethic. 

What impact does it make on the local Hispanic community when Hispanic businesses thrive?

There’s a snowball effect when Hispanic businesses thrive. Many Hispanic families are generationally familiar with one another. One family’s success begets another family’s success and there are generational employment opportunities that come up within the community. A lot of people we’ve hired going back to the days of my grandfather have family members that follow their family members into that industry. I’m a product of that same pathway. This could add an income to a household, and we’ve seen some of our old employees go on and create their own firms. Overall, generations are impacted because of this work.

The Port is thankful for the contributions of John Salinas II and Salinas Construction as well as all the Hispanic owned firms that have supported Port projects over the years. If you are a Hispanic business owner or a WMBE/small business owner and want to be up to date on all our PortGen events and solicitations, please sign up for our distribution list. We would like to connect with you and support your business. 

If you are the owner of a Hispanic business, there are many resources available to entrepreneurs like you: 

We also encourage everyone to support Hispanic businesses. Find Hispanic-owned business for what you’re looking to purchase using this directory from the Intentionalist.

Back to Top