_________________________________________________________________________________________ Tarlton and Son Inc.
as Tarlton’ s door division works alongside its framing division, changes are caught and corrected prior to installation.“ Sequencing it all under one roof creates a massive saving on impacted schedules,” Blaine highlights, describing the old, fragmented model as“ death by a thousand cuts” to a job schedule.“ Superintendents consistently respond well to our Frame-2 Finish model, telling us how much they love it and requesting continued work from us. It’ s fantastic.”
Another illustration of the popular model is the King Hussein school project in Madera, which Tarlton won as a bid-build job alongside Harris Construction, where the group delivered framing, drywall, taping, painting, doors and hardware – effectively the full Frame-2-Finish program. The project was a 124,000-squarefoot, nine-building school, built from scratch on donated farmland, with the buildings framed in around four months.“ It was a huge undertaking, and we executed successfully,” says Blaine. Although a few external traderelated delays happened outside the company’ s control, he credits the operations team with keeping Tarlton’ s portion of the schedule on track and the school was recently occupied, with some punch-list items still in progress.
Impressive project portfolio
Blaine also reflects on Tarlton’ s people-first philosophy. While technology and AI improve efficiency, he emphasizes the persistent value of direct communication and the importance of the company’ s core values: GSD, LFG, humility and respect.“ Our values underpin how the team operates,” he notes.“ We’ re not just putting screws in the wall – we’ re building people. We’ re trying to help them achieve their own success story.” The company’ s role, he elaborates, is to provide the tools and opportunity – but fulfilling that opportunity is ultimately up to the individual.
Employing around 260 people across the state, communication and transparency remain ongoing priorities for Tarlton, supported by digital tools including Microsoft platforms and AI. What’ s more, it recently completed the Reedley Performing Arts
Some builders might shy away from such projects due to their complexity, but we see them as a challenge that we love taking on
Center – a complex, acoustically focused building for a small Central California community.“ We really pride ourselves in those types of builds,” adds Blaine.“ Some builders might shy away from such projects due to their complexity, but we see them as a challenge that we love taking on.” Upcoming projects include the VAPA Building for Central Unified School District, the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at UC Santa Barbara, courthouse exterior remediation projects in Los Angeles and preparation work ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
With an exciting array of projects already in the pipeline, Blaine expects continued investment in their people through learning and development coupled with technology over the next five years, along with a shift toward more design-build work.“ We don’ t have in-house architects at Tarlton but we work closely with our client’ s design teams, and I think architects are going to seek input earlier in the design process, rather than delivering complete plans for bid,” he predicts.“ Lastly, we’ re aiming to have a greater presence in Northern California and keep growing our Frame-2-Finish offering.” ■
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