A.R. Mays Construction

A.R. Mays Construction is an employee-owned commercial general contractor in Scottsdale, Ariz., with a second office in Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. Adam Mays started it in 1986 after finishing Arizona State’s construction program, and he’s still walking jobsites. The firm builds restaurants, retail, hospitality, fitness and industrial space, and it says it has delivered more than $3 billion of work in 26 states with 150-plus employees and a 75% repeat-client rate. It’s now building Black Mountain Marketplace in Cave Creek for Evergreen Development, a 13.3-acre neighborhood center anchored by a 41,337-square-foot Mountainside Fitness. That’s squarely its wheelhouse, since quick-service pads and gym boxes are what it builds all the time.

In November 2024 A.R. Mays created an Employee Stock Ownership Plan and became 100% employee-owned. The company frames it as a multi-generational succession plan, and the mechanics are worth noting: employees receive ownership shares at no cost to them, with their stake growing as the company grows. Read alongside the reported 75% client repeat ratio and an EMR of .79, it is a structure aimed at keeping the same people on the next job.

One delivery method here is less common than the rest of the list. Job Order Contracting puts multiple projects under a single contract, which the firm says lets an owner skip a long procurement cycle on renovations, repairs and smaller builds. For a school district, municipality or tribal nation running a steady stream of small capital work, that is a meaningfully different arrangement from bidding each job. Native American and Tribal Communities is listed as its own market sector alongside public agency and private work.

The sector list runs to roughly twenty categories, and the unusual entries say more than the obvious ones: Fuel Stations and Travel Centers, Grocery, Storage, Clubhouse, Arts and Entertainment, Automotive, and Parks and Recreation sit next to healthcare, education and hospitality. Recent and named projects include Brooklyn Bedding in Glendale, a Hilton Garden Inn in Chandler, Caldwell County BBQ in Peoria, WOLF by Vanderpump, Sprouts in North Las Vegas, Mountainside Fitness in San Tan Valley, Encanto Storage in Buckeye and Arizona Country Club. Multifamily and mixed-use work includes The Marshall Tempe, Dwell @ 5th and Farmer, The Henry at Uptown Plaza and Novus Place.

The preconstruction scope is specific: project evaluation, budget development, value engineering, constructability review, master scheduling, subcontractor selection, safety planning and site logistics. During construction the firm issues daily logs plus weekly schedule and cost updates, and administers procurement and contingency oversight. After handover it provides as-built documentation, operations and maintenance training, warranty support and both one-year and two-year walk-throughs — a two-year return visit is further than most commercial GCs commit to in writing.

Ground-up construction, tenant improvements and renovations all run inside the same construction service line rather than as separate divisions, and the firm describes its model as managing trade partners rather than self-performing. It maintains a dedicated trade partners section for subcontractors looking to get on bid lists.

The two offices are 6900 E Indian School Road in Scottsdale and 8250 White Oak Avenue, Suite 105 in Rancho Cucamonga, California.