MGC Contractors is a Phoenix general contractor that builds almost nothing but water and wastewater work. It traces its start to 1974, when it opened as MGC Construction, and it’s operated in Phoenix as MGC Contractors, Inc. since 1982. The firm’s employee-owned and handles treatment plants, pump stations, reservoirs and reclaimed-water projects under CMAR, design-build, design-bid-build and job order contracts. It works across Arizona, Texas, Utah and New Mexico, with offices in Phoenix, Marion, Texas, and Lehi, Utah. On the $120 million Eagle Mountain wastewater treatment plant expansion in Utah, which broke ground Oct. 23, MGC is the construction manager/general contractor building a new 6 MGD membrane bioreactor train.
Reservoir construction is a useful place to start, because it shows how narrow the technical lane is. The firm builds AWWA D110 Type I and Type II prestressed concrete reservoirs, and separately constructs, inspects, repairs and modifies steel tanks including their cathodic protection and coatings. Those are standards-driven disciplines, not general concrete work.
A single project for the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community illustrates the scope it can carry at once: two deep wells drilled, a 4,500 GPM arsenic removal system, a 2.5 million gallon reservoir, and more than six miles of pipeline.
The Fountain Hills Sanitary District job shows a different skill. During a shutdown the firm kept the facility running off existing generators, and the client credits that with saving more than $200,000. On an operating utility, keeping the plant in service during construction is frequently the whole job.
Disinfection capability spans chlorination with optional dechlorination, UV and ozone — three different treatment philosophies rather than one preferred system. Water reuse work includes vadose zone recharge wells and reclaimed water systems feeding park and golf course irrigation.
There is also a valve maintenance division, which is unusual for a contractor of this size. It rebuilds pressure, pump control and air relief valves, handles confined-space work and emergency valve replacement, and keeps a tracked parts inventory. For a utility, that is a maintenance relationship rather than a project relationship.
Delivery runs under multiple methods — Job Order Contracting, Construction Manager at Risk, Design-Bid-Build and Design-Build, including progressive design-build — and preconstruction includes design review, value engineering, constructability review and plant shutdown planning.
Recognition has come from the sector’s own body. The Arizona Water Association named the C.C. Cragin Reservoir Water Supply project Treatment Plant of the Year in 2020, and the EPCOR Pecan Water Reclamation Facility expansion Reuse Project of the Year in 2023.
The client list is municipal and utility: Chandler Public Works, City of Glendale Water Services, Queen Creek Utilities, City of Austin, New Braunfels Utilities, San Antonio Water System and the San Antonio River Authority. The first New Mexico project was at Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis.
Three offices carry the work: Phoenix, Marion, Texas at 7037 FM 1044, and Lehi, Utah at 2975 West Executive Parkway. Licensing is published by jurisdiction, including Arizona ROC069949 and ROC071441.
