Allen L. Bender, Inc., Spans the Generations
When Allen L. Bender established his general contracting firm in 1964 he probably couldn’t have known to what extent, more than three decades later, his creations would stand out in the Sacramento landscape. But, as his son Blake Bender remarked, "It’s hard to find a place we haven’t worked."
Bender is a native Sacramentan. In the early years, Bender had some exposure to construction through his work in real estate and insurance related activities. In addition his father was a manager for On your lot Building, a company that did not stand the test of time. Unlike his father, Bender moved much further down the construction path to become one of Sacramento area’s most prolific contractors.
In 1971 his company incorporated and became Allen L. Bender, Inc. (ALB). Upon his semi-retirement in 1996, Bender’s two sons and two daughters, all of whom have absorbed aspects of the business since they were children, took over the day-to-day operations.
Over a 32-year period, assisted by his wife, Beverly, Bender worked at expanding his operation and his clientele. His home was his first office. He later opened a modest outside office in the early Seventies, and in the early Eighties, built the West Sacramento office the company now occupies.
The company’s first experience came from building small developments in the area of custom and speculative homes and some custom remodeling work. But as his reputation grew, he branched out into building small commercial projects in the Sacramento area like fast-food restaurants and small bank buildings. Eventually, ALB reached full-service general contracting status, with an emphasis on projects containing large amounts of concrete work. ALB currently pursues all types of commercial public works projects in Sacramento and other Northern California cities.
Some of ALB’s notable public projects include a seismic upgrade of the older portion of Folsom State Prison, the $15 million Redding Civic Center, the Rio Cosumnes Correctional Facility in Elk Grove, the Placer County Juvenile Center in Auburn, and various structures at both California State University, Sacramento, University of California at Davis and Sacramento City College. ALB is interested in creating beauty as well as utility; the dockside promenade and Plaza of Lights along the Sacramento River is an ALB creation, as is the restoration of the historic Shasta Argus Hotel in Downtown Sacramento.
When the County of Sacramento decided it was time to upgrade Sacramento Metropolitan Airport to Sacramento International Airport and to expand its facilities, ALB won the contract to create tenant improvements inside the airport’s crown jewel, Terminal A, which handles approximately 60 percent of the passenger traffic. ALB’s work included $13 million in flooring, ceilings, wall finishes, electrical security and ductwork.
The company left its mark on the area’s military establishment over the years, constructing specialized projects to include hangars, commissaries, fire stations, dormitories and runways at Beale, Travis, McClellan and Mather Air Force Bases and the Sacramento Army Depot. When most of those installations closed, ALB switched to local flood-control projects like the first phase of the North Natomas levee, which involved constructing 14 miles of levees with cast-in-place concrete floodwalls as well as building two pumping stations and retrofitting a third.
Sons Blake and Brian Bender currently alternate as President and Vice President on an annual basis. With the help of their two sisters Kathryn Bender Miller and Jennifer Bender Bittner, office manager and secretary, respectively, all of Allen and Beverly’s offspring participate in the success of the company. A third generation of Benders may carry on the tradition—"it’s still a little early to tell," Blake Bender said.
