December 2015
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DECEMBER 2015 VOL 11 • NUMBER 4
Business Journal CENTRAL VALLEY
1
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STOCKTON • TRACY • LODI • MANTECA • LATHROP • ESCALON • RIPON MERCED • LIVINGSTON
MODESTO • CERES • TURLOCK • OAKDALE • PATTERSON LOS BANOS • ATWATER
Builders face worker shortage Best-skilled workers have gone to Bay Area
National Turkey Modesto turkey gets presidential pardon.
Page 18
Revved Up Indoor kart racing comes to Modesto.
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On the Job
By CRAIG W. ANDERSON Business Journal writer canderson@cvbizjournal.com
STOCKTON — America’s building again. The housing market, and construction in general, are showing signs of growth as housing starts nationally increased 11.3 percent in 2015 and commercial spending grew 9.7 percent over the first two quarters. Jobs are plentiful, but qualified workers are scarce and this shortfall is affecting the industry at every level. “We’re still feeling the impact of the recession,” said San Joaquin County’s business retention and expansion specialist Ed Wanket. “The recession hit the Central Valley construction industry harder than anywhere else in the nation. A lot of workers moved on to different work sectors with good pay and a large number of construction workers left the area entirely for new jobs. As the economic climate improved, experienced construction
ELIZABETH STEVENS/CVBJ
Painters and landscapers at Lathrop’s River Islands community are among those seeing more work as residential construction picks up in San Joaquin County.
workers didn’t come back to the Central Valley.” A National Association of Home Builders survey noted that 70 percent of home builders were experiencing a carpenter shortage and a July survey by the Associated General Con-
tractors revealed that 91 percent of California’s commercial builders were having difficulty filling hourly or salaried positions. “There is a great deal of work out here but not enough qualified workers,” said Bruce Goodman, superintendent with Simile
Construction Service, Inc., a commercial construction firm in Modesto. “I’ve done 80 interviews over the past few weeks, hired five guys and two of those worked out and are still Please see CONSTRUCTION Page 10
Exotic car lovers drive their dreams affordably
Learn what a wine director does.
By SIM RISSO Business Journal writer
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WHAT’S INSIDE Publisher’s Notes.............Page 2 Online Extras....................Page 5 Who’s Hiring..................Page 34 Briefs......................Pages 50, 51 Legals......................Page 52, 53
srisso@cvbizjournal.com
STOCKTON — If driving a Ferrari is on your bucket list, there’s a company in Stockton that can make it happen. LTF Adventures provides customers the opportunity to drive a Ferrari 360 Modena, Ferrari F430, Lamborghini Gallardo or Porsche 911 Turbo.
LTF Adventures, which is an acronym for “living life to the fullest” puts up two autocross tracks — each just under a quarter-mile in length — at the San Joaquin County Fairgrounds. For $249, customers can perform six laps around the track with an instructor in the car of their choice. Online coupons can reduce the cost to $99. The first lap is run at 15 mph to give the customer an idea of
how to operate the vehicle, with the remaining five laps at the speed of their choice. “The track is a really fun track,” said LTF Adventures owner Mauricio Martinez. “It’s designed in a way for the driver to get a feel for the performance of the car. It’s not a speedway where you’re going to be driving 140 mph, but it’s a way that allows you to feel the acceleration of the car on the straightaway
and the performance of the car on the turns and the handling of the car.” Each car has a semi-automatic transmission, which allows the operator the ability to upshift and downshift gears without needing to use the clutch. According to Martinez, driving each car is a completely different experience. The Porsche 911 Please see EXOTIC CARS Page 11
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