85 years of combined building experience
Hundreds of completed projects in California
Millions of square footage built
Meet the Nexgeneral Leadership Team
Phillip Kliewer
President
Phillip knew early on he didn’t want to work an office job, so he jumped out of helicopters to fight forest fires for a few years. These experiences taught him how to push himself to do anything and relate with anyone. After obtaining his B.S. in Construction Management, Phillip was highly recruited and chose to work at Matt Construction in Los Angeles. A Valley kid at heart, he returned to apply what he learned in his hometown. Phillip’s strength lies in his ability to communicate, lead teams, plan ahead, set expectations, and empower those around him to achieve their full potential.
He determines a project’s success not only by “on time and under budget” but also by whether or not relationships have been strengthened. When Phillip isn’t working, he enjoys spending time with his family, in the outdoors, and finding the best restaurants.
Phillip's Project Highlights:
•California Armenian Home – Fresno CA - $50M. Senior Housing, Skilled Nursing, Memory Care, Independent/Assisted Living, Residential, Commercial type projects. 300,000 SF of new construction as well as over 50 individual projects campus wide.
•Fresno County DSS Campus Buildings 1, 3, 7 – Fresno, CA – $68M. Senior Project Manager for 3 separate consecutive projects, over 400,000 SF of former industrial warehouse and office building retrofitted to government building campus for the Department of Social Services.
•Clinica Sierra Vista East Niles Medical Clinic – Bakersfield, CA - $6M. Project Manager for beautiful 12,000 SF OSHPD 3 medical clinic.
Oscar Palos
Director of Preconstruction
Oscar is a builder at heart. Growing up in Orange Cove, his love of construction was fostered through working with family. He attended Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Fresno State and earned a B.S. in Construction Management. Oscar started his first construction company at the age of 25. He weathered the brutal 2008 recession for 9 years by focusing on quality, customer service, and always doing the right thing. In 2013, to broaden his construction knowledge, he began working for larger local builders as Project Superintendent, Estimator, Project Manager, and Preconstruction Manager on a wide range of commercial, residential, and medical projects. During that time, preconstruction became a passion for Oscar.
Oscar is tenacious and cares deeply about quality. His wide range of experience gives him the unique ability to see the entire building process from entitlement to finish. When Oscar isn’t working, you might find him
exploring the Bay Area with his wife and two children and spending time with his family.
Oscar's Project Highlights:
•The Forum at Rancho San Antonio - Cupertino, CA - $70M. Skilled Nursing Facility and 21 Independent Living Villas. Preconstruction and project lead. Oversaw estimating, bidding, and budgeting, primed contract as well as coordinated client sales, customization, marketing, and design of project.
•The Well Community Church - Clovis, CA - $20M - Preconstruction Manager for design, permitting, and budgeting process. Managed all critical milestone to ensure a timely construction start.
•Paseo 55 - Reedley, CA - $12M – Mixed Use/Multifamily. Project manager for 55 affordable housing units, a
community building, and commercial space.
Ed Smith
General Superintendent & Safety Officer
4.3 BILLION dollars. That’s how many dollars worth of work Ed has managed as a superintendent during his career. While his resume is impressive, Ed is most thankful for the friendships he has built in the construction industry. Ed values relationships so much that he constructed the “Legacy Barn” on his property where he often hosts events and serves delicious BBQ. About 5,000 photos of friends and family line the barn’s interior walls.
Ed's Project Highlights:
• Community Regional Medical Center – Fresno, CA - East Medical Plaza, four-story medical office building. Structural steel pan deck construction.
• Tachi Palace Hotel and Casino – Lemoore, CA - $350M. Renovation and addition to existing 24-hour casino while maintaining owner’s operations. Removed walls of existing casino, installed structural steel, mechanical and life safety system tie-ins. The project consisted of three phrases: 156 room, horseshoe radius, 7-story hotel. Warehouse pre-fab steel building, concrete plank and concrete construction. The project doubled the footprint of the casino’s steel structure and concrete.
• Leprino Foods Cheese Plant – Lemoore, CA - $500M. The largest cheese factory in the world! The project consisted of a new electrical substation, site infrastructure, and new rail spur. The building’s structure was composed of concrete tilt up and poured in place concrete. The plant contained an ammonia driven freezer/cooling system and a 3-unit steam generation system for processing cheese and cheese by-product.
• Village at River Park - Fresno CA - 120,696 SF, four-story office building. Structural steel frame with bolted
moment connection. The façade is a combination of EIFS plaster and high performance window glazing.
• Chaffee Zoo Sea Lion Cove - Fresno, CA. Award-winning exhibit modeled after Point Lobos.
Gabe Escalera
Director of Operations
Gabe likes solving things. Puzzles as a kid, construction projects now. Raised in the Central Valley, Gabe obtained his B.S. in Construction Management at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. Gabe is thrilled to join the Nexgeneral leadership team to make a difference in the lives of clients and co-workers. Working in the Bay Area and Central Valley, Gabe has developed his skills as a project manager. He has experience on a number of high intensity, high expectation projects totaling over a million SF in office Tenant Improvement (TI), ground-up commercial, and medical projects. He brings an incredible work ethic and passion for empowering others who are new to the industry. Moments with family and friends are precious to Gabe, but he also cherishes time with his dog in a duck blind, waiting on daybreak.
Gabe's Project Highlights:
•Fresno County DSS Campus – Fresno, CA – Project Manager leading several large teams to complete 4 building projects ranging from 172,000 SF to 90,0000 SF. Several former Pelco industrial buildings, along with the former Costco on Ashlan and Peach, were converted to Class A office space campus. The first building, 140,000 SF of warehouse, was converted in less than a year. The second building included building a complete second story structure inside the existing warehouse.
•Adventist Health Sonora’s Cancer Center – Sonora, CA – Primary project lead for a ground up building that included outpatient rehab, physical therapy, imaging center, CT and MRI, laboratory, offices, and other services.
•Workday Campus remodels – Santa Clara, CA - Several hundred thousand SF of campus remodels and TI’s. Each project progressed 1-3 floors at a time and was completed in 12-16 weeks for employee occupancy.