About Us

When just about everything has gone wrong, we're here to make it go right.

My name is Don Morelli and I'm the President and Principal Construction Manager here at CCA, Inc.

It started in 1984.

I was asked by two different firms to join as a construction project manager. One was a company named CMA Consulting Group who was finishing a defaulted project at Montgomery Airport in San Diego; the other was a prestigious firm named Olson Construction Company for whom I'd always wanted to work as a project manager.

Around that same time, I'd also met a gentleman named Paul R. Hastie who taught a construction management class at San Diego State University which I'd attended. Mr. Hastie's anecdotes about completing work that other contractors failed to finish left an impression on me. This discipline is called 'Completion Contracting'. That's what I wanted to do!

I took the 'CMA' completion job at Montgomery Field because I though completing a troubled surety project on City of San Diego land would be a better step toward my goal of becoming a completion contractor. I became the Project Engineer for Fireman's Fund Surety through CMA Consulting Group on the Montgomery Field Holiday Inn (Now, The Four Points Sheraton).

With CMA, I had the pleasure of meeting such notables in the Surety Completion Industry as Ronald C. Cogburn (Meridian Consulting Group), Doug Fritz and Jack Costenbader.

A few years later, I was building Bristol Square Office Building at 185 West F Street in San Diego when I was contacted by Mr. Cogburn and Mr. Fritz. They asked me if I would become a part of their organization and specialize in completion contracting.

Ironically, one of the projects our new firm would work on was a defaulted job of Olson Construction Company in Fayetteville, AR.

I still shake my head when I think about the decision I made back in 1984 not to join up with Olson Construction Company, but rather to enter the surety completion business to only later wind up finish Olson's defaulted work.

Alanis Morissette herself couldn't have penned as perfect a juxtaposition of events!

The professional pathways of Mssrs. Cogburn, Fritz and I have diverged in the ensuing years, but the experiences I've had the benefit of sharing with them, and others, like Mr. G. Wayne Murphy (Anderson, McPharlin & Connors) and Mr. Donald J. Colucci (Wolkin-Curran), have indelibly etched 'Completion Consultant' on my curriculum vitae. Because of those experiences, in addition to standard Contracting and Construction Management, CCA can proudly provide highly specialized Completion Consulting Services.

First of all, we're Builders!

A Clean Job is an Efficient Job

Within a day or so, we used our skid steer to clean up the site.

It’s not unusual to see our top construction manager with a broom in his hand. By management staff keeping the job-site clean, we also keep apprised of what tools and material are on the site and where everything is!

Estimating... Where We Start!

“NOTHING GETS BUILT UNTIL IT GETS SOLD… NOTHING GETS SOLD UNTIL IT GETS PRICED!”
George Moreau, Dillingham Construction Company

The estimate is the root of any successful construction project. It not only tells us what the cost of the project is, it informs us of what the project entails.

As the principal of our firm, I insist that the project manager perform the initial detailed estimate and use this information to plan the rest of the job.

Planning & Scheduling...

“PLAN YOUR WORK AND WORK YOUR PLAN...”
A Certainteed Vinyl Siding Training Manual

When we know the elements of the project from having done the detailed estimate, the cost items and bid packages are categorized and spread-out over a time scale. The interrelationships of the trades are analyzed, like a road map, and the target completion date, or destination on that road map, is set. Milestones, like landmarks to look for along the way, are established. And then, like a road map, we refer to that schedule on a daily basis, looking for short cuts or any wrong turns we may have made to get back on the right road toward completion.

Safety...

“DON’T STEP ON ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN STEP OVER AND DON’T STEP OVER ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN WALK AROUND” USN Survival Training Manual

There are no four words that convey the safety message clearer than those represented by the initials “YFNY” on this hard hat…

''Y''our ''F''amily ''N''eeds ''Y''ou!

Communication...

“SAY WHAT YOU MEAN AND MEAN WHAT YOU SAY!”
Jim Ehlers, Esq., Hillyer & Irwin, San Diego

We believe in listening or reading carefully to make sure we understand… and speaking or writing our messages in clear, easy to understand terms.

Quality...