Founded in 1977, CFC, the preeminent construction company in Colorado, has been serving the community for decades. For more than 40 years, CFC’s honest, hard-working, and highly respected teams have consistently delivered results at job sites throughout Colorado and beyond. Founder and CEO EJ Olbright started the company after witnessing how construction projects could be improved with more realistic budgeting and better planning, organization, scheduling, and communication. Lucky for EJ, satisfied clients throughout Colorado agree. Since founding CFC as “Colorado First Construction” in his early 20s, he’s never worked for anyone other than CFC’s highly satisfied clients.
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Over the past four decades, CFC has built it all — from the plains to the peaks. CFC has successfully completed a range of projects in every season and on every terrain, withstanding extreme weather conditions, high altitudes, demanding topography, and difficult soil properties. CFC understands the challenges unique to building in Colorado, delivering the benefit of the company’s specialized expertise in the design and construction methods, timing, and approaches that work best.
Building upon the continued success of the company, CFC’s second decade in business included a significant number of large scale projects across building types including ski resort facilities, retail, office, and hotels. Serving as Summit County’s developer and builder of choice, CFC developed systems and processes to offer large-project care and skills to smaller, local projects, while maintaining a high-priority focus on building subcontractor relationships, spreading CFC’s footprint to resort town throughout all of Colorado.
The following decades included a tremendous amount of growth and sustained success. Branch offices were established in Glenwood Springs, Grand Junction, and Denver. Creating a significant presence in Denver Metro, CFC expanded its target market to schools, higher education, and public works facilities throughout Colorado. Contemporaneously, CFC partnered with ski lift manufacturer Doppelmayr to build the Strip people mover tram in Las Vegas, NV and Toronto Airport. CFC also served the as the main construction provider focused on wood framed apartment construction as the first market in Denver Metro to emerge from the Great Recession. This immense growth was furthered by the attracting national, institutional clients targeting multifamily development in Denver Metro.
Over the last several decades, CFC established itself as the premier construction company in Colorado, as well as a growing force throughout North America. CFC partnered with OSHA in the National Stand Down Day to promote job site safety, while earning the privilege of joining the AGC/OSHA CHASE Partnership safety excellence program. CFC returned to the mountain resort market with a signature hotel project in Dillon, Colorado, while completing several multifamily projects in Summit County.
CFC’s Development Projects
- Viceroy Snowmass, Snowmass, Colorado (154 units)
- The Ascent, Beaver Creek, Colorado (49 units)
- Lodge Casino at Black Hawk, Black Hawk, Colorado (50 units)
- The Steamboat Grand, Steamboat Springs, Colorado (182 units)
- Trivista on Speer, Denver, Colorado (322 units)
- Tangent Apartments, Denver, Colorado (140 units)
CFC Principals
EJ Olbright
EJ brings 41 years of comprehensive construction experience to every CFC Construction project. From his start as an independent subcontractor in 1972, to his 41st year as Chief Executive Officer, EJ has significant experience as a construction manager, general contractor, and developer.
After witnessing firsthand how construction projects could be improved with better planning, organization, scheduling, communication, and realistic budget considerations, EJ founded the Colorado First Construction Co. in 1983 to deliver a more comprehensive and professional array of construction services in the Colorado marketplace. Today, CFC has an extensive portfolio of approximately $1.4 billion worth of public buildings and schools, commercial buildings, luxury homes, condominiums, townhomes and luxury and affordable multifamily apartment projects to its credit.
EJ provides executive oversight and is directly involved with every CFC project. Under EJ’s leadership, it is CFC’s philosophy to always be easily accessible and responsive to the project owner to ensure satisfaction, and to be committed to the overall success of all CFC projects. This combination of teamwork, cooperation, communication, and creative and innovative solutions to the toughest challenges has earned CFC a high percentage of repeat business.
EJ is a member of the Vail Pass Task Force, a non-profit entity that manages the use and maintenance of the Vail Pass Recreation Area. He is also a board member of the Willow Brook Metro District and the Board President of Summit Disability Services, a 501-c-3 that provides long-term housing solutions, community engagement, and workforce opportunities for developmentally impaired individuals in Summit County.
A long-time supporter of youth sports and scholarships, EJ is a past member of the Board of Directors of the Mile High Youth Corps and is recognized in the Founding Circle. In his spare time, EJ enjoys powder skiing, boating, and traveling.
Chad Oliver
Chad represents more than 30 years of successful experience in construction management and general contracting services. His extensive portfolio represents a wide range of services including owner representation, construction management, preconstruction services, conflict resolution, partnering facilitation, leadership training, process design.
With over 30 years of construction experience, Chad has worked on some of the largest and most renowned construction projects in the U.S. including Aspen/Snowmass Resort, STAPLES Center, Camalier Residence in Boulder, CO, Center Street Hotel in Jackson Hole, WY, and a number of other projects.
Orville Hinerman
Orville provides executive oversight to all aspects of the CFC organization with a focus on strategic planning. He is responsible for ensuring the organization provides the proper support to the project teams. Orville oversees the development of project estimates, schedules, site logistics and planning. Orville has tremendous experience on projects all over Colorado including Tanjent, TriVista on Speer, Line28 at LoHi, and MileHouse & The DEN at Belleview Station in Denver Colorado. Additionally, Orville has worked on Aspect at Lincoln Station in Lone Tree and Solaris Residences in Vail.
Orville Hinerman’s 35+ years of construction industry experience have always included a field-first focus. From his start as a project engineer, through his years leading design-build teams, to his current role as CFC president, he has never forgotten that the real work happens onsite — not in the office. Known for his sincere commitment to customer service, focus on customer needs, and record of delivering results, Orville uses careful listening to help clients transform their visions into reality. Clients and vendors know him to be a true business partner guided by the highest level of ethics and professionalism. With his eternally open door, Orville is always ready to hear ideas and consult on challenges. He brings his expertise to bear across a range of functions, including operations, client relationships, business development, preconstruction, estimating, strategic planning, and project plan development.
After graduating from college and serving as an infantry officer in the US Marine Corps, Orville spent 26 years working for a nationally ranked commercial contractor in Colorado. He quickly worked his way up the ranks, gaining experience in every position from Project Engineer to Senior VP. He then joined a leading West Coast developer-builder as Regional VP of Construction, leading design-build teams on nine major multifamily projects (nearly 2,500 units) over four years’ time. Orville earned his BS in Architectural Engineering – Construction from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is a LEED Accredited Professional certified by the US Green Building Council. He has also completed courses on strategic leadership development.
Karl Kostelic
Karl studied engineering in college, launching his career with an engineering firm. Over the next 16 years, he gained a range of experience as he grew from a Project Engineer to a Project Executive while working with three large national general contractors.
Karl’s move into preconstruction was founded in his desire to improve how it was being done. He’d become frustrated with the lack of operations knowledge he saw from estimators. He joined CFC in 2013. Karl holds a BSCE from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo. He is a licensed Professional Engineer, a member of the American Society of Professional Estimators (ASPE), a LEED Accredited Professional certified by the US Green Building Council, and a Class A General Contractor in Colorado and Wyoming.