Innovation extends beyond the jobsite as ESI is embedding artificial intelligence across the organization. The company also continues to advance virtual design and construction capabilities, leveraging design coordination, clash detection and construction planning to improve project delivery.

Through the ESI CARES Foundation, the company focuses its efforts on environmental stewardship and supports women and children through charitable giving and community partnerships. Funds are raised through ESI’s companywide metal recycling program, which recycled more than 3.58 million lb of steel last year.

ENR Senior Editor Jennifer Seward sat down with Neil Nelson, president and CEO, and Ben Davee, vice president of strategy and growth, to learn more. The interview has been edited and condensed.

Davee: ESI in Idaho has unique exposure to some interesting markets. When we think of AI and all the changes happening right now, a lot of that is associated with what we call the “AI flywheel”—semiconductors, data centers, wastewater and energy. We happen to have deep exposure in those four markets, and that’s where we are seeing a lot of growth for our company and for the construction industry. We’re part of [the segment] of the industry that’s growing rapidly, which is exciting. We have work at the Idaho National Laboratory with a small nuclear reactor project. We’re working with Micron [Technology] on their semiconductor development. We’ve built federal data centers, and we also have one of the largest wastewater projects in the region, which is using very complex technology. That [confidential project] has advanced zero liquid discharge capabilities that allow it to waste almost no water, and it’s designed to support that AI flywheel.

Nelson: We’ve had an ongoing relationship with Micron for 20 years, and we’ve been active on their [Boise] campus for the past 10 years. The way they conduct business has helped us; their safety standards on that campus set the bar for the industry, and we’ve raised our own accountability and safety practices to stay sharp [ESI’s EMR is 0.48]. Most of our work at Micron has been on the support services side—offices, parking garages, warehousing, site logistics and supporting the fab construction on numerous small-scale scopes of work.

Nelson: The country’s craft shortage is one of our biggest concerns, and we’re helping fill that void with our own craftpeople [totaling] 700 companywide.

Davee: When we look at Micron and another division of our company that focuses on federal work, we view it as mission critical for our country. Our employees take a lot of pride [in these projects] and in supporting America and national security. That’s a fast-growing group for us as well. We see a lot of parallels between military veterans and those who succeed in the construction industry because [ethics and hard work] are things ESI rewards. We have strong partnerships with local organizations like Mission43; we helped build their fieldhouse building, which is a world-class veteran professional and medical transition facility. We have hiring initiatives with them to bring that talent to ESI when people are transitioning out of the military. Our field engineer program teaches those who are new to the industry to become superintendents, and that has been [a successful pipeline] for us. It’s a world-class facility with hotel rooms [for hosting people who are stationed around the country] so they can get that medical treatment and career transition training. As a veteran, I’ve never seen anything like that.

Nelson: We look at our employee pipeline both from a field and office perspective as we grow. Our internship program spans across 20 different universities with about 50 interns per summer who receive dedicated mentors and training. They also go on rafting, hiking, boating and golfing outings with us—it’s a full experience. It’s a 10-week opportunity for the interns to get to know us, and at the end of the 10 weeks we know if they’re a fit and so do they. The other talent pool is our field engineer program, like Ben mentioned, whether it’s ex-military or ex-athlete or someone coming from another career with passion but no hard construction skills yet. We provide targeted training around both hard and soft skills, and they become our future superintendents and project managers. Together, those programs make up ESI Academy. [Two years in] we see it as a four- to six-year program that prepares you to have a leadership role within the company.

Nelson: Unlike other firms with a targeted approach, we’re using AI holistically across the organization. We’re looking at it for soft skills and coaching, leadership, legal, business development and operational excellence. Our leaders make it part of their weekly trainings and workflow, and we’re holding them accountable in their business unit’s training.

Davee: One simple example has to do with soil conditions. Every site is unique, and there’s a lot of data that exists on previous soil conditions, but historically that information is hard to access. With AI it’s much easier to access and understand that information and to build production rates and budgets and estimates around some of that information we extract from AI.