Top 12 construction companies in Illinois

Illinois anchors one of the largest construction markets in the Midwest, and Chicago is its center of gravity. The contractors headquartered here range from fourth-generation family firms that have built the city for more than a century to national design-builders and heavy-civil giants working across the country.

This post ranks the top construction companies headquartered in Illinois by their position on Engineering News-Record’s 2026 Top 400 Contractors list, which ranks firms by their 2025 construction revenue. Every revenue figure and rank below comes from ENR’s published list; sources for notable projects and awards are linked throughout.

The top construction companies in Illinois

Here are the largest Illinois-headquartered contractors on ENR’s 2026 Top 400, ranked by national position.

Source: ENR 2026 Top 400 Contractors (2025 revenue).

The Walsh Group

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois 2025 revenue (ENR 2026 Top 400): $8,907.5 million — national rank #16

The Walsh Group is a fourth-generation, family-owned contractor founded in Chicago in 1898 and one of the largest builders in the United States. Operating as Walsh Construction and Archer Western across roughly two dozen regional offices, the firm delivers building, transportation, and water projects nationwide while keeping its headquarters on West Adams Street in the city where it started.

The Walsh Group’s services include:

• preconstruction and design-build
• general contracting and construction management
• heavy civil and infrastructure construction
• public-private partnership delivery
• self-perform concrete and structures

The company has extensive experience servicing the following sectors:

• highways, bridges, and transportation
• water and wastewater
• aviation
• commercial and institutional buildings
• federal and public works

Walsh’s largest current job at home is the Chicago Transit Authority’s Red Line Extension, the multi-billion-dollar rail expansion the agency advanced toward construction in 2024. The firm also completed the final phase of the Oak Trace senior-living community in Downers Grove, a roughly 350,000-square-foot independent-living expansion.

Clayco

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois 2025 revenue (ENR 2026 Top 400): $8,100.0 million — national rank #20

Clayco is a full-service design-build firm founded in 1984 by Bob Clark in St. Louis and relocated to Chicago in 2013. The company employs more than 4,000 people and combines real-estate development, architecture, engineering, and construction under one roof, with particular strength in large industrial, institutional, and mission-critical work.

Clayco’s services include:

• design-build and turnkey delivery
• construction management and general contracting
• architecture and engineering (through affiliated practices)
• preconstruction
• real-estate development

The company has extensive experience servicing the following sectors:

• industrial and advanced manufacturing
• data centers and mission-critical
• life sciences and higher education
• commercial and residential
• aviation

Clayco is part of the joint venture building the $1.3 billion Concourse D expansion at O’Hare International Airport, the first major concourse added there in more than three decades. The firm is also the general contractor for the first phase of the Illinois Quantum and Microelectronics Park, the quantum-computing campus that broke ground on the former U.S. Steel South Works site in 2025.

Clune Construction

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois 2025 revenue (ENR 2026 Top 400): $3,595.0 million — national rank #45

Clune Construction is a national, 100% employee-owned general contractor founded in Chicago in 1997 by Mike Clune. The company began as an interior and tenant-improvement builder and has grown into a firm managing billions in annual construction, with a people-first culture it credits for its expansion beyond its home market.

Clune’s services include:

• interior and tenant-improvement construction
• ground-up general contracting
• construction management
• preconstruction
• mission-critical delivery

The company has extensive experience servicing the following sectors:

• data centers and mission-critical
• corporate interiors and commercial office
• aviation
• healthcare
• financial and legal

Clune was named ENR Midwest’s 2024 Contractor of the Year after its regional revenue more than doubled in two years. Its recent Illinois work includes topping out a three-story, 250,000-square-foot data center in Northlake developed by T5 Data Centers.

Pepper Construction

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois 2025 revenue (ENR 2026 Top 400): $1,855.9 million — national rank #77

Pepper Construction is a family- and employee-owned builder founded in Chicago in 1927 by Stanley F. Pepper. Illinois is its birthplace, headquarters, and largest center of operations, and the firm works across the Midwest through offices in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Wisconsin.

Pepper’s services include:

• general contracting and construction management
• design-build
• preconstruction
• self-perform concrete and interiors
• virtual design and construction

The company has extensive experience servicing the following sectors:

• commercial and corporate interiors
• healthcare
• higher education and K–12
• sports and entertainment
• advanced manufacturing and industrial

Pepper is part of the tri-venture selected to build the $650 million stadium for Chicago Fire FC at The 78, the largest new venue planned on the city’s Near South Side. The firm also delivered the club’s Endeavor Health Performance Center, a roughly $100 million training facility.

Power Construction Co. LLC

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois 2025 revenue (ENR 2026 Top 400): $1,636.2 million — national rank #81

Power Construction is a management-owned commercial builder founded in 1926 that concentrates on the greater Chicago market. The firm works across healthcare, workplace, higher education, hospitality, and mixed-use projects, and self-performs a significant share of its concrete and carpentry.

Power’s services include:

• general contracting and construction management
• design-build
• preconstruction
• self-perform concrete and carpentry
• interior construction

The company has extensive experience servicing the following sectors:

• healthcare
• corporate workplace and commercial
• higher education
• hospitality
• residential and mixed-use

Power was recently selected to build a $320 million, five-story hospital on Chicago’s Southeast Side, a 183,000-square-foot facility approved by the state review board in 2025.

W.E. O’Neil Construction Co.

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois 2025 revenue (ENR 2026 Top 400): $1,483.0 million — national rank #95

W.E. O’Neil is a fourth-generation, 100% employee-owned general contractor founded in Chicago in 1925 by William E. O’Neil. The firm became fully employee-owned in 2020 and now works from more than a dozen offices across six states, though Chicago remains its base.

W.E. O’Neil’s services include:

• general contracting and construction management
• design-build
• preconstruction
• self-perform concrete
• special projects and interiors

The company has extensive experience servicing the following sectors:

• multifamily and residential
• hospitality
• higher education
• commercial and mixed-use
• healthcare

W.E. O’Neil’s recent Chicago work includes the RIU Plaza Hotel, a 28-story, 390-key tower in Streeterville, and the University of Illinois Chicago’s Computer Design Research and Learning Center in University Village. The firm is also part of the concrete team on the Obama Presidential Center on the city’s South Side.

The McShane Cos.

Headquarters: Rosemont, Illinois 2025 revenue (ENR 2026 Top 400): $1,068.0 million — national rank #126

The McShane Companies is a design-build general contractor and developer founded in 1984 and headquartered in Rosemont, near O’Hare. A female-owned and led business, McShane Construction plans and delivers projects across the Midwest and beyond, with a long track record in industrial and multifamily work.

McShane’s services include:

• design-build construction
• general contracting
• preconstruction
• build-to-suit development
• construction management

The company has extensive experience servicing the following sectors:

• industrial and distribution
• multifamily and senior living
• office and healthcare
• hospitality and retail
• affordable housing

McShane’s recent Illinois completions include Redwood Crystal Lake, a 124-unit single-story apartment neighborhood finished in early 2025, and The Quin in Schaumburg, a market-rate multifamily community.

FCL Builders

Headquarters: Itasca, Illinois 2025 revenue (ENR 2026 Top 400): $1,062.0 million — national rank #128

FCL Builders is a 100% employee-owned design-builder and general contractor founded in 1976 and headquartered in Itasca. The firm is one of the country’s leading builders of industrial space and reports having delivered more than 550 million square feet of warehouse, distribution, and manufacturing facilities over its history.

FCL’s services include:

• design-build construction
• general contracting
• preconstruction
• site development coordination
• national program delivery

The company has extensive experience servicing the following sectors:

• e-commerce, warehousing, and distribution
• cold storage and food processing
• manufacturing
• data centers
• speculative industrial development

FCL remains the builder of choice for many Chicagoland industrial developers and continues to expand nationally. Its recent work includes a design-build cold-storage expansion for Dot Foods, part of a steady pipeline of food-production and distribution projects.

F.H. Paschen

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois 2025 revenue (ENR 2026 Top 400): $991.0 million — national rank #137

F.H. Paschen is a Chicago general contractor with roots in the city’s construction history going back generations, with the current firm carrying forward a family name tied to some of Chicago’s landmark public infrastructure. The company is known for heavy public-sector and transit work alongside vertical building construction.

F.H. Paschen’s services include:

• general contracting and construction management
• design-build
• heavy and civil construction
• transit and infrastructure work
• self-perform capabilities

The company has extensive experience servicing the following sectors:

• transportation and transit
• K–12 and higher education
• aviation
• civic and municipal
• water and wastewater infrastructure

F.H. Paschen won an ENR Midwest Best Project award in the airport/transit category and earned recognition for its K–12 work on the Niles Township High School District 219 addition and renovation. The firm was also part of the Mile Long Bridge project honored in the 2024 PCI Design Awards.

Bulley & Andrews

Headquarters: Chicago, Illinois 2025 revenue (ENR 2026 Top 400): $872.0 million — national rank #149

Bulley & Andrews is a Chicago general contractor formed in 1891 when stone mason Frederick Bulley partnered with architect Alfred Andrews. One of the oldest continuously operating builders in the city, the firm self-performs concrete and masonry and carries deep expertise in historic restoration alongside its general contracting work.

Bulley & Andrews’ services include:

• general contracting and construction management
• design-build
• self-perform concrete and masonry
• concrete and masonry restoration
• historic and high-end residential construction

The company has extensive experience servicing the following sectors:

• commercial and institutional
• hospitality
• higher education and cultural
• residential
• historic restoration

The firm’s recent projects include the restoration of the 1920s-era Belden-Stratford in Lincoln Park and a new home for BandWith Chicago in East Garfield Park, both drawing on Bulley & Andrews’ restoration and self-perform capabilities.

Notable mentions

Power Construction (#81, Chicago) plans its workforce with Bridgit — in its own account, five years of strategic workforce planning that moved its people planning out of spreadsheets and into a single source of truth.

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Learn more about Bridgit, or book a demo to see it on your own projects.

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