A certified woman-owned enterprise, McKinney Construction is a three-generation family business celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2023.
Samantha Watt’s grandfather Earl J. McKinney founded the company in 1983, establishing a unique model to exclusively bid on water company and municipal projects, earning the company a seat on many private bid lists throughout Southern California.
When Samantha’s father, Michael McKinney, took over the company in 2002, it became quickly apparent that she would one day be part of the business. In the above video, Samantha tells about how she and her husband, Corey, eventually came to own the business and how it has maintained its success for the past 40 years.
Samantha Watt and her husband, Corey, at left, are the third-generation owners of the family business, McKinney Construction. They took over ownership from her father, Mike McKinney, at right, in 2018.McKinney Construction
Shortly after graduating college with accounting and business degrees, she joined the family business, serving as office manager and shadowing her father in every aspect of the company from operations to fieldwork. Every Friday, Samantha and her father would venture out to a jobsite.
“I'd put my work boots on and go with him and just learn,” she says.
College may have established a foundation for her, but it was the 10 years of office work and jobsite visits that brought Samantha full circle in learning more about what McKinney Construction does and what makes it unique.
