Michal Anderson didn’t need her ear to the ground when she envisioned starting Corti Construction, an ethical and inclusive company. She was born into a family of tradesmen, some of whom had helped to establish labor unions in rural Idaho. Her earliest memories include the time she spent in her father’s flooring shop in Montana. It was there that she was introduced to the building trades and developed a keen sense for the value of good workmanship. Including Union labor into Corti Construction’s business plan was a no-brainer.
“We’re a bootstrap startup, and from day one we decided we wanted to be a Union general contractor because we knew that’s how we get our best work done, and I’m glad we made that choice,” Michal Anderson.
Corti refers to a hearing receptor organ in the inner ear; the company adopted the name to assert the importance of intentional listening when building business partnerships. Established in 2017 with just 4 employees, her company has since grown to 70 employees. Their first job was installing a handrail at the Microsoft campus across the street from their headquarters in Redmond, WA. Since then, they’ve taken on well-known clients with household names: Verizon, Google, and Amazon, just to name a few. They are known for their interior renovations but also work on large-scale projects such as Seattle’s Colman Dock, where they installed ceiling panels.
In a short span of time, Corti has proven that investing in well-trained and valued Union tradespeople offers incredible potential for growth. Safety, respect, trust, ethics, and excellence are Corti’s primary values, which are well tuned with the WSRCC ethos. Michal believes that the up-front cost of employing a Union-signatory contractor pays off in the quality of the work her team provides, and furthermore, she understands that a well-paid staff translates to better supported and better built communities.
Watch the following video to learn more about Corti’s experience as a signatory Union contractor.