How a Construction Management Degree Helped this Graduate Start a Wildly Successful Business

When you ask Aaron Gutierrez where he wants to be in five years, he has a very specific and confident answer.

“In five years, my construction business will be bringing in $30-$50 million in revenue,” he says.

While that seems like a lot, he’s well on his way to achieving that goal. After graduating from CNM’s Construction Management program, Aaron started his own construction business and in 2.5 years he’s already seen exponential growth. 

“Right now we’ve already brought in $1.6 million dollars for 2024, and it’s only going to grow from here,” he says. 

The company also has a full office staff, two construction crews, and $160,000 worth of vehicles and equipment. Concrete work is the company’s specialty. 

Aaron says hard work and consistency have been essential, but he also credits his CNM degree because it gave him both a foundation and a vision.

“CNM’s program helped me understand the industry as a whole, and that easily put me three to five years ahead when it came to running my business. It was amazing,” he says. 

In addition to a Construction Management degree, Aaron also completed a Project Management certificate and a Construction Estimating and Scheduling certificate, both of which helped him feel prepared to launch a business. As soon as he graduated he also passed the tests for his residential and commercial contractor licenses. 

While attending CNM classes, Aaron worked for a construction company where he put his project management and estimator skills to use while overseeing things like a $44 million apartment project in Albuquerque.  

“It was a busy two years while I was at CNM,” he says. 

More than anything, Aaron says he’s appreciative of how CNM and its instructors made sure to give him the kind of individualized attention and skills that he was looking for. He knew where he wanted to go, and CNM helped him get there.

“CNM structured the program to accommodate what I needed, and that was a huge boost for everything that’s come since,” he says.