King Husein is an Indian-American engineer and the founder and CEO of Span Construction and Engineering, one of the country's largest metal building construction companies based in Madera, California. Husein was born in Mumbai, India into a Muslim family. His father died when he was 11, and his mother raised the four children on money she earned teaching embroidery on foot-powered Singer sewing machines. He completed his bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering from University of Mumbai. Originally, he was slated to attend Rice University, but based on the recommendation of a friend, he diverted to Provo, Utah and enrolled at Brigham Young University. He obtained a master's in structural engineering in 1971 from BYU. Husein started his career in Boston and was hired by Priggen Steel Buildings, affiliated with Varco Pruden Buildings, and then moved west to work for a builder in Fresno, California in 1977.
Span Construction and Engineering
Span was founded in 1980. Husein developed a suspension safety net system called SkyWeb. The company's culture includes the principle, “Keep our commitments – at all cost”. Span will also never do work on Sundays. In 2013, Span bought 21,902 tons of steel. As of January 1, 2018, 100% of the company's stock was sold to its employees through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan. As of 2020, Span has built over 187 million square feet of buildings. For more than 20 years, Span has been rated the largest metal building contracting company in the country.
In 1988, Husein met with Doug Mulvanny, MulvannyG2 Architects, which was responsible for Costco construction. Husein related the pivotal meeting, "He asked me a question that was a turning point. The building is 500,000 square feet and 52 feet high. He asked me how would I devise a bracing without any interior bracing that would restrict the movements inside. I said I would provide straps on top of the structure that would take all the forces outside to the walls. His eyes lit and he ended up putting us on the bidding list. That was a game changer." In October 1989 Mulvanny hired Span for its first Costco project in Redding, California. Husein related, "Once we did that project, Doug took the executive vice president of Costco and showed him how a standing seam roof system worked. On the way down from the roof, the executive vice president said, 'Mulvanny, let's switch all our building to steel.'" Span has built Costco stores throughout North America, including several stores in Canada and Mexico, as well as the United Kingdom, Taiwan and Australia.
