Building the docks of the bay

Deepa Bharath

The Swift brothers love the water. So they built their lives and

careers around it.

Pete and Tom Swift are partners in their 20-year-old family

business Swift Slip, a Costa Mesa company that builds docks, catering

mostly to Newport Beach’s boating community.

The company also has projects in cities from San Diego to Marina

Del Rey, and even in areas near the Colorado River, but their

bread-and-butter business comes from local residents, Tom Swift said.

“That’s what we specialize in,” he said. “When someone buys a

house in Newport with a boat slip, they come to us for designing and

engineering a brand new dock.”

The docks are mostly made of a wood base, although they have built

a few cement docks and others using synthetic material, Swift said.

The docks are prefabricated and constructed at the company’s yard

on Placentia Avenue and then taken to the home and installed. Swift

said he has a crew of eight people doing the construction work.

The company has also constructed marinas for clients such as the

Islandia Hyatt in San Diego and locally for the Chart House

restaurant and what was formerly Bistro 201.

The biggest project cost $168,000, but they have worked on jobs as

small as $4,000, he said.

The job’s main challenge is not the construction, but the process

of getting permits from several agencies. Normally, they deal with

agencies such as the city, California Department of Fish and Game,

the California Coastal Commission and the Army Corps of Engineers.

“A lot has changed over the last few years,” Swift said. “There’s

a bigger emphasis now on quality control and water quality.”

The best part of the job, he says, is being by the water.

“My brother and I grew up in Newport Beach,” Swift said. “We have

great clients. Many of them have done well for themselves, and it’s

interesting to hear their stories.”