CAMP PENDLETON — Like many casualties of the housing collapse, Adam and Kimberley Roche had a horrible 2008 as their window installation business, which once had 50 workers, ran out of projects.
By November they had no money, no employees and no banks that would lend them a hand. "We had absolutely no work for six months," said Adam Roche. "That was a scary place to be."
But just days before the Valley Center couple had planned to walk away from their San Diego-area business, they got a call that has reversed their fortunes.
In a glimpse of the potential promise of the massive economic stimulus plan that President Obama plans to sign Monday, Roche is now installing windows for new Marine barracks here and recently rehired several workers.
"Timing was excellent," Adam Roche said. In recent months, the Roches' company, Armor Contract Glazing Inc., has been able to rehire two employees and add five more to the payroll. It's eyeing three additional projects at Camp Pendleton and several more at other military bases. "It's not like the housing boom, but it's giving us steady growth."
The Roches' employees are among more than 2,500 local construction workers who have invaded the sprawling base since last fall, kicking off what is expected to be one of Camp Pendleton's largest reconstruction efforts since the Vietnam War.
Situated south of Orange County, the base is home to 60,000 people, including 33,000 Marines and 3,000 Navy sailors. As one of the nation's largest, the base has 14 chapels, 11 fire stations and six child-care centers. It can take about 45 minutes to drive across the base, which is about half the size of Los Angeles.
The base is currently constructing five barracks and has plans for spending $2.7 billion to build 64 facilities, including 19 barracks next year alone. Nearly 1,000 new homes are also planned for Marine families. In all, the projects could entail at least 10,000 construction jobs over the next two to three years.
"There is a lot of construction going on, but there will be more," said Navy Cmdr. Marshall T. Sykes, who is overseeing housing and other facilities projects at the base, spanning more than 200 square miles. "We have to catch up before we can build for growth."
With the military construction boom, the San Diego area, which was one of the first in the region to fall into a recession, could be the first to emerge from it, said Marney Cox, chief economist for the San Diego Assn. of Governments.
