About

Creating opportunities and building lasting relationships since 1976

Our History


Founded in 1976 by R.A. “Chupa” Nelson, RA Nelson is an employee-owned full-service General Contractor headquartered in Avon in Colorado’s Vail Valley with a regional office near Aspen in the Roaring Fork Valley. We offer preconstruction, construction management/general contractor services, excavation and property management services. As a local mountain contractor, we have experience in working in difficult to access areas, erecting complex structures, delivering the most refined architectural elements, and installing state-of-the-art building technology. With thirteen LEED® AP/GA on staff and eleven LEED® Certified projects, our team excels at providing creative sustainable solutions and alternative building practices and materials.
RA Nelson has a diverse portfolio of work, specializing in high-end custom homes, award-winning sustainable buildings, recreational complexes, multi-family residential projects, affordable housing neighborhoods, educational facilities, hotels, restaurants, commercial buildings, tenant finishes, and interior and exterior renovations. Born in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, we have been building mountain communities for almost 50 years, including Vail, Beaver Creek, Bachelor Gulch, Cordillera, Aspen, Snowmass, Buttermilk, Keystone, Breckenridge, and Telluride. Our core values are: TEAMWORK – together we respect, trust and listen; INTEGRITY – Do what we say we will do, every single time; ENJOYMENT – Be passionate and have fun with everything we do.

Employee Owners

Being employee-owned, you will find that we do whatever is necessary to follow through on our commitments. Our reputation is built on our ability to deliver as promised.

Community Commitment

RA Nelson supports over 150 organizations in the areas we serve and has donated over $1.5 million to local charities. We empower our employees to give back: our team logs over 1,000 volunteer hours annually, and employees are given at least 8 paid volunteer hours each year.

Recent Awards & Recognition

Professional Associations

We believe in collaborating with our peers to improve our industry. RA Nelson is a member of the following organizations: