A giant sumo wrestler statue is visible as soon as you walk into the manufacturing facility of Forte Specialty Contractors in southwest Las Vegas.
The acrylic statue, which stands about 7 feet tall and is about 9 feet wide, will eventually grace the entryway of a restaurant inside the under-construction Resorts World complex on the Strip.
It’s one of the many projects Scott Acton’s upscale construction firm has tackled during the pandemic. While many industries across the valley have been dormant or operating at half capacity over the past year, Acton says his firm hasn’t slowed.
Business is booming, he proudly proclaims.
“I think there are lot of people out there with money who, during COVID-19, started thinking about how much time they have left,” Acton said. “I think there are a lot of boomers who have shifted their thinking. Maybe they got sick or maybe they were worried about getting sick. There’s a lot of people going for their dream build now.”
Forte’s luxury home-building operation is so busy these days, he said no new clients are being taken on for the next two years. The firm’s business has doubled since the onset of the pandemic, Forte said.
While Acton, 53, jokes that he’ll take on a project from “anyone with a check,” the firm’s clients include famous Las Vegas casino businessmen of the past 40 years.
His work is visible up and down the Strip, including the pirate ships attraction at TI, the project that initially brought him to town from Southern California in the 1990s.
Acton built a 13,500-square-foot villa for Wynn Resorts founder Steve Wynn in Summerlin, and last year won a Southern Nevada Home Builders Association award for design and architecture of a $13 million, four-bedroom, eight-bathroom custom home in the Las Vegas Valley.
Forte, founded 11 years ago, usually constructs about a dozen homes each year. The firm is working on 10 luxury homes now, most of which cost more than $10 million.
The company, however, isn’t just known for building homes.
Among its commercial build or remodel projects are Gordon Ramsay’s Hell’s Kitchen at Caesars Palace, French restaurant Bardot Brasserie at Aria, and numerous attraction projects at theme parks from California to Texas and beyond.
Growing up, daughter Samantha Acton said her father would constantly say, “if there’s a will, there’s a way,” she said. “I think that’s part of what makes him such a great visionary.”
Acton’s grandfather, Hubert Acton, started a company called Acton Animation after working on projects at Disneyland for nearly two decades.
After Hubert’s death in 1995, Ken Acton, Scott’s father, moved the company from California to Las Vegas to capitalize on a shift within the city’s gaming industry to more family-friendly and imaginative design concepts.
Scott Acton, after breaking into the family business, moved to Las Vegas in the early 1990s to work on construction of the pirate ship attractions at Treasure Island.
“I’m a ginger, so I figured I’d only last about a year in the desert in Las Vegas,” Acton said. “But it’s been 28 years and I’m still here. Vegas has been good to me.”
Forte has about 150 employees, including designer Sean Feely, whom Scott Acton initially met when Feely taught visual arts to his children at Bishop Gorman High School.
Feely operates one of the company’s most important tools, a 3-D printer which can easily create a miniature model of a home for customers to check over. The detailed models allow customers to easily confirm what their idea is for their dream home.
The machine cost $600,000 — but was well worth the investment, Action said. After all, changing designs can get expensive quickly when a $12 million project is at stake.
“I like that Forte is the type of company that will always do the right thing,” Feely said. “That’s because Scott will always do the right. Unfortunately, in the construction business, there are always opportunities to upcharge or choose to not be completely transparent with a client. We have success because clients know what type of company we are.”
But, Acton admits, it wasn’t always easy.
He’s open about setbacks he’s encountered — he dropped out of school in 10th grade, was hit hard financially during the recession of 2008, went through a divorce, and had to take inventory of his partying lifestyle.
“This town can be dangerous if you let it; it can bite you,” Acton said. “But I’m a big believer in the universe and in God. I believe it will all work out if you’re open to it. This is fun. I’m 53, but I feel like I’m 23. This business is 10 times the size I ever thought it would be.”