Texas contractor ramps up quickly to meet the burgeoning demand for site development services north of Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex

Residential growth north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex has been explosive, according to Precision Concrete & Excavation LLC Vice President of Operations Todd Osborn.

“The pace is off the charts, and we’re continually ramping up as fast as possible to meet customer demand,” Osborn explained. “During the past few months, we've added employees, and our revenue stream quadrupled in just under a year. We just keep popping.”

Demand for Precision Concrete & Excavation continues to grow because the company provides customers with turnkey site construction services. Osborn said when a client managing a development gives the company a project, they can be assured it will be done on budget and on schedule.

“We take a piece of bare ground where maybe there were cows grazing at one point and leave with a finished product ready to build on,” Osborn said. “Our services include clearing, mass grading, utility installation, retaining and screen wall construction, putting pads to grade, and both concrete and asphalt paving. There is very little we can’t do. Our customers like that because they don’t have to coordinate multiple contractors.”

Experience to meet the challenge

While most of Precision Concrete & Excavation’s growth has come during the past year, it has steadily been building its resume since owner Jeremy Gosselin founded it about five years ago. Osborn, who had his own business and subcontracted utility installation for Precision Concrete & Excavation, joined the company around the time its demand increased. Bryan Poché came on board as the director of business development.

“Experience is one of our greatest strengths and a big reason why we have been able to build so quickly,” stated Poché. “Jeremy has about 20 years in the industry, and Todd and I brought several years to the table. We know how to plan, sequence and execute in order for projects to go smoothly from start to finish. That’s helped us develop some excellent relationships that have turned into mainly repeat work.”

Osborn estimated that Precision Concrete & Excavation typically has about 15 jobs in the works at any one time across a territory that covers around a 70-mile radius of its headquarters in Celina, Texas.

“Fortunately, most of our jobs right now are within about 25 miles, so we haven’t had to travel too far, which has been attractive to new hires,” said Poché. “That’s helped us build an excellent staff of people who we can depend on, which only increases our abilities and success.”

During the past couple of years, Precision Concrete & Excavation crews have completed, or are in the stages of completing, several large undertakings. One of the biggest and most complex is a subdivision project in Celina, Texas, where crews have moved about 500,000 yards of dirt and installed approximately 30,000 feet of utilities.

“We don’t shy away from challenges, and that one definitely meets the criteria,” stated Osborn. “There are places where we laid 36-inch gas pipelines 30 feet deep, and there were existing energy transfer lines that we had to contend with. There’s rock at about 25 feet deep, so we’re laying 3-foot sewer pipe 30 feet deep. There was some soil conditioning as well. From start to finish, it’s about a year-long job.”

Building a Komatsu fleet with KSM

Precision Concrete & Excavation turns to Kirby-Smith Machinery Inc. (KSM) for Komatsu equipment and support. KSM Territory Manager Matt Probey assists with acquisitions, and Product Support Sales Representative (PSSR) Jordan Washam helps coordinate service and parts needs.

“Based on our experience, we have a good idea of what we need in terms of machinery, but the Kirby-Smith team has also guided us in using equipment that may be more effective and efficient on certain projects,” said Osborn. “For instance, putting a versatile dozer like a (Komatsu) D71 on a job that can handle everything from stripping to final grade may be the better choice than using a large dozer for mass excavation and then bringing in a smaller one to finish. They have really helped us build up our fleet and increase productivity in a relatively short timeframe, as well as been a great resource when it comes to financing and putting packages together. We have significantly reduced the percentage of competitive machines we own thanks to them.”

Poché added, “Kirby-Smith separates itself from the competition through service. We rarely have issues with Komatsu equipment, but on the occasions we do, they respond right away. Kirby-Smith understands how valuable it is to keep downtime to a minimum because, bottom line, it affects all of us. In some cases, we haven’t seen that with other equipment dealers.”

Precision Concrete & Excavation currently utilizes about 30 pieces of Komatsu equipment from KSM. In addition to dozers, it has varying sizes of excavators, wheel loaders and trucks.

“My experience with Komatsu goes back a long way, even before I joined Precision, so I know they are quality machines that get the job done,” said Osborn. “We love the reliability of Komatsu. It performs day in and day out with excellent uptime. The durability is great too. Some of our work can be hard on equipment. We’re ripping rock, not baking cakes, and Komatsu has always been up to the task.”

Plus, KSM technicians perform routine maintenance for the first 2,000 hours or three years through Komatsu Care.

“Kirby tracks the machines and contacts us to set up the services when it’s convenient for us — again, to minimize downtime,” said Poché. “They track the hours with Komtrax, and they have worked with us to use Komtrax as well, so we can monitor hours, fuel usage, machine utilization and more. The level of service we get from Kirby is unmatched.”

More of the same

While it is Precision Concrete & Excavation’s preference to do full site packages, the company does occasionally break out its services and do stand-alone clearing, utility, paving and dirt jobs. It’s also not solely focused on residential construction.

“We have done some light commercial and a little bit of municipal, but residential is our bread and butter,” said Osborn. “There’s so much more of it right now, and most sites are open with no existing utilities or structures to deal with, so we can get in and get the job done quickly and move on to the next.”

Osborn and Poché don’t foresee any change in the current plan and continue to look forward to Precision Concrete & Excavation building on what it has accomplished.

“We see the growth pattern continuing for the near and long term,” said Poché. “In fact, it’s likely we will branch out farther and develop more relationships with developers. Another thing that won’t change is our commitment to doing the best for our customers. We believe there are a lot more projects where we can partner up because there just doesn’t seem to be any slowdown in this area.”