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James and Ingeborg Kelleher both came to the United States in 1965-he
from Ireland, she from Germany, both looking for the promise of
opportunity that this country has been so famous for offering most
anyone willing to work hard and invest in their communities. Upon first
arriving, Ingeborg knew very little English, and neither showed up with
a firm or clearly defined path. But through much perseverance, and a
little fate, they met when they were both living in Florida, and soon
moved to New England in pursuit of a fresh start. They ended up,
somewhat fittingly, in Plymouth, Massachusetts, where James stumbled
upon an opportunity to acquire a bulldozer. “It was a very casual kind
of beginning,” explained James' son Rory. “There wasn't really a clear
point where he set out to do this. He just got his hands on a bulldozer
and said 'let's make a go of it!'” But his gritty ingenuity and
single-minded persistence quickly caught on, and it was obvious that a
more established business could exist on the potential. “As more work
came his way, my dad ended up employing several nephews and got a few
contracts with some builders and that was enough of a catalyst to give
the company some legs-a couple accounts and some good honest workers.”
Emerald Excavating was officially founded by James and Ingeborg about 30
years ago now, and as equal partners in the company, they are proud to
be a Certified Women Business Enterprise. Like most children in a family
business, Rory and his brother Sheamus were always involved in the
company in some fashion while growing up, but after high school, they
left home to attend college. For Rory, that was a BS in civil
engineering from Worcester Poly Tech, then an MS in geotechnical
engineering and an MBA, both from Georgia Tech. Sheamus also pursued
civil engineering, earning a BS from WPI and an MS from Georgia Tech, as
well as obtaining his Professional Engineer license. They both ended up
in Atlanta after college, and early in the decade, returned home
together to become involved with Emerald Excavating full time. Their
respective talents and responsibilities are complementary. “If you had
to define a title for us, I imagine I would be the business manager,”
Rory said after a brief thought. “Sheamus is more of the operations
manager.” The capabilities of Emerald Excavating have evolved
dramatically since James first tried to shop around his bulldozer
services back in the early 1970s, but the primary bread-and-butter focus
of the business remains site-preparation work, although heavily leaning
towards the large-scale residential side. “Our company diverged in two
major phases,” Rory explained. “The company grew to a pretty decent size
doing just strictly residential work; mostly for a homeowner or small
builder. We were a very healthy company doing that.” As a result,
Emerald Excavating brought in a project manager in the mid 1990s to
start doing more commercial work. “That was really the first spark of
change down the path we are currently on,” continued Rory. “Then when
Sheamus and I came on board at the turn of the decade, we reorganized
again and sought to take on the larger-scale clientele as well.” They
accomplished their goal with a strong focus on technology and
automation, streamlining operations. “Through the use of technology…GPS,
equipment automation, etc., we really strived to make more with less.”
Emerald Excavating has now become a complete turn-key site preparing
company, able to offer a general contractor the full package of services
required to take a piece of real estate from undeveloped to
ready-to-build. “The majority of our business is still in residential
subdivisions, but with a large-scale focus,” Rory explained. “And we
offer our clients a complete suite of services, from the initial
clearing of the land, to the road work and site grading, utility work,
drainage, everything; even surveying.” While a few of those tasks are
subcontracted out by Emerald, they perform the vast majority themselves,
and have positioned themselves as a low-hassle choice for general
contractors looking to develop a large area of real estate. For
commercial contractors, that can include concrete work as well. “We can
also provide any vertical form work for our clients; foundations,
retaining walls, footings. We acquired a form company in the early 1980s
so we could expand our capabilities for our clients,” continued Rory.
Making the choice to work with Emerald Excavating easy, they have
positioned the company as a very competitive option for a general
contractor. “We want our clients to be able to hire us, then simply walk
away until the site is ready for steel or framing,” Rory added. “GC's
have enough to worry about in any large-scale project, so if we can take
away a chunk of pressure from them, that makes us more competitive.” As
Emerald has expanded their capabilities, and incorporated technology and
automation to make their operations more efficient, the next major area
of focus for improvement is in material processing. Clearing land,
especially on the scale to which Emerald does, generates an enormous
amount of green-waste material, not to mention the excess dirt and rock
that can be pushed up during grading work. The industry as a whole has
come to recognize that simply landfilling the majority of this material
is wasteful at best, and in New England, that is just not an option.
Recycling and reprocessing is certainly not a new concept, and it is
more or less an expectation that material generated during the site
preparation stage will be reemployed in some manner. But the trend in
the industry now is for the excavation companies themselves to manage,
and ultimately take advantage of, this recycling trend. The Kelleher's
recognized those benefits, and in early 2006, looked for equipment
options to help assist in that effort to internalize the material
processing tasks. “We looked at a number of machines in hopes of
improving our screening and material handling demand, and in the end
none could outperform the Keestrack tracked screen,” Rory admitted. “We
worked with Paul Mullan at Screenmasters, and the features and
capabilities he demonstrated on the Keestrack screen were extremely
well-fit to our particular needs.” The Keestrack screen is a trackable,
vibrating inclined-deck machine that functions by feeding material in a
hopper, where it is moved into a feeding mechanism before being sent
across the screen deck. This load control feature ensures that the
screen is never overloaded so the finished products are clean and
precise. The hopper design is heavy-steel, rather than a standard belt,
to increase durability and allow the machine to be employed in
applications that involve heavier, more potentially damaging materials.
The results seen by Emerald have more than surprised Rory. “It is pretty
much a given that continuous hopper maintenance is part of owning a
screen, but we have been working this [machine] hard since April, and we
have not yet done a thing since we got it. It's unbelievable,” he said
emphatically. Prior to the Keestrack, Emerald, like many site-work
companies, simply stumped the land and pushed the material into
stockpiles throughout the site where it could be hauled out. When
reviewing equipment options, mobility was an important factor. “If you
move all the material into a central stockpile, it quickly gets
compressed and ultimately difficult to dig into and can be quite
cumbersome, especially for a large-size pile,” explained Rory. “But
because the Keestrack is such a highly mobile machine, we have been able
to completely change our approach to the way we process raw materials.”
Now, rather than pushing material into one or a few large stockpiles,
Emerald often clears the land directly into long windrows. “By stripping
into windrows, we can follow right behind with the Keestrack screening
plant, and track right along the windrow and directly export any
finished product right out of the site,” Rory added. The Keestrack is
able to produce three products in a single circuit, delivering a bulk
tailing that Rory said is used as masonry stone: “Masons up here are
constantly knocking on our doors for this stuff!”, a mid-screen product
that can be variably sized depending on the screen installed, and the
fines discharge which produces a good, high-quality loam. Heavy green
waste, such as stumps and large limbs, are typically pre-separated and
sold as raw material to outside mulch producers or as landscape
materials. Another benefit Emerald has appreciated is the tremendous
automation built into the set-up and take down of the Keestrack screen.
In addition to the ease of mobility on site when operating, the easy
transport mobility has been an enormous time-saving feature for them.
“The Keestrack can go from screening to the back of a low-bed truck in
about 40 minutes,” explained Rory. “And back again just as quickly.
Nothing that performs like this machine can come close. You just push a
few buttons and the hydraulics all kick in and the whole thing just
folds right up.” Since expanding to provide the capability of performing
complete, turnkey site preparation services, Emerald Excavating has
taken on some long-term projects that can continue for anywhere from two
to six months on commercial jobs, to years on large 100-plus house
residential developments. “In the large residential subdivisions, if you
get a real big one you are in it for the long haul,” admitted Rory. But
despite their big-time abilities, continuing to provide the same,
personal and dependable service on a small scale has never been
abandoned. “We still have a dedicated crew to do the smaller, homeowner
jobs that only take a day or two to complete,” Rory continued. “That's
where this company started, and we have not become a different company,
only a more capable one. Remaining connected to the personal level and
integrity of every project is what we were built on, and that has not
changed.” As Emerald Excavating moves forward, they still see tremendous
opportunity to further capitalize on increase material processing and
handling. “The biggest area where we need to remain focused is still in
material processing. That is our biggest area for growth potential.”
With a crew of 50-60 people, and a loyal customer base that can bring
opportunities from an hour away or further, the maturity of Emerald
Excavating has allowed them to focus on building the most efficient and
effective processes for doing a project quickly and dependably. Adding
better material processing capabilities, greatly advanced by their
recent acquisition of the Keestrack screen, will only make this business
even more competitive for years to come. |
