Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/407095
M ost contractors understand you don't waste daylight. But by the time the sun breaks over the mountains of central West Virginia, Dwaine Doss has already put in hours of work. When your customers are the top dogs drilling for gas in the Marcellus Shale, starting time is typically 4:30 a.m. Quitting time? Don't ask. Long before anybody had ever heard of the Marcellus Shale, Doss started running equipment early, as a teenager. He worked in the coal mines, did pipeline work, eventu- ally starting his own company. "I've known Dwaine for 25 plus years," says Dave Huffman, Cleve- land Brothers Equipment. "When I first knew Dwaine, he had a backhoe and a small dozer, and now he's got close to 100 pieces of equipment. His employees have grown exponentially. But if you're going to grow a company as fast as Dwaine has, you have to have a certain amount of skill." Skill was one thing Doss had from the outset. But to get where he is today also took a lot of foresight, tremendously long hours, a great relationship with his dealer and the ability to recruit the best operators and foreman in the region. One day it became apparent to Doss that energy companies were quietly buying up leases and min- eral rights in central West Virginia. Something was afoot, something that later became known as the Marcellus Shale. Doss sensed correctly, that it would be huge. And he wanted in. The shale gas revolution, which began in Western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, offered him the chance to trans- form his company from a small earthmoving and sitework business to a major significant player in the energy field. "I wanted to be the best, and to do that I knew I had to grow," Doss says. So he sat down with his Cat- EquipmentWorld.com | November 2014 49 Doss Enterprises Year started: 1955 Number of employees: 95 Annual revenues: $11 to $13 million (2013) Markets served: Oil and gas pad development, large water impoundments, compressor pad development, soil stabilization and trucking Dwaine Doss Jane Lew, West Virginia contractor of the year | by Tom Jackson | TJackson@randallreilly.com When the Marcellus Shale provided the opportunity, Dwaine Doss was ready Dwaine Doss, left, confers with Neal Smith, his director of field operations. As his coordinator of men, materials and projects, "Neal plays a pretty big role around here," Doss says.