Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/578350
October 2015 | EquipmentWorld.com 76 contractor of the year | continued wrong with a job go ahead and fi x it. Even though I have a one-year warranty, if something goes wrong, four or fi ve years later, I'll go back and fi x it. By doing things like that, word spreads." Managing the big picture While Spurr had learned the techni- cal side of his vocation early on, success in the fi eld, brought chal- lenges in the offi ce. "I've had to learn a whole bunch," Spurr says. "A lot of times I think I'm an air traffi c controller, got to get all my planes up there fl ying and keep them from crashing." The addition of Missy Tuck in 2008 as offi ce manager helped quite a bit. With experience growing up in her family's business, Missy's skill set was the perfect complement to Spurr's. Tuck also manages Sara Denny who is responsible for the payables, receivables and releases and Ashley Spurr who does payroll processing, insurance and job fi les. "Missy is a blessing," Spurr says. "She will bring the reports home and work on them. She keeps me in line. These girls do a tremendous amount of work for three people. We could not operate without their expertise." In-house estimating Despite the company's size, Spurr still prefers to do all the estimating in house. I've been doing it long enough I know where to look for those little details that will get you if you're not careful. It's so easy to make that little mistake." When it comes to estimating, there's no substitute for experience, Spurr says. "You just have to learn how to plug the numbers in the right way. Material prices are all the same for everybody. The more years of experience you have the more accurate that number can be." The dynamic duo Spurr started letting his twin stepsons experience a taste of the business when they were just ten years old. In high school they wanted to work for someone else, he says, but soon came back into the fold. "Jimmy has the ambition to do what I do in here, run numbers, go through the plans. He wants to un- derstand the business aspect," Spurr says. "Gene wants to be the fi eld guy. "I tell the boys, when you get ready to make that move it's not an eight-hour day. If you think you're going to make it in eight hours you won't survive. I work 10 to 12 hours a day sometimes six or seven days a week, especially after this recession. But you'll get rewarded for what you put into it. They understand that perfectly. They're willing to step up to the plate and deal with that." Spurr is well aware than many contractors have turned a company over to the kids only to see it fail, and he is determined not to make that mistake. "I think a lot of that is the kids didn't get involved early enough to understand the business part," he says. Now in their early 30's, Gene and Jimmy are, according to Spurr, "willing to step up to the plate and deal with the hours and the chal- lenges. They're close to the top and they want to keep on going." Coaching the team Another "soft skill" that Spurr em- phasizes is keeping the crews and employees working as a team and enjoying the work. He see's himself as a coach and motivator. Even his concrete subs fi t into Spurr's family- oriented company culture. "Every one of them would have your back if you needed it," he says. "It's pretty cool. Everybody gets along. With everybody working together you can accomplish a lot," he says. Customers and vendors can tell. "For me personally, he's been very helpful for our business here," says Joel Cabreros at Hanson Aggre- gates. "His business has been a key part of our business and building a market here. We're very thankful he's on our side." Battling the recession When the recession hit in 2007-08 developers began dropping like fl ies in California, says Spurr, and nobody expected it to last like it did. But as the work dried up Spurr and Missy sat down and fi gured out a way to survive. Working with their dealer, Quinn Cat, and Cat Finance their game plan involved liquidating under- utilized equipment and using that equity to pay down their loans. "Our equipment payments went from $80,000 a month to $25,000 The company's head mechanic, Dylan Hickok, is responsible for maintaining 40 pieces of equipment and 30 trucks. "He works his ass off," says Spurr. Offi ce manager Missy Tuck came on board in 2008.