Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/662812
and because of it, he has long-term employees." Bill Pursifull, with Wolverine Building Group, notes that Bradley's people are impressive. "His general man- ager, Jonathan Thorne, is great," he says. "He's got a lot of experience and is very cool-headed – just what you want in a high stress situation." The business is the definition of a family business, including Bradley's father, Larry; wife Julie, who is also from a family of contractors; sister Lindy Fury; daughter Kali and son Zach. Larry, a one-time construction company owner him- self, has been an invaluable resource for Bradley. "Dad taught me the importance of having a great reputation," he says. "He taught me to be a man of my word." Larry says he was able to pass along lessons he him- self learned the hard way, while in business for himself in Nebraska. "A banker once told me I had to get off the equipment if I wanted to be a success," he says. "He said to me, 'Do you want to run equipment, or do you want to run a company?'" Finding your own path Although Bradley ended up eventually purchasing some of his father's equipment after striking out on his own, he wanted to make his own way. Since his father was well-known in construction, he chose to use his first name, rather than attach the Grubaugh name to his brand-new firm. He started from scratch. Bradley had a Cat skid steer and a backhoe attachment, but no trailer or truck to haul it with. Julie made some flyers to distribute, and he ended up taping some of the flyers inside several port-a-pottys on a jobsite. "Within 20 minutes, my phone rings," Bradley says. "There's someone on the other end saying 'are you available tomorrow?' My first three jobs came from those port-a-potty flyers." From there, the company continued to grow until, when the recession hit in '08, Bradley had 36 employees in the field. In '09, that number dropped to 15. How- ever, the company survived, thanks to a combination of smart equipment strategies and a busy period just before the recession. The company buys primarily new equip- ment, renting fill-in pieces and picking up a few items at auction. Thorne, who has been with Bradley since 1999, says during the recession a core group of guys remained. "There were no pay cuts," he says. "In the years before the recession, we were so busy, it helped us to survive." A close-knit team Over the years, the Bradley Excavating team has weath- ered many of the same challenges other firms faced during the recession, but in recent years, has had a more difficult time than most. In just a short period of time, an April 2016 | EquipmentWorld.com 64 contractor of the year | continued Although Bradley Excavating handles a range of projects, Bradley Grubaugh says his sweet spot is commercial projects in the quarter- to half-million range. "Those go well; you can get in quickly and get out quickly."