Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/674536
EquipmentWorld.com | May 2016 19 I n 2004, Greg and Dawn Tatro faced a tough decision following the death of Greg's father, Gerald, who started G. W. Tatro Con- struction in 1956. They could either buy out the remaining family members who were still in the business, or leave it altogether. Even though the buy-out meant taking on a significant amount of debt, the Tatros swallowed hard and took the plunge. "If we left, we would have left all of our people and their families," says Dawn. "We felt this was definitely the way to go." It's a decision that has paid off. After talking with their staff, the Tatros set a goal of reaching $10 million in annual revenues by 2010; the com- pany reached that goal three years early. G. W. Tatro Construction now has $13 million in annual revenues, and has two main divisions: site/civil work – including roads, water, sewer and storm water projects, and what it terms "mountain" work – serving the Northeast ski industry by installing trails and snowmaking infrastructure. Fortunately, the two markets tend to offset each other; when one side is up, the other may be down, and vice versa. "The diversity just helps everything," Dawn says. Right now, the revenues generated between the two divisions are about evenly divided, but there have been years where either one or the other side had the majority of revenues. "That's what makes us versatile," Greg says. "Most of our crews can work either side, al- lowing us to take on a variety of jobs." The mountain work gets the company's equip- ment into some precarious places. "We pride ourselves on doing anything someone else doesn't want to do," is how Greg explains it. It's a work ethic he learned from his father, who put Greg to work on a paving crew after he got in trouble at 14. "He taught me…without me knowing he was teaching me," he says. The Tatros like the big jobs. "Once you move your equipment onto a big job, everyday everyone knows what they're doing, as opposed to a lot of PUT PEOPLE FIRST AND THE PROFITS WILL COME, SAY OUR 2016 CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR WINNERS – Dawn and Greg Tatro The most important thing is our people, and that we're fair with them. " "