Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/674536
quite sure it's because we change the oil so much," he says. "We can see a problem starting to happen. Buying oil is cheaper than buying new com- ponents, or dealing with the down- time required to repair a machine." The company's fleet includes 20- to 85-ton size excavators, 3- to 5.5-cu- bic- yard wheel loaders and D5 and D6 dozers, along with a variety of support equipment. In order to better attack the tough Vermont soil conditions, the company either fabricates its own buckets or adds additional hardfacing to get more wear on the buckets they pur- chase. "We make them better, and it's less costly than buying a specialized bucket," Greg says. For example, the company built a rock rake bucket last year for its 966F loader, and created a skeleton bucket for a Cat 349 on the Mount Snow job. "We have great guys in our shop," Justin says, an operation that includes two full time mechanics. "Our equipment is rarely broken down," Dawn says. The company makes use of Vision Link telematics on several of their machines, and tracks differences in how individual operators use the machines. This attention to detail is noticed by their clients and vendors. "They bring in the equipment to get the job done, and the challenges of working on a mountain are many," says Gregory Hiltz with Killington Mountain Resort. "In the winter, they'll leave an excavator on site, and send down an operator and a welder at a moment's notice. They're phenomenal." "Their equipment is top notch," adds vendor Jack Corse with Jack Corse Fuels. "They don't have any junk." The company often uses the rent- to-own option. "We also want to take advantage of the bonus depre- ciation and Section 179 tax laws," Dawn says. Last year, G. W. Tatro obtained a Vermont Clean Diesel Grant, which gave them $50,000 toward the pur- chase of a new on-road truck, with the provison they'd scrap their old truck. "We wouldn't have bought a new truck without it," Greg says. "I'd rather put my money into equipment rather than trucks." Zap-Lock specialists For more than 30 years, G. W. Tatro has had an exclusive territory with Zap-Lock Pipeline Systems, which offers an alternative to welded pipe joints. Using a Zap-Lock Connec- tion System, the company presses together specially formed Fusion- Bonded Epoxy coated pipe to cre- ate a permanent bond, giving the firm the ability to install pipe much faster than conventional methods, say the Tatros. "It's been a big part of our com- pany growth," Dawn says, noting that pipelines installed with this system have been in service in the petroleum industry for more than 40 years. They definitely have one believer in their client base: "Zap-Lock is a much quicker pipe installation meth- od," says Killington's Hiltz. "They can do 3,000 to 5,000 feet a day. They've installed most of our snowmaking pipe since the 1980s. We were do- ing some ourselves, but they have a much better installation method." Soft skills help Greg and Dawn recently hired a business culture consultant to help their team improve the soft skills of running a business, such as how to effectively resolve conflict, commu- nicate clear expectations and under- stand team dynamics. "We did not do this because we were failing, but as a way to make things better," Greg says. "Our people told us it even made a difference at home." "It's made us look at things from different perspectives and gives us some leads on how to address issues," says Jay Lafontaine, senior project manager on the civil side of G. W. Tatro. "All of this is good, as we're trying to get some new blood into the company." And, it helps illustrate the underly- ing philosophy at G. W. Tatro: "We believe that if you take care of your people first, the profits will come," Greg says. May 2016 | EquipmentWorld.com 24 contractor of the year | continued Jay Lafontaine, pictured here with Greg Tatro, is the senior project manager on the site/civil side of G. W. Tatro. The G. W. Tatro Construction logo, devel- oped 15 years ago, is everywhere on the company's jobsites. "We've had a lot of success with it," says Greg Tatro. "People know it." A wind tower was added to the logo in the past few years to represent the environmental work the company has performed.