Equipment World

January 2018

Equipment World Digital Magazine

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to the oil and gas industry dur- ing booming times. And when the oil patch goes bust, many of them return. This inspired the company to institute "Pidgeon Awards" for those coming back to KAT; the one with best story gets the "Leader of the Flock Award" at the company's annual Christmas Dinner. Working his way up And while millennials may be the toughest demographic to recruit and retain in the construction and trucking business, there's one mil- lennial in the company who seems to be earning his keep. The couple's son, Chris, age 26, started working for the company when he was a sophomore in high school. Since then, he's gotten a taste of all aspects of the business including the shop, dispatch, equip- ment operation, and job bidding and estimating. Last year, they put him in the field to start running jobs. Kerry admits he was a bit nervous when Chris started tak- ing responsibility for his own jobs, frequently pinging his son with phone calls and questions. But it didn't take long for Chris to convince his dad to give him free reign. "He's working hard out there. He has to prove himself more than the other guys, and he's doing an amazing job," Belinda adds. Kerry and Belinda are proud of Chris as the family tradition continues. The Trests also have three daughters who help with filing and other office chores when it gets busy. And everybody in the family and members of Team KAT get involved in big cookouts for char- ity and community events, some feeding up to 500 people. The company is also involved in a host of community organizations includ- ing Texas High School Rodeo, Chamber of Commerce, 4-H, FFA, Special Olympics, the Texas Oil- man's Bass Classic and The Ameri- can Cancer Society. Safety In addition to the safety meetings required by the DOT, KAT Excavat- ing uses the services of a contracted safety expert, road compliance liaison and additional nonrequired compliance services. The company also sends key people, usually someone from each department, to OSHA training annually. Addi- tionally, they invite their insurance company to come on site, inspect the operations and make recom- mendations. Award winning The company's performance and ethics have not gone unnoticed in its home state. In 2016, the compa- ny received the Torch Award in the For Profit Large Business category from the Better Business Bureau in Southeast Texas. The award is based on the company's commit- ment to ethical practices among employees, vendors, contractors and competitors; and involvement with local volunteer and charitable organizations. "Many people have said he's the best grading contractor in the Beaumont area," says Cody Odell of Mustang Rentals. "It's rare in this size of company to deal with the owner, but that's one of the reasons they're so respected around here." Colin Garrett of G&G Enterprises Construction has been impressed with how clean Kat Excavation and Construction keeps its jobsites. "That's something they take a lot of pride in, something that's normally a hassle with other contractors, but they do it voluntarily. They're a great company all around." "They try to work with you, point out ways they can save you money and get stuff done quicker," says Joe Penland Jr. at Quality Mat. "They are the kind of people who when the job starts, they attack it. Their people are so well-qualified that they can get more done than other people can do with double the crews." EquipmentWorld.com | January 2018 51 Chris Trest, Team KAT and friends manned bass boats to rescue strand- ed homeowners during the flood.

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