The Komatsu D51EXI dozer backfills dirt over the pipe.
(CEG photo)
The value of having experienced and steady leadership at the helm of any new business goes a long way toward building a successful future. Usually, a new company takes several years to take root in the marketplace before it becomes profitable.
Many business owners set lofty goals for their first years in operation, only to fall short of their objectives. In the end, though, it may simply be that they needed a little more time and seasoning to reach their targets.
In the case of Tim Walker, founder and president of Covenant Constructors LLC, in Nashville, Tenn., he started his site development firm in February 2017 with the aim of reaching $20 million in volume within five years — only to achieve his goal two years early.
Tim Walker, president of Covenant Constructors
The reasons for Covenant's speedy rise to success are many, not the least of which is the 35 years of experience Walker had accumulated working in the construction industry. In addition, he brought to Covenant other savvy people with successful backgrounds in the construction trade, including his second-in-command, Michael Dickson, who serves as the company's project manager and estimator.
Middle Tennessee's dynamic construction marketplace is certainly another factor in Covenant's rise to prominence, Walker acknowledged.
"Number one, the opportunity for success in this business is tremendous because of all the construction going on around the Nashville area," he said. "That has provided us with the revenue generation that we needed to get to our goals, but we also have great people working in the office and in the field, without whom we really could not generate the volume that we have. So, I attribute a lot of that success to the people we have on our team."
Walker said he had always had the idea in the back of his mind to run his own outfit one day, never lacking confidence in his abilities to be successful at it.
"I knew that I could do on my own what I was doing there," he said. "Because I pretty much had control over that business, I was certain about how to keep a business of my own running. Then, it was a matter of finding investors that were willing to take a chance on me and give me the capital to start up. Once that was secured, I could start to find the right people to help me grow the new company."
From only five team members working at Covenant when it started, the civil construction firm grew to nearly 60 employees within two years, and now has 100 people in the field, with another 20 to 25 office personnel, he said.
Its clients and competitors alike have come to understand that Covenant's attention to detail and dedication to delivering the best work possible, along with its integrity and faith, have led it to become a leader in the Nashville construction industry.
Home Site Development Is Covenant's Bread-and-Butter
Due to Covenant's influx of projects, Walker has preferred to limit the company's work area to within a 50 to 60 mi. radius of Nashville.
"As we grow, however, we will probably have to widen that a little bit just to pick up more opportunities," he said.
Currently, though, with the Nashville homebuilding market running red hot, Covenant primarily takes on residential projects, Walker said, but commercial building, retail projects and roadwork also fall under its scope. Its range of services include design and estimation, utilities installation, excavation and light demolition.
"Our typical residential project is $3 million to $5 million, although we do have some that are up over $20 million," said Walker. "The largest one right now is [the Nexus Tennessee planned community] on 450 acres with 1,800 home lots, plus all the industrial, commercial and retail that comes with it, in Gallatin, Tenn.
"On the smaller end, we will do the sitework for five to 10 townhomes, some of which are 120 units," he added. "Usually, our subdivision work ranges anywhere from 15 to 350 homesites."
Within its residential projects, Covenant is responsible for performing all the clearing and grading, and very often the utility installations, Walker said, but none of the vertical construction itself.
"We are one of several different contractors and homebuilders on the Gallatin site," he said. "Besides homes, there will also be a couple of hotels built, some industrial warehouses, and retail stores. It is a nine-phase residential project, and we are currently working in Phase Six."
Covenant Concrete Fills Niche in Nashville
In April 2022, Walker started a new company called Covenant Concrete LLC to handle curb and gutter installations, sidewalks and structural work such as retaining walls, poured-in-place walls, podium structures for new buildings, and structural slabs for apartment complexes and most warehouse projects.
Walker explained that the concrete company was started because, just as with the formation of Covenant Constructors, he recognized an opportunity to bring in good people to fill a niche in the market.
"With so much construction in and around Nashville, there is a big need for concrete because there are not a lot of contractors doing it in the area," he said. "We learned of the need mainly from our connections — clients we had worked with who were always asking if we knew any good concrete contractors. After it happened several times, I just thought, ‘Alright, there is apparently a hole in the market that needs to be filled.'"
As it turned out, Walker said, another contracting company was forced to close its doors, and lay off its entire concrete division, "so we were presented with the perfect opportunity to hire those guys for our new company and not miss a beat."
Covenant Concrete's founding last spring enabled him to at once put the company to work on the Nexus development in Gallatin.
"The first work that they did for me there was to install the sidewalks, curbs and gutters," Walker said. "We have a curb machine we run up there to put in a lot of curbing on our own jobs, but we use it to build a lot of curbs for other clients as well."
Covenant Constructors and Covenant Concrete have each benefited from partnering with the Nashville branch of Power Equipment, a Southeast distributor of heavy construction machines.
In addition, Walker's extensive career in the building trade taught him to appreciate the craftsmanship and reliability of Komatsu machines, which, as it happens, is among the top OEMs sold and serviced by Knoxville-based Power Equipment.
"When I first met Joe Tant, a Power Equipment salesman in Nashville, he was just really happy to be involved with what I was starting and made a lot of accommodations to get my business."
That led to Covenant buying several Komatsu excavators, dozers and loaders from Power Equipment over the past six years. In addition, Walker has been bullish on the outstanding product support the full-service dealership has provided for his companies in that time.
As a longtime proponent of using technology to improve Covenant's efficiency and accuracy, he also believes Komatsu's high-tech equipment led him to make a commitment to stock a modern fleet of Komatsu pieces outfitted with the latest GPS and artificial intelligence.
"I like their GPS grade control best, and it is integrated into all our dozers," Walker said. "There is no set up to go through — it is already in the machine. After you install and calibrate the file, you are ready to go to work with it. Ideally, you just move the dirt one time, making it more efficient to run."
The Komatsu excavators run by Covenant also are powered by GPS-guided systems, he added.
"We run Komatsu's digital terrain models, or DTMs, too, so, when our guys are grading off the plans — whatever the grade is for those distinct plans — they can see where they are digging both horizontally and vertically, so they don't over dig or under dig. DTMs both save money and increase production, and the substantial cost savings are passed on to the client. We would rather do that and help our clients out as much as we can than add more money into Covenant's pocket."
All this allows Covenant Constructors to take on civil projects of all sizes. In addition, Walker keeps his team at the top of their game by continually improving their skills with ongoing training and machine upgrades from Power Equipment as new advancements become available.
"I really appreciate Power Equipment for giving me an opportunity to partner with them and supplying us with excellent equipment and service as well as going above and beyond to make Covenant a successful company," he said.
For more information, visit www.covenantconstructorsllc.com and www.PowerEquipCo.com. CEG
Eric Olson
A writer and contributing editor for CEG since 2008, Eric Olson has worked in the business for more than 40 years.
Olson grew up in the small town of Lenoir, NC in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he began covering sports for the local newspaper at age 18. He continued to do that for several other dailies in the area while in college at Appalachian State University. Following his graduation, he moved on to gain experience at two other publications before becoming a real estate and special features writer and editor at the Winston-Salem Journal for 10 years. Since 1999 he has worked as a corporate media liaison and freelance writer, in addition to his time at CEG.
He and his wife, Tara, have been married for 33 years and are the parents of two grown and successful daughters. His hobbies include collecting history books, watching his beloved Green Bay Packers and caring for his three dogs and one cat.
Read more from Eric Olson here.
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