EastCoast General Contractors Inc., a large general contractor based in Massachusetts, is a juggler. Just as a juggler is able to manipulate several objects and keep them in motion, so too can EastCoast Contractors keep several projects in motion at the same time.
EastCoast Contractors serves the northeastern United States with its general contracting company as well as its excavation division and currently, it is juggling 14 different job sites.
One current project is for the East Fairhaven Elementary School located at 2 New Boston Rd. in East Fairhaven, MA. EastCoast Contractors is handling the site work on this $20-million job, which began November 2005 with a projected completion date of July 2007.
The contractor will be installing up to 200 ft. of utilities per day for the more than 3,000 ft. of underground water and sewer lines. Approximately 12,000 yds. of materials will be excavated, with all of the material being used elsewhere on the site.
Because the site has a 3-ft. cut at the front of the property and 10 ft. needed to be filled in the rear of the property, an additional 3,000 ft. of material was hauled in from outside the site to complete that aspect of the job.
However, filling the site was not the greatest challenge of the project.
“One of the biggest challenges of this project was pumping the excess water out. Currently pumps are operating 24-hours a day to keep ahead of the water flowing into the job site. In spite of that, the project is ahead of schedule,” said Steve Kehoe, CEO of EastCoast General Contractors.
Although EastCoast General Contractors is a relatively young company with 40 employees, it has a strong reputation in tackling difficult job, such as the East Fairhaven Elementary School project, and getting them done on time and providing service before and after the project.
EastCoast Contractors attributes some of its recent successes to the equipment it has purchased from Tools-4-Hire located in South Boston, MA.
“We are particularly impressed with the Liebherr equipment that we purchased from Tools-4-Hire. These machines are showing a 40 percent fuel consumption savings over the other machines that we use on this job site. With each machine, we are seeing a 30 to 40 gallon savings in fuel during each eight-hour work period. At $3.00 per gallon, that works out to be a $100 to $120 per machine savings per day,” explained Joe Aguiar, president of EastCoast.
“We started purchasing packages of equipment from Tools-4-Hire last year and we have never looked back. We are particularly impressed with the hydraulic systems in the Liebherr loaders. Not only are we saving money in reduced fuel consumption, but also the hydraulic system virtually eliminates any brake wear,” said Kehoe.
“The excavators feature independent swing, which increases the fuel savings and additionally, the machines feature an automatic grease system, which eliminates the labor cost of daily greasing the excavators,” he said.
EastCoast Contractors also found its new New Holland dozer to be a true workhorse on the site.
“The New Holland dozer we purchased from Tools-4-Hire has worked out to be a very economical machine. It has all the pushing power of any other brand comparable dozer. The hydrostatic drive makes it very easy to operate and the machines are economically priced,” said Aguiar.
“Tools-4-Hire has been very helpful overall,” said Kehoe. “Steve McLaughlin, president of Tools-4-Hire, was very helpful particularly in putting together the financial packages for the sale of equipment. Whether it is an outright purchase, a lease, a rental or a rental/purchase, Steve has custom-designed programs that meet our needs.”
Currently, EastCoast Contractors has approximately 30 pieces of earthmoving equipment in its inventory. The equipment it purchased from Tools-4-Hire include: a Liebherr 544, 4-yd. dozer; a Liebherr 564, 5.5-yd. loader; a Liebherr 914, 52,000-lb. excavator; a Liebherr 934, 72,000-lb. excavator; two Dynapac CA121, 54-in. dirt compactors; and a New Holland DEC75 dozer, all of which were purchased in the past year.
Since much of EastCoast Contractors’ site development work is focused on projects, which require extensive underground utilities including sewer, water and electric, the company is moving quickly moving toward increasing its building and general contracting projects.
EastCoast Contractors is a minority-owned company whose principals are seniors to the industry and have extensive contacts and customer relationships, which have allowed it to show a strong upward growth.
A measurable percentage of its current projects are public buildings such as schools, firehouses and YMCAs in addition to site development for commercial and private housing projects. With its equipment and the ability to juggle many projects at the same time, EastCoast Contractors anticipates a volume of $15 million to $20 million this year. CEG
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