Laura Jones is the owner and president of today’s SRC, and, in that capacity, oversees everything office related, including the accounting and financials; Robby Jones takes care of the company’s outside work and is its project estimator.
(CEG photo)
Family-run companies, especially those passed down from generation to generation, have always been the bedrock of American business. The older generations teach the younger set the importance of treating people fairly and honestly as well as the steps necessary to be a prosperous company.
An outstanding example of that kind of enterprise can be found in the Tidewater area of southeastern Virginia. There, Southampton Roads Construction (SRC) Corp. is noted for being one of the region's premier paving and concrete contractors.
The company traces its beginnings back more than 70 years when R.J. "Blacktop" Jones started an asphalt business after moving there from North Carolina. Also in tow was R.J.'s nephew, Bobby, who worked on the paving crew as a young man. Eventually, more jobs came their way, causing a steady growth in the company's fortunes.
That success continued through the 1970s and into the ‘80s when Bobby Jones opened his own paving company that lasted approximately 15-20 years before selling out.
During that time, he created a third generation in the family business by bringing in his teenage son, Robby. In 1990, Bobby Jones opened SRC, which the younger Jones has been running over the past 15 years in partnership with his wife, Laura.
In fact, Laura Jones is the owner and president of today's SRC, and, in that capacity, oversees everything office related, including the accounting and financials; Robby Jones takes care of the company's outside work and is its project estimator.
"I am 51 years old now, and I started working for my father when I was 16 years old by driving trucks, raking asphalt and running equipment," he said, noting the company owned only a couple trucks and paving machines.
"After graduating high school in 1990 when this company was just starting, we were doing the same kinds of jobs: small parking lots, driveways, etc. But not long after that, we grew by running crews and taking on larger projects as well as performing underground work such as piping and stormwater installations, curb and gutter, paving base — all complete site jobs."
To become more diversified, SRC remade itself into a turnkey type of company, Jones said, something that happened slowly over its first 10-12 years.
"We went from working on strip shopping centers to big malls, both building and paving them," he added. "But we are not trying to take on monster-sized, six- to eight-month jobs; rather, we want smaller projects or strip center work that have only a couple thousand feet of curb and gutter, maybe 200-300 feet of pipe work for water and sewer, along with right-of-way improvements."
SRC prefers bidding on projects where it can get in and get out in a day or so — no more than a week at the most.
"For instance, if we are doing repair work or a small parking lot installation, we do them fast, but expertly," Jones said.
SRC also has shied away from paving state and federal highways, despite having a Heavy Highway certification, instead concentrating its efforts on working in the cities and municipalities that make up the Hampton Roads region, a populous area south and west of the mouth of Chesapeake Bay where six of the nine largest cities in Virginia are found.
As a boost to its efforts, Laura Jones' executive position at SRC has allowed the paving company to be designated as a "Small, Women-owned, and Minority-owned," or SWaM, business. The certification is a Virginia program designed to enhance procurement opportunities for SWaM businesses taking part in state-funded projects.
"Being certified as a SWaM company helps us with municipality work and doing building maintenance projects for cities and towns, which would include fire and police stations, and libraries, among others," Robby Jones said.
Most of SRC's paving projects, though, are not for municipal governments, but for the gas and power companies after those entities cut into area streets to perform their work. When the utilities complete their tasks, it is up to SRC to repair the right of way with new milling and paving.
"We have carved out a great niche in that type of work because smaller firms can't do those projects and larger ones don't want to," he said.
Still, SRC occasionally handles bigger tasks.
"We did do a two-lane roadway job in Hampton in December that was 1.5 miles long, so milling and paving a project of that magnitude is not a big deal to us," Jones said. "I can remember putting down 100 tons a day 20 years ago, which seemed huge at the time. Now we are known to put 600-700 tons of asphalt down in a single day."
Versatility Instilled in SRC's Crews
Assisting Laura and Robby Jones in keeping SRC running smoothly is its office manager, Jimmy Eason, whom Robby Jones said oversees all operations "inside and out." In addition, Jones' brother-in-law, Derek Sherlock, runs the paving crew, usually made up of 12 to 15 people.
Being that SRC totals only approximately 25 employees, Jones said that the versatility and interchangeability of its crew members also are keys to its success. For instance, Sherlock's paving group can have some of its members reassigned to concrete and asphalt work if needed.
"We could be paving, repairing and doing patch work all at the same time," he said. "We also have a plumbing and utility division that runs seven guys with three vans doing underground utility work.
"It is a lot of work but over the years we have surrounded ourselves with good people and tried to keep them happy," Jones added. "They like what they do, they are paid well and they take care of the equipment like they own them."
LeeBoy, Richmond Machinery Both SRC Partners
All contractors understand that getting the work done effectively comes down to not only having the right people in the field but owning and using the best machinery for the project.
In that respect, SRC has hit on a winning combination by teaming up with LeeBoy and Virginia's Richmond Machinery to upgrade its paving equipment over the past 10 years, according to Jones.
To Jones, the reason for partnering with the manufacturer and the dealership was an easy decision.
"Primarily, it is because I get top-notch and reliable service through Richmond Machinery and Leeboy equipment has proven over time to be some of the best we have ever used," he said. "In fact, I have never had anything but LeeBoys. I went from a 1000T to an 8500 Elite 3 and later to an 8515C. In the last 30 years, we have had six LeeBoy pavers, including the 8515C and the newest model, the 8520C, both of which we own currently."
Jones is most effusive in his praise of SRC's special edition "Raised on Blacktop" LeeBoy 8520C model, designed to be a 125-hp workhorse.
"Everything I thought I could dream up for a new paver, LeeBoy put into this machine," he said. "For instance, the 8520C has more power, holds more volume, can store all your rakes, spray cans, depth gauges, paperwork, beacons — the list goes on. The sonic augers on it are great as well as the screed levels that are added to it. All that stuff is very accessible on this machine and is something we have never had before. Now, they are key tools for us that I cannot imagine doing without each day."
Jones said his company also had never used a 3,450-lb. heavy-duty screed like the one found on the new LeeBoy 8520C, although SRC has previously had an electric heated screed.
"Now the paver's end gates are heated, too, which is huge for us in making sure all joints and materials are heated all the way through," he added. "We no longer must fight cold end gates while waiting for asphalt. Additionally, the visibility from the paver operator's seat is better, and the overall maneuverability of the machine is improved."
With the LeeBoy 8520C, SRC's crew can pave a larger section of roadway up to 15-ft.-6 in.-wide.
"With most paving equipment, the wider it has to pave, the more difficult it is to hold grades," he said, "but this machine is very forgiving and powerful enough to pave up to its maximum width with no problem at all."
The relationship between Richmond Machinery and SRC began two decades ago when the contracting company bought its first rollers from the distributor, and whenever the machines needed service, the dealership took care of any problems at once.
"If I had to rent a machine, get a specialty piece or have a question answered, Mike Colley and his people have always bent over backwards to make us happy," Jones said, noting that the four rollers SRC has were made by Ingersoll-Rand and Volvo and bought through Richmond Machinery.
Typically, he runs his LeeBoy pavers for four or five years before upgrading to newer models, in which case SRC gets bigger machines to keep up with its ever-expanding workload.
Christian Values Guide SRC
Robby Jones credits his father for putting him in the position where he and Laura could keep SRC on an upward path to success.
"He got me set up, then released the reins and let me go. From there, we upgraded to this 11,000-sq.-ft. building centrally located close to Interstate 264. He taught me right from wrong and how to build relationships with people because he knew they have really made us who we are," Jones added, "We are all devout Christians here and know exactly where we have come from. But, if there is any credit to being happy, successful, and having a peaceful work environment here, it is all due to God."
For more information, visit www.srcpaving.com and www.richmondmachinery.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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