David H. Martin Excavating by North American Constructors Journal

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David H. Martin Excavating:

Leaders In Many Ways DHM has provided top-shelf excavation and utility services for commercial, residential, and agricultural clients for more than 50 years. Written by Kevin Doyle Produced by Stephen Marino

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stablished in 1968, David H. Martin Excavating sought from the outset to forge a reputation for excellence throughout the mid-Atlantic states of Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia. Mission accomplished. “People know we are good for what we say and that we will stand behind our work. Customers take notice of this integrity and they trust us. Our field staff works with the clients. Our field staff are the face of our company and I would count them among the best in the industry,” says President Kirk Martin, whose grandfather started the Chambersburg, PA company with two pieces of essential equipment – a dump truck and a backhoe. The company now employs approximately 220 individuals, provides excavation and utility services for commercial, residential, and agricultural clients, owns five slate quarries in Pennsylvania and generates $50 million AVR. While commercial projects account for 75 percent of the company’s work, DHM cut its teeth in the residential and agriculture sectors and offers those services as well. The company belongs to both the American Building Contractors (ABC) and American Subcontractors Association (ASA). In addition to its stellar work, DHM

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David H. Martin Excavating | 4 stands out as a faith-based company. “We are Christian-based and we are not your typical construction company. We do our best to be consistent in our work and to provide the best leadership for our clients through our staff. Our company leaders and subcontractors are held to the highest moral standards. We want to set the bar when it comes to this,” Martin stresses.

Safety Measures The company has taken numerous steps to drive safety throughout the organization from the top down. Its Safety Committee constantly reviews procedures to maximize effectiveness. “We have invested heavily in our Safety Department over the last five years. We have begun sending our safety staff to instructor training so they can train our own people. We have implemented new safety checkpoints and we have daily job visits with our safety teams to correct things we see in the field. Overall, our safety program has grown substantially in the previous five years,” Martin asserts. The company’s Safety Site Manager visits each major project site to ensure protocols are followed. All employees receive OSHA 10-hour or 30-hour training and certification and the company provides a wide range of additional training such as

David H. Martin Excavating | 5 Kirk Martin

Danley Shank

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David H. Martin Excavating | 6 fall protection, safe trenching and excavation practices, and respirator protection. All supervisors are certified in First Aid and CPR. Toolbox Talks are a mandatory element of the companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s safety initiatives. Supervisors are provided a weekly update by the Safety Committee pinpointing topics to be discussed.

Premier Projects A. Duie Pyle Trucking Terminal: If you have taken I-81 through the Greencastle area at all in the past few months, you have probably noticed the large construction site from the interstate and seen the progress that is being made. The site will soon be the Lance Norton

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home of a new trucking terminal for logistics provider A. Duie Pyle. DHM has been on site since the beginning and is continuing to move the massive amount of material that is required to complete the job. The paving is nearly complete and he project is starting to take shape! Holiday Inn Express: It seems like hotels popping up all over the area where DHM operates. Much of the time, DHM is the company doing the site work. The newly built Holiday Inn Express in Carlisle, PA. is just one example of the hotel projects that DHM is working on. In this case, DHM has been at work since the summer of 2019 grading and laying pipe. This city and the surrounding areas are growing

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Terry Armstrong

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David H. Martin Excavating | 8 rapidly and David H. Martin Excavating is happy to be a part of the progress.

Addressing Issues To a certain extent, the company has mitigated the problem of replacing an aging workforce that plagues the construction industry in general. “We have been blessed with a highquality staff,” Martin notes. “We try to train and promote from within as much as we can. With hard work, it is not unusual for an equipment operator to be promoted to a superintendent. Regarding new technology, the company relies on our field staff to offer insights into how things can

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be done better. If an employee sees something they like, the company nurtures that initiative. A company that cares is a great draw when it comes to recruiting and we have the professionals who are able to nurture the curiosity and initiative that new hires often have. With the advent of GPS, the company has become proficient in locating buried utilities rather than hiring another company to do the work, thereby saving money while speeding up project schedules. “Our guys do a great job in locating utilities. We invested in line locators and trained our guys how to find and locate unmarked utilities. Line location

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“People know we are good for what we say and that we will stand behind our work . . . Our field staff works with the clients . . . and I would put them up against the best in the industry.” - Kirk Martin, President

is not an overly complicated thing, but when you are dealing with lines from the 1950s it is an easy way to mitigate unnecessary risk. We are trying to be more exact in how we lay pipe – you have to be smart and you have to be safe,” Martin points out.

Day To Day Martin’s day typically starts at 5 a.m.

While his primary responsibilities include estimating, managing divisions, and working directly with department heads, no two days are alike. Martin grew up in the company and his exuberance and drive to succeed trickles down, enabling the company to consistently put its best foot forward when providing prospective clients with the most complete and cost-effective bids. “Civil plans are not what they were 15 years ago because time frames are shortened. We have to be specific when we are bidding,” Martin explains. “It starts with a good estimating team. We work out the schedule and execute. We have the ability to be aggressive with a schedule if need be. Ultimately, the foundation of a successful project is getting that estimate as clear and concise as possible.” The company’s longstanding relationships with vendors and subcontractors date back 50 years in some instances.

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“We are able to determine which subcontractors are the best at what they do, and we are super careful with new subs. We have a core group we have worked with for years. We are usually the last [trade] to leave the site on any job and we are responsible for what everyone sees in the end. We have the best subs and we work as a team,” Martin says.

Local Experience, Nationwide

and graders and instantly make a rookie, or even a pro, a better operator. Grade control makes us more efficient and more accurate, ultimately allowing us to remain competitive in pricing and save our clients money,” Martin says. The ability to mine and shape product from its own quarries also keeps DHM ahead of the game when it comes to cost reduction.

The company has embraced the technology that is moving the construction industry into the 21st century.

Martin says he learned a valuable lesson from his father and uncles, who bought the company in 1988.

“One of the biggest changes of the past few years is the GPS technology that we have put on our machines. We can load CAD data into our dozers

“They never thought a job was too big or too small. If a job is too massive, we hire more staff and buy more equipment like they did,” Martin observes

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David H. Martin Excavating | 13 Looking Forward With a clear set of standard operating procedures, the ability to adjust as needed, and an abundance of ongoing cyclical work along the U.S I-81 corridor that runs through the heart of Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Maryland, DHM seems well-positioned for the foreseeable future. â&#x20AC;&#x153;Working for the company was something I always wanted to do. This is what I love doing. If you do what you love, you will never work a day and that applies to me. I love working with the staff and helping them be the best they can be. I enjoy helping them play to their strengths, and watching them grow is one of the best things for me,â&#x20AC;? Martin concludes.