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P.O. Box 791290 San Antonio, Texas 78279-1290 Change Service Requested
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San Antonio
CONSTRUCTION NEWS The Industry’s Newspaper
ImagesFromTexas.com
www.constructionnews.net H (210) 308-5800 H Volume 24 H Number 1 H JANUARY 2021
A fiery legacy
Boring through Texas
A-1 Fire & Safety second and third generation L-R: Clint and Jerry Williams
The JT Underground Directional Drilling & Utility Construction Inc. team
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hile paying his way through college at Texas A&M, Jerry Williams walked up and down the street knocking on doors looking for work until he came upon a fire extinguisher place whose owner said he could work for him that summer. By the end of the summer, that company closed its doors. Jerry was in the fire extinguisher business and has been ever since. In January 1971, Williams went out on his own and started A-1 Fire & Safety. Starting out, he worked out of a barn. Williams’ father, Ray, joined Jerry after retiring from civil service work. The two later joined forces as partners providing fire safety services to the construction industry and many residents of San Antonio. A truly family-owned business, Jerry’s
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ou never know what a good day on the job will bring. For Cody and Cecily Bryom, a good day on the job opened the door for a new adventure. While running equipment from one neighborhood to another as a residential excavation contractor, Cody was flagged down and asked to do a project for J.W. Marriott. Little did the Byroms know at the time that project would lead to more commercial work. “We were already in residential excavation, but it pushed us to the commercial side. We just saw an opportunity and decided to take a leap of faith,” says Cecily. As a result, Cecily Bryom started River City Excavation in 2008. With Cody and Nathan Roberson’s help, Cecily has grown River City Excavation into a successful commercial excavation company. “Our very first customer at the J.W. Marriott, DSI – Dynamic Systems Inc., is still one of our customers,” adds
son, Clint Williams, began working at the family business at a very young age. He worked throughout his school years, helping during the summers and after school. “I’ve been here I guess since I could walk. This was one of my first weekend, summer, holiday jobs – working with dad filling fire extinguishers, scrapping out old fire extinguishers, punching out tags, toting fire extinguishers around apartment complexes or whatever needed to be done,” recalls Clint. During the company’s 50-year history, the company expanded with the purchase of Cylinder Maintenance over 20 years ago, Fire King and most recently, Uvalde Fire Equipment just last year. The company purchased their curcontinued on Page 18
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hen directional drilling first came out, Todd Busch was working in Illinois as general labor. Soon he was running the first bore crew in the Chicago area. A few years later, says Busch, he started his own company. “Directional drilling was a relatively new industry then and I was pretty good at. I rolled the dice and started my own business doing directional drilling.” That was 1998. In 1999, Busch moved his company, JT Underground Directional Drilling & Utility Construction Inc., to Texas, setting up shop in Schertz, TX. It is a family-owned and operated business whose team believes in hard work and shovel know- how. The JT team, while specialized in directional drilling in both dirt and rock, of-
fers excavation services to local utilities and contractors whether it be hand digging, mini excavation work or mechanical trenching in San Antonio and its surrounding counties. “Our coverage area is basically Bexar, Comal and Guadalupe Counties. Although we are not opposed to going anywhere, we have occasionally done work out towards the border, and we do a few jobs in Austin every year,” states Busch. Busch and his team are skilled in many areas of directional drilling from backyard installations to long haul fiber to steel gas main placement. “We can guide and steer our bore pads under utilities, around utilities and over utilities. Instead of open cutting in a road, highway continued on Page 18
Growing and evolving
The River City Excavation team L-R: Cecily and Cody Bryom and Nathan Roberson
Cecily. “Together we have grown and evolved together.” Having experience as a residential excavation contractor, Triple C Construction, the transition into the commercial market proved to be more challenging, yet more rewarding. “There is a lot more that goes into commercial excavation from dealing with customers and general contractors to just the paperwork, from insurances to getting the job done at the end of the day. It is a lot more intense. What you really worry about on the residential side is production and labor. On the commercial side, I feel like we worry more about paperwork more than we do the actual labor side. The labor side is the easy part and the fun part,” says Roberson. According to Cody, a big part of River City’s business is working with union, mechanical, plumbing and electrical contractors. “For instance, your major mecontinued on Page 18