A Salute to a Linder Customer
Charlotte-based IronHead Construction Company LLC adds Komatsu machines to complete sitework more efficiently
A Joe Kozlowski, Owner
Kirk Kozlowski, Construction Manager
After spending 15 years working for a heavy highway company and sitework firm, Joe Kozlowski saw an opportunity to fill a niche market and create his own firm. In 2017, IronHead Construction Company LLC was established as a storm drain installation subcontractor. Over the last six years, the company has grown to over 50 employees and provides turnkey site development services for the Charlotte, N.C., metro area. “We do sitework, underground utilities, move a lot of dirt, grading, place stone, asphalt and concrete,” noted Construction Manager Kirk Kozlowski. “Projects range from industrial tilt-wall buildings and multi-unit residential sites to DOT (Department of Transportation) work.” Projects range in size from 1 acre to 80 acres, with 8 to 10 active projects at any given time. When the company starts a project, it typically begins with extensive clearing, followed by erosion control and cut-to-fill work. The company will then install any wet utilities and complete grade work before turning the project over to the general contractor.
Maximizing efficiency
Currently, IronHead Construction is completing sitework for what will be a 200,000-square-foot tilt-wall building. The job required extensive clearing and balancing cut-to-fill work to create the building pad because the site was completely wooded.
To efficiently tackle projects, IronHead Construction relies on high-quality equipment, such as two Komatsu PC290 excavators and a Komatsu D51PXi-24 Intelligent Machine Control (IMC) dozer. “We’ve only had the D51PXi dozer for a short period of time, but have been very impressed with its capabilities,” reflected Kirk. “The dozer is primarily used for fine grading tasks, such as curbs, building pads and parking lots. Its precision gives us a high-quality finish within a one-half-inch tolerance.”
Kirk continued, “We got the PC290 because it’s a versatile machine. We can go through and put all our underground utilities in, and then we can put it on a job site doing a mass cut and loading off-road trucks. Komatsu has good speed and power.”
An operator tests out the capabilities of a Komatsu PC360LCi-11 IMC excavator that IronHead Construction recently purchased. “It has a 2.9-yard bucket, so it can load the off-road trucks faster,” commented Construction Manager Kirk Kozlowski. “Its GPS capabilities save time by reducing the need for a dozer to clean up the site.”
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