Contractor Stories
Doing spectacular work; building Monumental walls
Highly-trained employees with the tools to do the job do extraordinary work without someone standing over them.
By Tom HatlenBig block walls account for only about 10% of John Welch Enterprise's hardscape work. The company does a lot of pavers, outdoor kitchens, garden walls, things like that. But, big blocks are representative of their ability to provide solutions competitors can't.
John Welch wants all 4 of his hardscape crewmen to have the education to install things like big blocks, break walls on lakes, gabion baskets and permeable pavers – without him onsite. He doesn't work in the field anymore.
"All of our installers are ICPI and NCMA certified, not just the foremen. It's everyone. We send them to continuing education classes, PICP [Permeable Interlocking Concrete Paver] classes. They go to different lighting seminars all the time. We're always gaining as much education as we possibly can."
Detailed planning empowers crews
Detailed work orders and plans are also key factors that allow crews to build projects with minimal supervision. John has 3 (2 part-time) salespeople that sell jobs across all divisions of the company. The salespeople provide foremen with detailed plans and fill out several pages of forms further detailing the project, the grading, the materials, etc. John says he will hear about it from the field if ever a job folder is incomplete."We do an enormous amount of planning prior to the project. We believe 1 hour of planning saves 8 hours of labor. We believe that wholeheartedly. We give the foreman a detailed job folder, and they go out and build it."
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"It's efficient. We can compact all of the base in 1 lift with a vibratory roller. We can compact a 5,000 sf driveway in 1 day, instead of 3 days with a reversible plate compactor. It's powerful. It'll shake the windows of the home. We don't mess around when it comes to compaction. Poor compaction is the number 1 cause of failures."
Enforced standards become a way of life
Education and detailed planning can only take you so far. Uncompromising standards ensure that plans are followed, education is applied and projects are completed at the highest level of quality.Profile
John Welch Enterprise, Inc.
Victor, NYFounded 1997
John Welch, Owner, President
Customer base
73% residential27% commercial
Services
30% hardscape30% landscape & landscape maintenance
12% carpentry
11% mowing
11% plowing & salting
6% irrigation & lighting
Largest single project
$210,000 residential$105,000 commercial
Annual sales
2012 – $1.7 million2013 – $1.8 million estimated
Employees
1 owner3 salespeople (2 part time)
2 office
15 field people (some seasonal)
After years of enforcing standards, John says that's rarely an issue anymore. His standards have become his employees' standards, and they push each other to do things at the level John expects. Plus, with all their training, they want to be respected as the experts they are. They want to apply their skills and be proud of the work they've done.
"These are career guys. This is not their "summer job" or their job for the moment."
Well respected & compensated crews
Crewmen are paid like foremen elsewhere. They receive a paid vacation and a company match to help fund their retirement accounts. Because they're all experts, their input is respected by their foreman and by John. They use the latest, top-notch tools to do their work efficiently – so they don't go home feeling like a "laborer." And, because of all these things, people rarely quit and the team runs like a well-oiled machine.It might surprise you to learn that John generally breaks up his team into two 2-man crews. "We've done 2-man, 3-man, 4-man and 5-man crews. We've tried them all. We've studied how to be the most profitable and offer the highest quality and 2-men is what has worked for us."
Sometimes on larger projects like a driveway we'll bring 2 crews together. The company also has a "floater," a crewman who fills in wherever he's needed in the company.
Big block advantages for small walls
It may also surprise you that they don't necessarily bring the 2 crews together when they do a big block wall. It depends on the size of the project. John says one of the key advantages of the Techo-Bloc Monumental wall blocks they use is that they can build up to 12' without using geo-grid.
Carpentry/fencing and stonework are part John Welch Enterprise's service mix.
John says the big blocks are great for areas where maybe the driveway behind the wall is already in place, but the existing wall needs to be replaced. They might use the Monumental block even if the wall is only 3' or 4' tall because they won't have to tear up the whole driveway to make room for geo-grid.
"Big block becomes the only real option to keep it from becoming a major project. Also, the height we can achieve without the grid can save enormous amounts of money on installation. We may do 2 course or 3 course big block projects where many other people would jump right into small block."
Big blocks – "ridiculously easy to install"
The idea of installing blocks that weigh 571 lbs to 1,142 lbs sounds intimidating, but John says, "They're ridiculously easy to install." The crews use a large skid steer or large mini excavator outfitted with a simple "Lifting Anchor" attachment sold specifically for Techo-Bloc's Monumental wall blocks. It attaches to the machine by a chain. A crewman on the ground guides them in place.With a block face 15-3/4" high x 31.5" wide each block covers a lot of ground. "And nobody's lifting blocks all day."
"Every time we do one of these, the more we know about the product and its capabilities for building the next one. We're to the point where the engineers look at our drawings, research the material a little bit, and approve it without adjustments. They love to work with us because we're by the book and we don't cut any corners."
They sometimes rent a stone spreader to shoot stone or soil where they need it. John says they're great for jobs with limited access. They've had trucks shoot stone 80' or 90' horizontally and up to 140' downhill. Once they used it to shoot stone right over an attached garage because they couldn't get to a backyard. The stone spreader is another tool that minimizes tedious hand labor.
John says the operator comes with the truck rental. "You pay a little more for the material, but it's not that expensive for what you get. Not at all."
A good operator can spray material extremely evenly across an area. "The company we work with [Syracusa Sand & Gravel, Victor, NY] has spectacular operators. We've had them spread topsoil for us too. We didn't even have to rake when they were done. It's incredible. It's like spray painting the earth brown with dirt."
Photo courtesy of Brian L. Gollar Trucking, Louisville, KY
Staying ahead of the curve
John works to keep his company at the forefront, in education, in equipment, and in services offered. He recently launched a cleaning and sand stabilizing service."Pavers need to be maintained or they get growth on them and start looking terrible. We want to be the first in our area. With the amount of pavers being installed in this industry, it's an excellent opportunity to gain more customers, do more work for existing customers, and become more profitable."
Like everything else they do, this new service will be held to uncompromising standards. John says, "We strive for perfection. We build permanent projects. We guarantee our craftsmanship for life. People who want their project perfect and built to last will call us."
John likes Techo-Bloc Monumental walls partly because they can be built up to 12' tall without geo-grid, depending on specific project engineering. This means he doesn't have to tear up existing driveways or landscaping behind the wall.
