For several years, Art Lancaster toyed with the idea of starting a civil earthwork division for his residential housing development company, Lancaster Construction LLC, so he wouldn’t have to sub out site preparation to excavation companies.

“There was a lack of contractors available, and the primary one we used retired about a year ago,” said Lancaster. “The timing was right. I made the decision to stop thinking about it and go all in.”

The move allowed Lancaster Construction to tackle practically every aspect of a project, starting from bare ground to final construction. After acquiring land and putting together construction plans, he turns the site work over to the civil division to perform stripping, bulk earthwork, finish grading, road building and utility installation for single homes and subdivisions.

“That holistic approach is really unique,” explained Lancaster. “There isn’t anyone else in this area that offers a complete package like that, whether it’s a custom home with a pool or an entire subdivision that includes walking paths, community centers and other amenities.

“Once the infrastructure is in place, it becomes a matter of going back to our roots, which is building the structures,” added Lancaster. “Adding the civil side has really worked out well for us. We see time savings, plus the ability to capitalize on profit as well. It helped that I was able to hire some experienced guys right away, including a project manager from the contractor that retired. He helped me build some crews and hire an estimator and another project manager.”

EMPHASIS ON SINGLE-FAMILY HOMES

Based in Baton Rouge, La., Lancaster Construction employs about 25 people and works with approximately 40 subcontractors at any given time. The company’s newly added civil division performs work strictly for the company. Currently, single-family homes are Lancaster Construction’s focus.

“That’s been our key driver since 2008,” said Lancaster. “Prior to that, I had also been doing some multifamily buildings, including a large complex in Nashville. The market changed, and I thought putting the emphasis back on single-family residences was the best way to go.”

When he founded Lancaster Construction in 2003, Lancaster built one home at a time. Eventually, the company transitioned into developing subdivisions when he saw there was a lack of inventory.

“Prior to starting Lancaster Construction, I was doing real estate brokerage,” Lancaster recalled. “I was selling land to developers, but I saw myself going in the direction of doing the actual construction. I built one house and grew from that by buying land and developing subdivisions. The site work was contracted out, and we still do some of that, but with our own civil division, we are moving in the direction of doing it all ourselves.”

REDUCING COSTS WITH KOMATSU IMC EQUIPMENT

When Lancaster found out his primary earthwork contractor was retiring, he tried to buy some of his equipment. “Unfortunately, he had sold most of it. He had been in business for decades and used a lot of Komatsu, so I figured that and the recommendation of some other contractors about Komatsu and H&E made it the right choice. I contacted H&E about renting because I wasn’t sure about jumping right in and buying machinery.”

Lancaster discussed his options with H&E Equipment Services Sales Representative Kevin LeBlanc. After their conversations, Lancaster Construction decided to purchase several machines because the company had a lot of work ahead, and buying would be more costeffective than renting. Its initial machine was a new Komatsu D39PXi-24 intelligent Machine Control (iMC) 2.0 dozer.

“The operators were fighting over it,” Lancaster emphasized. “Surveying, staking and consistent grade checking come with developing sites, and that can be a significant expense. Because the plans are loaded into the machine and it knows where it is in relation to target elevation at all times, those costs are greatly reduced. The value was obvious right away.”

Within a few months, Lancaster Construction added a D61PXi-24 iMC dozer and a PC210LCi-11 iMC excavator.

“Our schedules are compressed with the intelligent machines because there is no guesswork,” said Lancaster. “For instance, the excavator saves time during utility installation because once you hit the set grade, it won’t let you dig beyond that. There is no over-digging, so we are not handling more dirt than necessary or putting in extra bedding material — which is expensive. Accuracy with the iMC machines is spot-on, and they let even inexperienced operators work like pros quickly. That’s an advantage with the shortage of skilled operators.”

Lancaster Construction also added new standard D39PX and PC210LC machines, a used D61PX it utilizes for clearing, as well as Takeuchi skid steers and a HAMM roller.

“The equipment and service combination from Kevin and H&E are outstanding,” stated Lancaster. “They make sure we have the right machines and back them up with great support. We especially like Komatsu Care, which ensures the services are done on time by their technicians. It allows us to concentrate on moving dirt and minimizes downtime.”

LOOKING TO BRANCH OUT

Lancaster Construction’s current territory is southeast Louisiana and western Mississippi. Projects are underway in Baton Rouge, La., Lafayette, La., and Gulfport, Miss., but Lancaster aspires to branch out into other markets.

“Our game plan is to progress into Texas and maybe the Florida Panhandle at some point,” he said. “It looks like single-family housing is going to be a strong market for quite some time. I want to grow but do it in a controlled way, and I think now that we have the civil side dialed in, there are a lot of opportunities out there.”