Gaines and Company Turns 65!
Lee and Myrt Gaines offer a candid view of changes in the construction industry.
Gaines and Company will celebrate their 65th anniversary this June, not so much with fireworks and fanfare but rather with heartfelt gratitude for their family of employees, an eye toward the future and an appreciation for the history that got them where they are today.
65 years ago in a basement office in Towson…
W.L. Gaines, Sr. founded Gaines and Company in 1954, starting out with public underground utility jobs for Baltimore County. Known for his honesty and integrity, Gaines Sr. was well respected by customers, suppliers, inspectors and even competitors, traits contributing to the company’s steady growth that are still evident today. A strong economy in the 1970’s gave Gaines and Company free rein to increase services and crew sizes, becoming one of the most in-demand site development contractors in Maryland while expanding into Washington D.C., Delaware and North Carolina. Today, it remains a successful family owned business managed by W. Lee Gaines, Jr., President, ably assisted by principals, Myrt Gaines, David Gaines, George Grammer and Bill Gaines. Ahead, these W.L. Gaines Sr. descendants discuss management philosophies, adaptability to a constantly changing industry and a foray into a very bright future.
Family Strong
Every Gaines and Company employee is considered family and this is an immediate, tangible feeling upon entering the Reisterstown, Maryland office. The décor first invites you in, then the warm surroundings and genuine, friendly manner in which you are greeted. It takes only minutes to understand why this is one of the best companies to work for in the construction industry. A team environment is the foundation from which everything else stems and one that keeps most employees around for their entire professional life, right up to retirement. So, how does Gaines and Company cultivate this unique family connection?
“You try to listen to people’s problems and help them out when you can,” says Myrt Gaines. “It’s not complicated,” Lee Gaines chimes in. The Gaines’ created a program that supports employees with amenities like health insurance, 401k and profit sharing. “We’re taking care of them as if they were part of the family,” says Lee. However, it soon becomes clear that looking out for family is more than just program administration. “When we are managing a job with our superintendents, we feel like we’re doing the job as a team,” Myrt says. “I’m part of the problem if there is a problem, or I’m part of the success if there is a success,” he continues, “that creates the team atmosphere.”
W.L. Gaines Sr. founded Gaines and Company in 1954 becoming an invaluable member of the Maryland AUC Board of Directors.
W. Lee Gaines Jr.,
President Gaines and Company
Myrt Gaines,
Vice President Gaines and Company
Safety Pioneers
“There’s a big difference (in safety) from back in the ‘60s,” says Lee. “It was probably around 1980 when the change began to take shape.” About that time, Congress passed and incorporated many safety practices that Gaines and Company already had in place. “OSHA specifically defined and diagramed how to dig a trench.” Lee continues. “They (OSHA) spelled it out and it wasn’t far from the way we’d already been doing it.” These new laws specifically addressed trench digging safely, mandating soil testing and steel box size, depth and strength.
“We try to make it as much like a family as we can.”
– Myrt Gaines, VP, Gaines and Company
Gaines and Company is a long standing member of the AUC (Associated Utility Contractors of Maryland), an organization that invited Gaines & Company to join over 60 years ago. “We were involved with the AUC of Maryland safety training sessions,” says Lee who then adds “the sessions were well attended, even the inspectors would attend because they needed to learn the new standards as well.” Lee, himself was president and a board member of the AUC and also a long time board member of the National Utility Contractors Association (NUCA). Myrt Gaines also served as AUC president from 2000 to 2002 and W.L. Gaines, Sr. received its’ Founders Award for service in 1995.
Today, Gaines and Company has a superb safety program. “We have an excellent Safety Director in Dominic Pope,” Lee says. The company’s newly incarnated safety program includes new hire orientation, continuous certified OSHA safety training and a groundbreaking safety excellence program. In addition, there’s a new employee safety e-store, involvement in OSHA safety events such as Safe+Sound Week and notable industry awards. Gaines and Company recently took home the Hazard Recognition Award from the National Safety Council (NSC). “Dominic does a great job,” says Myrt.
Changes in the industry are enthusiastically seen as an opportunity for growth
Lee, Bill, Myrt and David are all optimists, definitely seeing the proverbial glass half full. They envision how Gaines and Company fits nicely into the bigger picture of industry change and growth. One of those changes was meeting customer turnkey site development needs. “Of course, underground utilities have always been our primary focus,” says Lee. “That’s where we started then we branched into more excavating and site work 15 years ago,” he says. “Initially we were just hiring subs ourselves and managing them, now it’s gradually come to the point where the developers want to deal with just one person for the whole project,” says Lee, listing clearing, excavating, utilities, curbs, paving, roads and storm water management as the current ‘complete package’ services most in demand.
Due to this evolving environment, Gaines and Company has taken the opportunity to expand their services in Maryland and beyond. “What’s happening is our geographical market is getting larger because we go to the eastern shore of Maryland and Delaware now,” Lee says. In addition to Delaware and their home base in Maryland, Gaines and Company is also picking up more site development and underground utility projects in Washington D.C. and North Carolina, with some new nibbles even coming out of South Carolina. “There’s a general contractor that wants us to do a job for them in South Carolina, so we’ll consider that,” says Lee.
But what is the most significant difference in the current state of the construction industry? “One of the things in Maryland is the national builders have come to really dominate the home building market. There aren’t too many local builders anymore,” says Lee. He counts consolidation as an effect. “Companies get bigger,” citing asphalt as an example. “Asphalt plants are a little bit like monopoly pieces,” he says, “there are only so many of them and people try to corner the markets.” Lee also notes changes take place a little bit every year. “How you lay a sewer pipe, what your customers want,” he says. “It doesn’t change overnight, but you can go back five or ten years and its’ a lot different now.” Lee explains specifications and materials change every year, “so you really have to be on top of it to be as efficient as you can.”
“The dedication of our employees for the last 65 years has led to incredible achievements.”
– Lee Gaines, President, Gaines and Company
Customers are what matter
If you take a quick look at Gaines and Company’s testimonials, you’ll learn everything you need to know about their devotion to an impressive list of national clients that include, for example, K. Hovnanian Homes, Lennar and DR Horton. “You’ve got to please your customer,” says Lee. When W.L. Gaines Sr. was President of Gaines and Company (1954 to 1991), it was a different time and customer service merely meant bidding on a job for Baltimore County public utilities and completing it on time. Today, developers are anxious to begin building as soon as possible. In order to meet the rigorous project requirements of commercial and home builders, “there’s more emphasis on customer service now,” says Lee.
Gaines and Company has received the ENR Top 600 Specialty Contractors Utility award for the last fifteen years in a row.
Future visions
So, what does the future hold for Gaines and Company? “It’s all a secret,” says Myrt with a smile, but he then decides to divulge a little more information. “We might expand into doing different types of work in our existing markets,” he says.
The North Carolina office, too, is beginning to really take off. “Right now there is more growth going on down there than there is in Maryland,” says Lee. Jobs are plentiful, and so are contractors. Land availability and a southern location also lend to the region’s desirability. “I think as a place for business to grow, North Carolina is definitely strengthening,” he says.
David Gaines takes a more philosophical economic approach to upcoming endeavors. “Right now what we try to do is let the market dictate to us what direction we’re going to take,” he says. “We make decisions as a team and if we have an idea, we’ll throw it out there and try to look at it from different angles and see what we think.” David says the future will depend on what the market allows and what opportunities arise. “It’s so hard to know what’s coming around the corner that we try to be proactive, but there are also times we have to be reactive, too,” he surmises.
And although there won’t be a big bash for the 65 year milestone this time around, they are planning something special for the company’s approaching diamond anniversary in ten years. Says Myrt cryptically, “we’re waiting for 75.”
Gaines and Company is a full service site development company with 65 years of experience, specializing in underground utilities, grading, excavating, erosion control and road work. Our clientele includes home builders and developers, general contractors, state, federal and municipal authorities and military installations. Gaines and Company offers services in Maryland, North Carolina, Washington D.C. and Delaware.
