By Melissa Leslie
After almost 14 years working in the construction industry, Bill Lindsey knew there had to be a faster, more efficient way to move bulk materials than the man-hour-intensive rake, shovel, wheelbarrow and loader methods currently in place.
Great Escape Commercial Contracting Inc. was founded in 2005 by Lindsey to make moving and installing bulk materials easier. “It doesn’t matter which part of the industry you work in, everyone at some point has to move materials,” he says. “And that part of the job is slow. I don’t like slow.”
Lindsey began developing trucks and off-road units that could essentially do the work of 10 pieces of equipment and 30 men. After two years, his five-axle truck has gone through 15 designs, each building on the other by adding and improving features.
But the feature Lindsey wanted most from his patented equipment was the ability to complete time-intensive bulk material work in one day. The current truck design and two off-road units can install roughly five to seven yards per minute, at distances up to 120 ft from the equipment, Lindsey says.
“Our company motto is ‘More by 9:00 a.m. than you can do in a day,’ and for the most part, our equipment is making that true,” he says.
An example of the speed behind this company’s machines is a project completed at Tollgate Crossing in Aurora. “We were contracted to install compost on a nine-acre site, which we did in a little less than 28 man-hours with one guy,” says Lindsey. Great Escape currently has four people on staff.
GE Enterprises Inc. of Dacono has used the company for some of its projects. “[Great Escape] installed 220 yds of compost in four and a half hours, saving us nearly a week in labor,” says Brian Welch, project manager.
In addition to providing an all-in-one, high-speed bulk material placement machine, in most cases only one contractor is needed to supervise the process, eliminating the need for multiple workers. “When our guy gets to the site, he jumps out of the truck, flips a switch and the truck becomes a giant remote-controlled vehicle,” says Lindsey.
The operator can be up to a mile away from the project and still operate the machinery, which allows the equipment to get within inches of any project. “Instead of using a dump truck and men to move materials to a site, we can get our truck in there and get materials directly to where they need to be,” Lindsey says. “Most project managers would rather have their men working equipment rather than moving bulk materials; our equipment allows them to redirect their laborers to other parts of the project.”
Great Escape has also invested in making itself more of a green business. The company has been contracted for projects like installing green roofs because its equipment can go up to almost any height on a building. It uses only ASPM-rated or EPA-backed materials in every project. The company’s trucks and off-road units run on bio-diesel produced internally, Lindsey says.
GreatEscape can Great Escape can install materials ranging in diameter from minus five in., including aggregates, sand, soil mixes, compost injected with seed and filter socks of any length. It has also been recognized for its work in erosion control.
Even with ongoing projects nationwide, the company can take on two to three new projects a day. Great Escape is building new trucks every four weeks to keep up with demand and working on projects in Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota, Nevada and Wyoming.
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“We decided to move the company national because many of our clients work nationally and we wanted to be open to work for them anywhere,” says Lindsey. “The whole idea behind the company is to be able to appease everyone.”
For more information on Great Escape, visit www.greatescapecommercial
Source: McGraw Hill Construction Magazine Company Profile
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