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odd Hanna’s story is not unlike others in the industry who worked for a contractor for a number of years, and then decided to strike out on their own. But Todd has had the good fortune to grow his company, TAD Excavation, into a grading and excavating contractor that will complete $1.6 million in work this year, after only five years in business. The company completes demolition, grading, excavation and underground projects.
Todd, with the help of business partner Danny Green, started TAD Excavation after working for a demolition and grading contractor for a number of years as an operator/foreman. Todd got into grading and excavating work because the family business he worked for was “deteriorating and I had to find something to do,” he says. “I’ve always had a passion for tractors, so this seemed like a natural fit.”
In the beginning, TAD Excavation consisted of Todd and one dump truck and a backhoe. He basically ran an hourly owner/operator backhoe business. These days things are going so well for TAD Excavation that Todd no longer operates equipment, but handles all other aspects of the business, including supervising all projects. He has 13 employees working for him in the field and owns five backhoes, one compact excavator and one large excavator.
“I had dreams of the business doing well,” Todd says, “but I never thought it would grow this fast. Business has been very steady since we started.”
Todd purchased his Case CX36B compact excavator from Neil Bradley at D3 in San Diego. Todd already owned some Case equipment and he liked the way it ran. He had looked at another manufacturer when it came to adding the compact excavator, but then tested the Case CX36B and it “exceeded the one I anticipated buying,” Todd explains. “It had better power and performance and it was just a better machine.
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| (Top and Middle) TAD Excavation using one of their Case backhoes to dig a trench for house footings in Solana Beach. |
| (Above) A view of TAD Excavation’s equipment yard. |
According to Case’s website, the CX36B is a zero tail swing compact excavator. “It is designed to be productive in the tightest spaces, featuring a small footprint and the ability to turn 360 degrees without any part of the upper structure extending beyond the tracks.”
Todd says that one of his business goals is to provide one-stop-shopping for his clients. “We try to wrap up a project for a client, providing everything from the demolition to underground work and grading for structures and streets,” he says. “We find that this approach makes it easier for the general contractors, too.”
TAD’s projects range in size from a back yard excavation project that takes four hours, to the underground work, grading and excavating of a 400-unit apartment building. The company, which is based in El Cajon, completes projects from Escondido to the north, down to the Mexican border, and from El Centro to the east, west to the ocean.
Some smaller projects the company has recently been working on are for two custom homes. The first involved digging the footings for a 3500 square foot custom home in Solona Beach. TAD Excavation completes all the footing work for the concrete and framing contractor they worked for on this project. The company had the Case CX36B compact excavator on this three-day project, along with a couple of laborers to complete the handwork.
The second custom home projec is in Rancho Pacifica and TAD Excavation’s scope of work is more involved. They completed the site grading, which took about four days, and are completing the drainage work—including installing storm drains—which will take about a month to complete. In addition to the Case CX36B compact excavator, the company has been using their Case 580SM backhoe on this project.
Todd says that the custom home projects require a little more skill due to the tighter spaces. TAD Excavation completes these projects on an hourly basis.
Another current project for the company is for a new 60-unit apartment building in downtown San Diego. TAD Excavation is completing the trenching—about 2,000 feet—and underground work for all the underground utilities. Presently, the company has the Case 580SM backhoe on the project along with two laborers. TAD Excavation has been on and off this job for six months, working around the other sub-contractors.
Earlier this year, TAD Excavation completed one of their larger projects—the pad grading and underground wet utilities work for a 48,000 square foot concrete tilt panel building. The contract for $200,000 took about eight months for the company to complete: grading took three weeks and the underground work was off and on for the remainder of the time. TAD’s four employees graded 8,000 yards for the pad, and trenched 1,000 feet for the utilities. Todd says the project was pretty straight forward, and “went smooth from start to finish.”
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| (Above, L-R) Johnny Favele, Operator; Corey Norman, Laborer; Albert Ailey, Foreman and Todd Hanna, Owner of TAD Excavation. |
One of TAD Excavation’s more memorable jobs, according to Todd, was trenching 500 feet on Coronado Beach for the electric for a new lifeguard station. The public works job required working around the public, dealing with traffic and working on the soft sandy beach. But Todd says that being able to be by the ocean everyday made the job enjoyable.
Todd says one of his biggest challenges is finding employees that represent his core values on each job site. “We’re a small company and we’re all pretty tight and family-oriented,” he says. “Sometimes its hard to find people that all mesh together.
“Most of the people I hire I hear about from someone I know,” he continues. “I bring them in and give them a shot to see if they’ll fit well with the company.”
Todd feels that TAD Excavation’s size allows the company to take care of and service clients like he’s still a one-man operation. “We are large enough to take care of all their needs,” he explains. “These are not just one-time jobs for us.”
This attention to clients is what Todd feels will dictate the growth of his company over the coming years. “We will continue to grow as we service our clients, maintaining quality all along,” he says.
Todd’s ultimate goal is to build the business so that he can pass it along to his 7-year-old son, Andrew—the “A” in TAD—if he wants is when he gets older. “Andrew goes out to jobs with me weekly,” Todd says. “He knows every bit of equipment we have, and he even runs the compact excavator on his own.”
For more information, call Todd at (619) 654-3089. Cc
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