(Below) JonDel Construction using their
Hitachi ZX350 excavator to dig for piping
and their John Deere 644J loader to
transfer the dirt. |
For years Sonny and Jon Hale worked with their dad Delano and brother Jeff at Hale & Sons, a residential plumbing contractor. But Sonny’s love of operating big equipment and Jon’s desire for more excitement and a more hands on experience, led them both to strike out on their own. Sonny operates Sonny Hale’s Backhoe Services, both a rental and contract excavating business. Jon operates JonDel Construction, an underground wet utilities installation company that also completes masonry, brick paver and concrete work. Sonny has been operating his company for about 15 years and Jon has been in business since 1989.
Sonny works on jobs for both his dad and brother Jon, in addition to work for other customers. He does both demolition and excavating work on both commercial and residential projects. He owns a John Deere 410J Backhoe Loader, a bobcat, John Deere track Skid Steer and a 10-wheel dump truck.
According to John Deere’s website, the 410J Backhoe Loader’s “optional limited-slip Mechanical Front Wheel Drive delivers 80% of available power to the wheel with the best traction.”
Sonny has purchased most of his equipment from RDO Equipment Co. The Hale men have been doing business with RDO for many years. Sonny says that their sales representative, Don Stewart, has been there as long as he can remember.
Sonny is based in El Cajon, but works anywhere from the border at Yuma to Los Angeles. “I go wherever the work takes me,” he says. |
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Sonny Hale’s Backhoe Service, JonDel Construction and Hale & Sons are all working on a project in San Marcos that is still in the groundbreaking stage. The project is a new 350 unit multi-family complex for KB Homes. Jon’s contract is for $2 million and involves installation of more than five miles of pipe to bring the wet utilities—sewer and water—into the complex. Sonny is doing work with Jon’s company as an owner/operator, and Hale & Sons will install the plumbing for the individual units.
What makes this project complicated is that it is being built on rock and has to be shot blasted each day to break up the rock. Jon’s crew is responsible for digging 34-foot deep trenches for the utilities and using equipment to slope the trenches back, instead of shoring the trenches. Sloping the trenches back is typically only used on open sites, due to safety concerns. Because the material they are excavating is rock, it has to be hauled away, crushed and then brought back to be used as fill in the trenches. The entire project will take JonDel Construction four to five months to complete.
This project is a good example of how Jon and Delano network together to get projects. Whenever Jon gets the plans to bid a project, he asks if they have a plumbing contractor yet. If not, he recommends Hale & Sons.
When the project gets into full swing, Jon’s company will have two full crews of 10-12 people on the project. Equipment on the job will include: a John Deere 644J 4WD Loader, two excavators, including a Hitachi ZX350, and two backhoes. According to John Deere’s website, the 180-horsepower 644 4WD Loader, “combines the muscle of a production machine with the flexibility and maneuverability of a utility loader.”
Jon purchased both the John Deere loader and Hitachi excavator from RDO Equipment. “I love working with those guys,” Jon says. “When I need to rent big equipment from RDO Equipment Co., it’s always new equipment, which when it comes to the job makes me look good.”
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(Top) John Deere 644J loader hauling away dirt.
(Bottom) Sonny Hale digging a trench for pipe installation
with the new John Deere 410J TMC backhoe. |
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In addition to the project for Jon, Sonny has been working on a big project for Hamman Construction. Sonny is working on and off over a period of three to four months digging and backfilling for a new concrete batch plant down by the border, close to Tijuana. The excavation for the building took about two months, and he will spend another month or so excavating for all the concrete silos.
Sonny likes his work because he says no project is ever the same. “I like doing different things all the time and there are challenges all the time, too,” he explains.
For instance, one of his memorable jobs called for him to dig down 40 feet for sewer lines.
Although Sonny is a humble man, he says that he completes a good, clean job, quickly. Jon, however, was quick to expand on what sets Sonny apart from other owner/operators. “When I need someone really good, I call Sonny,” Jon says. “Whenever he’s on one of my jobs, he makes me look good. He could pick a quarter up off a sidewalk with his equipment,” he continues. “He’s definitely one of the best.”
Jon’s company is based in Santee and works throughout Southern California, up into Anaheim. He employs anywhere from 20 to 40 people, depending on how many projects he has going. “We definitely like to keep it rockin’,” he says. |
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The company typically is working on four projects at a time, although currently they have seven in the works. Their specialty is multi-family projects, but they also complete commercial and public works projects. The San Marcos project is a typical project for them, both in size and dollar volume. They recently completed a 350 multi-family unit for Camden at University Commons, across from the current San Marcos job, and have another one in the works for Emmerson Construction Hunters Point also in San Marcos.
Jon characterizes his company as a small contractor that tackles big jobs. He feels this enables them to give individual service, and his crews can do the complete job internally, without subcontracting a lot of the work out. His experience in residential plumbing allows him to better coordinate between the plumbing contractor and the wet utilities on his projects.
“We like to be able to re-engineer piping and subcontractor materials so that we can save the customer money,” he explains.
The company currently has four projects in the Irvine/Anaheim area, which is a deliberate effort on Jon’s part to “push into Orange County” as a means of growing the company. He says that his company did $10 million in work in 2006 and will exceed that amount this year.
For more information call Sonny at (619) 977-0884 or Jon at (619) 596-8916. Cc |
(Top) Hitachi ZX350 excavator
digging for pipe installation.
(Bottom) Sonny Hale, Delano Hale
and Jon Hale.
“When I need to
rent
big equipment from RDO Equipment Co., it’s always new equipment, which when it comes to the job makes me look good,”
Jon says. |
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