G&J Paving Inc. has a reputation for doing quality work and getting projects done in a timely manner. Those high standards of customer service also come into play when the company is in the market for construction equipment.
About a year ago, for instance, the company purchased equipment so that crews could perform their own curbing work rather than need to call in a subcontractor. It’s hard to know exactly when to schedule a curbing contractor so there’s no delay on the job, said Mike Jordan of G&J. “With the right equipment in house, we can get the job done faster because we can do the curbing as soon as the project calls for it. It’s all about delivering quality work in a timely manner for the customer.”
Jordan is an estimator and project manager for Chillicothe-based G&J, which is owned by his brother and sister-in-law, Chad and Tara Jordan. The company does paving and excavation, owns an asphalt plant, and mines and sells gravel. Clients include commercial developers, municipalities and ODOT.
“A typical project involves 500 to 600 tons of asphalt. We do the grading before applying the asphalt and the striping when we’re finished,” Jordan said. Roadwork includes both new roads and repaving projects. The company has been repaving streets in the City of Chillicothe for the past three years, and before that G&J repaved 30 roads in Ross County.
The company started when Chad Jordan began doing small jobs such as driveways. “Chad started in 1996 with two pieces of equipment—a tiny paver and roller,” Mike said. “The next year, he got a little bigger paver, and it has just taken off and grown from there.”
In the last several years, G&J has made significant investments in Komatsu equipment from Columbus Equipment Company. The reason the company chose Komatsu can be traced to G&J’s purchase of its asphalt plant. As part of the purchase, G&J acquired two older Komatsu wheel loaders that were used at the plant. “We bought a new JCB loader, and discovered both of the high-hour Komatsus were better than the new loader,” Jordan said. “That’s when we realized Komatsu made better products and bought a new WA320-7 Komatsu loader.”
Employees use the wheel loader to feed the gravel and asphalt plants and to load gravel trucks. “We’ve had the Komatsu loader for about three years, and it’s performing great. We keep up with the little bit of maintenance we have to do and we haven’t had any problems,” Jordan said. “The other loader we used wasn’t as powerful, or as fast. We’re really happy with the power and the speed of the WA320.”
The wheel loader experience led to further purchases of Komatsu equipment. “We had so much success with the three loaders we’ve had, we wanted to try the Komatsu dozers,” he said. G&J purchased a D61EX- 12 and later a D39PX-21. The larger dozer is used to make cuts in the gravel pit, and the smaller one is used by the excavation crew.
The story behind the company’s purchase of PC210LC-10 and PC300LC-7 excavators is the same—with G&J’s Komatsu equipment performing so well, it made sense to check out Komatsu excavators. The PC300 is used in the gravel pit and to load trucks hauling gravel to the plant. The excavation crew uses the PC210.
“We have not had any issues with any of our Komatsu equipment,” Jordan noted. “We also have a really good relationship with Columbus Equipment Company, and that makes things easy. Ron Bixler is our PSR, and if we need to buy a piece of equipment or rent something, even if it’s not readily available, he always seems to find it for us.”
Recently, for example, G&J called Bixler looking for tracks for an excavator. “I made some phone calls and was able to get them in a few hours,” Bixler said.
Parts and repair service from the Piketon branch are excellent, too, Jordan said. “The parts desk is great about getting parts for us, and they’ll even stop in to see what we need. Turnaround is quick when we order something.”
G&J has a staff mechanic, but the company will bring in a technician from Columbus Equipment Company to handle work their mechanic can’t take on. “Sometimes they even work on equipment we didn’t buy at Columbus Equipment,” Jordan said.
G&J also purchased a Kubota KX080 excavator from Columbus Equipment Company that’s used for tasks such as digging out trenches. “It’s small enough to get anywhere but big enough to handle a bigger bucket, so it’s used a lot,” Jordan said.
Family ties run deep at G&J. Tara’s sister, Tisha Bradford, runs the office, and Chad and Mike’s dad Larry, a retired school teacher and basketball coach, does the striping.
“I feel we are the best paving company in southern Ohio,” Mike said. “A big part of that is the fact that the owner, Chad, is on the job every day. He doesn’t ask the guys to do anything he won’t do. If something’s not right, he goes back and fixes it before he leaves the project. We like to get in, get it done, and move on to the next job.”
Quality equipment plays a role, too. “We have very good equipment. We keep it clean. When we get on a job site we don’t look like a paving company. There’s no asphalt hanging off our equipment, and that shows we take care of things,” he added.
Not every company gets to perform a side-by-side comparison of equipment. G&J did it unintentionally when it used a competing wheel loader alongside older Komatsu loaders. The company’s purchase history since then indicates the value and dependability G&J has found in Komatsu equipment for getting the job done.
Visit columbusequipment.com/news/videos for additional video coverage on G&J Paving Inc. Komatsu’s experience.