JUNE 2, 2026 #018 M.SIMPSON/T.BOALS/F.CATRON (PAVING THE WAY)

REPLY/COMMENT 

In this episode of Talkin’ Grit, we sit down with T. Boals and F. Catron to talk about the world of paving and asphalt and what it really takes to keep the job moving. From long hours and changing conditions to the precision and teamwork required on every project, they share firsthand insight into the challenges that come with the work and the pride that comes from seeing a finished road come to life. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

From the job site to the office, from lessons learned to stories worth telling, this is Talking Grit, brought to you by Wright Brothers. Here's your host, Jared Walger.

SPEAKER_01 0:13

Hey man, we're back on Talking Grit. Thank you for tuning in and uh welcome uh to this internal podcast for Wright Brothers. And listen, we've got a growing catalog of episodes. If you've missed some, go back and take a listen. I love this because this is something that is building the culture of Wright Brothers. It's helping you understand the company and the culture, what you're a part of, you know, and if you're working for us, being able to listen to conversations like this that's coming up is gonna help you understand in a broader scope of what you're a part of. And today we've got a great conversation. We've got Forrest Catron and Tony Bowles, and we're gonna be talking about asphalt and getting into, you know, something that, you know, if you're out there and don't really understand the ins and outs of the asphalt side of the company, man, it's gonna be a great conversation. I've been learning a lot just sitting here talking to these guys. And Mitch, let's just go ahead and get into this conversation and break this down.

SPEAKER_04 1:06

Yeah, Jared, thanks for opening us up again. So look, the paving side of the business here at Wright Brothers, it is one of the newer pieces of business that we've added on over the years. I think everybody knows that traditionally Wright Brothers was a grading contractor, big time earth mover. That's why we love all the yellow iron from Caterpillar. And then, you know, over time, the family, Steve, started adding on new business pieces to the overall organization. First one was concrete work, second one was asphalt, which we're sitting here talking about today. And then, you know, industrial is the newest business unit that we got going. So, from the asphalt perspective, you know, I think you guys have heard me say I've been at Wright Brothers since 2005, and we started paving right after we got the Vokker project. So what happened was there was a new rock quarry going in close to home office here. It's the Martin Marietta quarry in Calhoun, Tennessee, the big metropolis of Calhoun. And we had gotten wind that one of our competitors was wanting to put an asphalt plant in there. And, you know, we were not in the asphalt business at that point in time, but we knew that if our competitor got in there, they were gonna they were gonna prohibit us from being able to get the civil work, getting the getting the grading, getting the concrete. It was gonna be tough for us. So when we got in the business, it really was a defensive move more than anything.

SPEAKER_01 2:38

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 2:39

Okay. Yeah, it was totally defensive move.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

So it was a proactive move, saying all right. Proactive move now. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 2:44

And and for those of us that you know have a little bit of history here in the industry, the company that we were trying to keep out of that quarry was Highways Incorporated. And you know, highways, they were a big deal back in the day. They they had asphalt plants and operations from the Kentucky line all the way to the Georgia line, basically up and down Highway 111. They were based in Cookville, good contractor, extremely aggressive, extremely aggressive. And, you know, they're not in business now. They ended up selling out to Rogers Group several years ago. But anyways, we saw that and we're like, man, we can't have highways here in our back door. So we decided we're gonna go in the asphalt business. So we we put the plan up. Mark Touchstone led the effort on that. Like any new operation, we do it, right? Brothers, Touchstone somehow, somehow gets in the middle of it. And you know, he gripes and complains about it. And then we eventually get across the finish line. And Mark, to his credit, God bless him, he him and Steve found this asphalt plant. If I remember right, it's down in Mississippi, wasn't it, Tony? Yeah, it was down in Mississippi. They found it somewhere down in Mississippi, and Mark and the guys broke it down and they drug it up here to Calhoun and they started putting it back together, and there was gremlins everywhere, and had to rewire the thing and on and on and on. And we finally got the plant up and going. What was it, 2011, Tony? Is that right? We signed our lease in 2011 with the quarry over there. Yep. So then, you know, we got the plant going, and then after we got the plant going, we were about to start making some asphalt, and you know, we also had something else going on at that point in time. We had the Vokker project going on, and there was we we had a ready-made contract where we could take and place the asphalt immediately out of the gate. So that was cool. We had a contract, we were gonna be able to place asphalt, but then we knew we knew we had to start chasing the T Dot work too. And after Mark got that plant going, Steve pretty quickly, in typical Steve fashion, walked in one day and said, Hey, Tony, you're gonna run it. That's about how it went, wasn't it?

SPEAKER_03 5:01

Well, actually, he asked me what I thought about running the asphalt division, and I asked him, could I think about it for a minute? And he said, Yeah, sure, but that's what I want you to do. And I said, Well, I guess I'm done thinking about it. Yeah, yeah. So that's pretty much how that went down.

unknown 5:13

Wow.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

It was pretty funny.

SPEAKER_04 5:15

You know, we were we used to have monthly managers meetings, and we've reinstituted those now with the leadership team. But Steve walked in one morning when we were going to have a managers meeting. He walked in, he said, Hey, Mitchell, you don't have to worry about asphalt anymore. Hey, touchdown, don't worry about it. Hey, Tony, you're doing it. And that was it.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Done deal.

SPEAKER_03 5:38

I mean, isn't that how you remember it? That's about how it started. So in 2012, we started making and placing asphalt. There was a lot of learning. We're still doing a lot of learning. And as Mitchell pointed out, that most of our competitors are to asphalt like we are to the grading industry. So our competitors have been in the business for 50 plus years. Yeah. Good analogy. Good analogy. You know, those are the ones that that we're competing against. And they've got all the the industry knowledge and the oh, let's don't do that anymore, or this works and this doesn't work. A lot of things that we're having to learn by trial and error to to figure out what works and things that we don't need to do and things that we need to continue to do. In 2012, we got our first DOT project out of the Calhoun plant. It was up in McMinn County and Highway 411 in Etowah.

SPEAKER_04 6:35

That was the north side of Etawa, for those of y'all know local geography there. It was basically from Highway 30, the intersection of Highway 30 and 411 going north, right, Tom? That's right.

SPEAKER_03 6:47

That was our first DOT as far as a prime us being a prime contractor to pay it. That was our first contract.

SPEAKER_04 6:55

And we had no idea what we were bidding. We had no idea what we were doing. It's got to start somewhere. Oh, we just threw numbers at it. And we had somehow gotten a guy that used to be an estimator for APAC down in Georgia. His name was Jimmy Jones. And Jimmy was crazy smart. An engineer's engineer. Crazy smart. And you know, Jimmy came up with what the asphalt mix was supposed to cost. And he had this spreadsheet. You remember that, Tony? That spreadsheet. How big was it? I mean, it was crazy.

SPEAKER_03 7:32

Oh, it was more it had as many columns and rows than we had rocks in the asphalt. Oh, Lord.

SPEAKER_04 7:39

And I mean, Jimmy, Jimmy had this thing, he had this spreadsheet. It was like a thing of beauty to him. And I remember him trotting in before the bid, and he was like, our mixed price needs to be this. And I was like, Well, how do you know that? And he opens up the spreadsheet. And me and Tony were looking at like, whatever. Just tell us, just tell us the number.

SPEAKER_03 7:57

Just tell us the number. Just bid it and we'll go do it. Just get it and we'll go do it. Was he hiding behind the fridge? Well, that was that's a whole nother conversation. That was that's another story. Competitors map that he thought was proprietary.

SPEAKER_04 8:12

For the record, we did not realize how paranoid asphalt guys were until we got in the business. I mean, we knew we knew it when we got in the business, but then we had Jimmy, and the longer we'd been in it, the more paranoid we are because it's so competitive.

SPEAKER_01 8:26

Yeah, like a territorial.

SPEAKER_04 8:28

Jimmy had this map that he he thought it was just like proprietary secret infos, like the secret sauce, right? And he had taken this map of the state of Tennessee, and he had put in little circles all over it where everybody's plants were to try to figure out how close everybody's plant was to said job that was bidden and who had the hall advantage, who should get it because of that. And anytime a job came out, Jimmy had the map out. So he's running Intel and Paranoia bounds. Okay, paranoia bounds. And if and if somebody got a job outside their circle or their perceived spot where they were supposed to be at, I mean, Jimmy just fell apart. Really? I mean, just it was awful.

SPEAKER_01 9:12

And he was hiding this map behind a fridge. We used to have a little mini fridge downstairs. Seeker hiding spot. That was that was the hiding spot. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_03 9:20

He had as much production data on our competitors as he did us. So, I mean, he knew what everybody was doing. It was hilarious. What they were putting down, their haul distances. You know, that first year we did 42,000 tons out of that Calhoun plant, which is kind of hard to believe. But looking back at the records, that's that first year we pumped out some some tonnage, and most of that did go to Valker. And we also did the Valker SIA road, right?

SPEAKER_04 9:48

That's true. That was part of that part of that mix. So that Vokker SIA road was the second T dot job that we paved. And then we did all that work around Vokker. And you know, the other amazing thing starting out of the gate. Yeah, we got the plant up and going, which, you know, credit to Mark, credit to the shop. I mean, that was a huge lift for them to do that. Huge lift. You know, the plant that we have over at Calhoun is not an off-the-shelf plant, you know. Aztec is the brand plant that we have down in Chattanooga, but the plant over in Calhoun is what? A mutt. It's a mutt.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

It's got a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_04 10:25

A little bit of everything. It's got parts and pieces of everything. Aztec Standard Haven. It's got everything. So the fact that we were able to get that thing, move it from Mississippi, put it back up, rewire it, get it put together, and make it run as a very effective plant. That's amazing. That's just amazing. Because I mean, look, we weren't we weren't asphalt guys. You know, touchdown on the shop guys putting together an asphalt plant. What do you mean asphalt guys?

SPEAKER_03 10:54

Well, when they went and picked it up, it was all on the ground. It was disassembled, laying in the on the ground. So it wasn't as if they went down there and looked at an operating plant and knew what the picture was supposed to look like when they took it down and put it back up.

SPEAKER_01 11:11

So they just went down there, picked it up, and said, All right, let's put this puzzle together. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right. Jeez.

SPEAKER_04 11:17

So then, you know, you get the plant going and then you gotta buy all this equipment, all right? You know, we didn't have any of the asphalt equipment that we do today. I mean, a standard asphalt crew for standard asphalt crew, how many pieces of equipment we had out there? You know, we got we got a spreader, we got three rollers, we got a shuttle buggy. Seven or eight. Seven, eight feet. Yeah. Yeah. How much of that did we have? Zero. We had zero. So, you know, we had to go get all that stuff together. And the fact that we did 42,000 tons that first year, that's pretty great. That's big. It was big. It was big.

SPEAKER_01 11:56

Well, and I think it's cool just companies seize the opportunity. You know, just like, hey, we either go ahead and do this or we're gonna lose, you know, this opportunity and just saying, all right, let's uh let's do it. Sometimes in life, some you just gotta start. Sometimes you just gotta start. Learn as you go.

SPEAKER_04 12:12

So then, you know, 2012, we're still going, you know, we're going out of the Calhoun plant. We realized we needed to expand. We started talking expansion. Because, you know, if you just got Calhoun, you know, Metro Calhoun of what, 5,000 people that live in the big city, you know, that's not like there's a whole lot going on there. And randomly, we got a phone call from Highways Incorporated. You know, the very people we were trying to block from coming down to Calhoun, they called and they said, hey, we're gonna sell our plant in Chattanooga. Now, the plant in Chattanooga happens to be in the Martin Meredith quarry, which is the quarry that Wright Brothers originally developed and sold several years ago. And, you know, Wright's originally worked out the lease with Highways to be there. And Highways decided they were gonna get out of the Chattanooga Chattanooga market. We didn't know everything was going on there, but we knew they're getting out of the Chattanooga market, and we wanted to be in it. So they gave us the first shot at buying that plant, and we stepped up and we did it, right, Tony?

SPEAKER_03 13:09

That was that was a big step right then. But thanks to Steve and and the family for making that commitment and so we could continue to grow the the division.

SPEAKER_04 13:19

Yeah, huge step. But you know, the thing is when they when they were selling that plant, we didn't know the rest of the story. You know, they very quickly after that, what was it? It was less than two years after that, they ended up selling out to Rogers Group. It wasn't long after that. And they they had what'd they have? Seven, eight, nine, ten plants. I mean, they were a pretty big operation. It wasn't ten. What was it? Seven, seven plants, I think. Yeah, so you know, they ended up selling everything else out. And you know, Rogers Group runs it today. Upper Cumberland is where they're located at and across the state of Tennessee. We compete with them some. But highways got out. That was a big deal. And we were able to get in. So we we got that Chattanooga plant, you know. Like I said, that Chattanooga plant, guys, it's it's an Aztec plant, right?

SPEAKER_03 14:10

It's an Aztec double drum, and it's rated at 400 tons an hour. The one at Calhoun, I think it's rated at say 230 tons an hour. Its sweet spot's probably around 180 to 200 tons an hour. Yeah, yeah. But now that the double drum in Chattanooga is rated a 400 tons an hour plant. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:29

So after we got the one at Chattanooga, you know we had two plants and we've been off to the races ever since then. But you know, this is kind of a good segue. Can you can you guys quickly run through how an asphalt plant actually works? You know, you know, it's hot, it's black, you know, we put it on the road, we roll it down. I mean, how how do we make asphalt? How how does that plant down in Chattanooga work?

SPEAKER_02 14:48

It's kind of simple, but it's not. So, you know, you got a loader man loading all your material in your in your cold feed bins, and then that'll send out.

SPEAKER_04 14:57

So you so you say material. What material are you loading into the cold feed bins? Am I dumping dirt in there? Uh what am I dumping in there?

SPEAKER_02 15:03

You know, various rocks, sand, and then millings. Graded stone. Yep, graded stone. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 15:10

Depending on the mix, you know, so how many different bins do we have down there, Forrest? Six. Six bins, and you're dumping eighty-nines, fifty-sevens, fours, whatever you need in there, specific grades, and it goes in the coal feed bins. Yep. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 15:26

Yep. And from there, it it hits a conveyor belt and it goes up to the the dryer drum, so the double barrel. So it'll go through there, heat it up, dry it up, and then it'll hit the bottom, injects the AC, brings it back up.

SPEAKER_04 15:41

Hits the bottom of the the drum. Yeah. So let's stop real real quick. So before the stone hits the conveyor out of the coal feed bins, we go back to the control house, right? And each asphalt mix has its own specific proportions of what's supposed to go in it, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:01

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 16:03

So you generally have you have a surface layer, you have an intermediate layer, you have a base layer. Yes. Base layer has larger aggregate, intermediate layer has a little bit smaller aggregate, starting to get into fine material, and then the surface layer has a real fine material, right? Because you don't want big jagged rocks like an owl asphalt. So, you know, the these control houses are ridiculously sophisticated.

SPEAKER_02 16:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 16:33

You got you guys go in there, you get a you get a mix approved by the state, you put in the right proportions in the computer program, and after you do all that, you know, the rock that dumps out the coal feed bands, I've just always found it amazing is how intelligent the the plant is that is just putting out the exact proportions like what it's supposed to, right?

SPEAKER_02 16:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:58

It's pretty cool deep.

SPEAKER_02 16:59

It's pretty cool. I mean, like everybody over at the plant's got to be on their game. I mean, from the loader man pulling, you know, getting from the right piece of the pile so it's not super wet or anything, you know. So I mean, you know, making sure everything's running right, because I mean, as soon as you jam something up, it can just wreck the plant, put you down.

SPEAKER_04 17:20

So back to your story. So it goes through the conveyor, it hits it hits the drum, right? And in the drum, it dries it out. Yep. So what's the fuel source for the drum? What is it?

SPEAKER_02 17:32

Well, we have two.

SPEAKER_04 17:32

I mean, the Yeah, Chad Nuke's running off natural gas. So we've got a direct connection to natural gas down there. What what we got in Calhoun?

SPEAKER_03 17:40

Calhoun, we can run diesel or waste oil. Yeah. Really? Okay. So we're running, we're running those two. We're not running any, we couldn't get we couldn't get a gas supply line run out to the plant. So we're running diesel or waste oil.

SPEAKER_04 17:56

So obviously Chattanooga is running cheaper than Calhoun. Yes. It's more efficient. Yes. So so back to your point, you know, it depends on the rock you put in there. It's got to be, if it's super wet, our cost is crazy high. It's crazy high because it's got to dry off all of that. If it's pretty dry, great. We're not spending as much effort to dry everything out. So then it goes, the rock goes through the drum, it dries, and when it gets to the bottom of the drum, it injects the AC. Okay, now there's different types of AC, right, Forrest. Can you explain that?

SPEAKER_02 18:35

So, you know, your baseline 6422, and then you're getting your state jobs and you get pot polymer polymer modified. So then you get, you know, 70, 76, and it's all got to do with the stiffness and and just the properties of that and kind of what it's being used for. So a lot of the state work, you know, you're 70, 76, and most of your private work's just 64, very, you know, basic AC.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

So just in general, the state mixes cost more because they they're asking for a liquid asphalt that has a higher performance rating. Yes. Right?

SPEAKER_02 19:12

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 19:13

Because they want longer durability, more more cars on it, more trucks on it. It's got to be able to stand up.

SPEAKER_02 19:19

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 19:19

So that that AC is injected there at the bottom of the drum, right? Crazy hot. Yep. And then what happens?

SPEAKER_02 19:27

So then it brings it back up and then it goes uh, you know, up the drag chain into the silos.

SPEAKER_04 19:33

So it dumps out of the drum. Yep. Hits the drag chain.

SPEAKER_02 19:36

Yep, and up and into the silos, and that's where it kind of sits until it gets loaded out.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

So let's talk about the silos. How many silos do we have?

SPEAKER_02 19:44

We have three at Chattanooga and two at Cowhound.

SPEAKER_04 19:48

Okay, and those silos are insulated so that keeps the mix hot. But the purpose of the silos is really storage, right?

SPEAKER_02 19:58

Yeah, it's keep your trucks running. I mean, because if they're, you know, if you're waiting at any point asphalt, you're you're blowing money.

SPEAKER_04 20:06

Yeah, you just it's all it's all about efficiency, right? Yes.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Yep.

SPEAKER_04 20:09

It's all about efficiency. So, and you know, that's a good point. You know, the reason that Wright Brothers got in the trucking business is what year was it we couldn't get trucks, guys? You remember? 22.

SPEAKER_02 20:20

It was about three years ago. Yeah, about 2022, I think.

SPEAKER_04 20:24

2022. We had jobs on Interstate 75. We couldn't get trucks. We tried.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

We were calling people in Knoxville. I mean, everywhere.

SPEAKER_04 20:33

It was awful.

SPEAKER_02 20:34

Yeah, it was horrible.

SPEAKER_04 20:34

It was awful. We couldn't get them. So that's that's how we ended up in the trucking business. And shout out to the guys in the trucking in our trucks today. You guys do a great job keeping our business going without them trucks. You know, look, the pay the paving business wouldn't be the paving business without the trucking fleet. Oh, yeah. So everybody's running a dump truck, you know, shout out to y'all. Y'all do a great job keeping the business moving. So, you know, how much do the silos hold again? Do you tell me that?

SPEAKER_03 21:01

The ones in Chattanooga are 200 ton, they're rated 200 ton silos. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

So you can, I mean, you can make a pretty good round if you, you know, you start your day early, get your silos built up, and then that way, you know, you're not really waiting all that much time to get your next round. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 21:17

Yeah. So in general, you know, obviously productions are different depending on what you're putting down, but in general, what can people kind of expect you're putting down a day from an asphalt perspective? You got a big wide open road, and you're able just to go.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

There's been 2,000 ton days. I mean, that's that's a very, very good day. Interstate. Yeah, interstate, you know. I mean, we're if it's if it's wide open and go, I mean, it's you know, you're anywhere between eight to fifteen hundred tons. So and then on the private side, I mean, that's just uh it's like it's like paving a jigsaw puzzle. I mean, you know, some days uh 300 tons is phenomenal, and other days you might knock nine hundred tons out.

SPEAKER_04 21:58

Just depends. Yeah. So So, Forrest, you've been here how many years now? Eight, almost nine. Eight, almost nine years. You started out working here. You were primarily in the private side of the business.

SPEAKER_02 22:11

So I started actually on the DOT side and then Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 22:14

Um then I forgot that you I didn't crack.

SPEAKER_02 22:17

I was I think took two years on the DOT side, and then they we acquired ADI, if we call it that. And then you said one day you should actually I don't know we acquired them.

SPEAKER_04 22:28

It's just ADI couldn't pay the FOB bill.

SPEAKER_02 22:31

Well, I was gonna let you say that, not me.

SPEAKER_04 22:33

Yeah, I I think that's pretty much how that went down. They couldn't they couldn't pay the bill and we acquired their app.

SPEAKER_02 22:38

Well, and we acquired many things in that situation. Most of it was a lot of debt and a lot of headache. But so then one day we're driving to a TRBA thing, and Tony says, Hey, you should uh you should handle the ADI stuff or go over there and help run that. And I said, I think about it. Well, sort of the same way Steve did him, I guess. But but no, it was a good decision to go over there. I mean, it they had a lot of we got a lot of really good core group of guys. I mean, we had our core group of guys on the private side all come from ADI, and like we've had you know five or six guys stick around. So great guys, great guys, great guys, and and back to like the point, you know, we're this is we're learning as we go, you know, all the guys, I mean, they're they've they've agreed to kind of sit in and learn with us and move forward with us. I mean, it's like I said, I mean, we're we're they try their best every day and we're trying to get better. And but just a shout out to them because I mean they're doing a phenomenal job just learning from everything, and we just each year we seem to get you know just a little bit better and putting down more tonnage every year. So we're trying to.

SPEAKER_04 23:48

So, you know, one of the things we figured out when we got down there in Chattanooga in that Chattanooga market was we figured out that our main competitor, Tally Construction, has the FOB market. They they sell all of the asphalt to the guys that just purchase it from a plant and go lay it down themselves. The FOB market. We we we have none of it. Highways didn't facilitate any of it, and you know, there's a whole bunch of people that are fiercely loyal to Tally, and they just they continue to buy from them. So we had to develop that private market, right, Forrest? Because we had to get our piece of it. So over time, in general, between DOT work and private work, the work splits kind of been just from a tons basis, two-thirds DOT and a third private, right?

SPEAKER_02 24:42

Yeah, somewhere around through there. You know, some years are better than other with for the private. But I mean it they're you know, most of the time they're consistently somewhere paving, you know, most of the time.

SPEAKER_04 24:53

Every day. Yeah. Every day.

SPEAKER_02 24:55

We try to. We try to.

SPEAKER_04 24:56

Yeah, but you know, we figured out that we had to have both those pieces right there because, you know, usually what you see in most markets is whomever owns the plant in Tennessee, whoever owns the plant, they're primarily just doing DOT work and not doing the FOB work, are they? Not really. And you know, we've kind of taken the perspective of we're gonna try to do it all. And I think that's really helped us and helped the business grow. So well, with that forced what what all's your current workload that you got going on right now? What's the big stuff you got cooking?

SPEAKER_02 25:27

Well, we've got we've got to go put about 80,000 tons down on some T dot jobs. We've picked up we've picked up a lot of T Dot jobs here recently. We we've we've got something from every letting. So we're trying to get that done. I think we've got something till the end of the paving season for the DOT guys.

SPEAKER_04 25:47

And where all are those jobs located at?

SPEAKER_02 25:49

We've got I-75 McMahon. We just finished one on Parksal Road out here in Polk. We've got several in Hamilton County, Alton Park, Boulevard, Utawa Ringo Road, they're on that right now, Bonnie Oaks Drive and East Brainerd Road. Uh well that one just we just bid that one, so hopefully that one goes well. But that's that's their current workload, and they've got also doing various roads in McMahon, and then if everything goes well for there, is a state aid project that they're going to release in the fall. Okay. But and then on the private side, you know, we're just working out-of-town GCs, local GCs, you know, mom and pop, you know, grading guys. I mean, it just kind of depends on the job and if it's worth chasing. But, you know, that that in itself is its own beast because none of those people have a really good schedule. Yeah. So the the the biggest killer to really any of us is just if a schedule slips a day or two, you know, it kind of jacks you up trying, especially if you're trying to pave every day. But on the private side, it's it's kind of frustrating because you you you get to that point where you're gonna go start that job, and then you know, the Tom Dick and Harry LC grading contractor, he's five tenths off, a foot off, and you know, you spend the next two days. And I think last year the joke was we were a grading paving contractor because we got paid for so much TNM time on grading people's shoddy site work. So it was it was it was a great time.

SPEAKER_04 27:19

So hey man, don't complain about it. We take anything we can get.

SPEAKER_02 27:22

I'm not complaining about it. Like I said, I mean, once again, they stepped up and they went out there and graded that site. So it's good good job to them. So largest private job that we've had to date. I want to say recent in my time. I mean, we Conlon was a big one.

SPEAKER_04 27:40

Conlin, where at? Uh at Rise.

SPEAKER_02 27:43

Yeah, that the one on River Port Act or River Road.

SPEAKER_04 27:47

They're on Access Road.

SPEAKER_02 27:48

River Access Road.

SPEAKER_04 27:50

That was they're over there at the old DuPont plant. Yes, right, downtown Chattanooga.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

SKFG was a big one. That was that was a pretty slick paving job for his. I mean, it's wide open.

SPEAKER_04 28:00

Got another big one coming with Conlin at the Amazon distribution. Yes. Down in Lookout Valley. We're just now breaking ground on that. Pretty exciting. From a grading standpoint. If you get a chance and you're driving through Chattanooga, stop and check that one out. Turner and the guys are down there breaking ground on that one. And you know, that's kind of a cool little spot of the world for Wright Brothers. We've done the Walmart Tiftonia. We did Covenant Transport, we did the warehouse on Wahatchie Pike, and now we've got another one right there with uh the Amazon Distribution Center. And that's gonna that's gonna be a major paving job.

SPEAKER_02 28:31

Oh, that's a great job. Oh yeah. Excited to get that one going. Yeah. And the the on the private side, it's about just getting repeat, you know, projects and customers and stuff. I mean, we've done over the years, we've done 20,000 tons for Food City. So I mean, you know, if you can find a good customer and stay with them and they pay you, keep working for them.

SPEAKER_04 28:52

And that goes back to what we've said before that relationships matter, right? Oh, yeah. You got to keep the relationships going. Relationships matter.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

Yep. But DOT, I mean, I think it, you know, the design build, I mean, we put 165,000 tons down on that job.

SPEAKER_04 29:06

75, 24.

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Oh, yeah. I mean, a beast of a job, but I mean, it was a lot of a lot of asphalt. And then right down the road on Highway 60 for Summers Taylor, I mean, we we put down 85,000 tons for that. So, I mean, those are two two big jobs that we did that was and not to mention absent, that was 70,000 tons.

SPEAKER_04 29:24

Yeah, so the past few years we've been really, really blessed with paving work. And, you know, shout out to everybody that did the paving on 7524. I've gotten so many compliments about that job over the past little bit. You know, you guys paved every day of the week on that job, you paved every hour of the day on that job. You know, you guys are out there making it happen. They're to button it up at the end and make it look good. And you know, I think the cool story about all this, Jared, is if you look at it, we started in 2011, purely trying to be in a defensive position, trying to make sure somebody didn't move in here on us to get our little territory here. And now we got a full service mature business all these years later, and it's just a testament to one of our core values of hard work. Right. You know, hard work. I mean, we've just we've persevered, we've worked. You know, Touchstone had no clue about that plant and when he down they went down there and got it. Tony had no clue when Steve said, hey, take this and go do it. And just through perseverance and hard work, and it's just fighting through it and everybody working together. And I cannot name everybody on here that's in the paving group. I mean, everybody has just persevered. They've worked hard. And you know, look, we got a lot to be proud of right there, guys. So everybody that's been involved with that, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 30:54

Yeah, and you know, and even and throwing another core value into that whole history of it, that sense of urgency. Yeah. We got to do something now. And it took a lot of hard work to get that done.

SPEAKER_04 31:05

Yeah, after we were dumb enough to get the first contract and didn't have a clue of what we're doing, yeah, we had to make it happen.

SPEAKER_01 31:10

Right. But but look what has happened. You know, you've got a whole division that's you know profitable, that's killing it. And you know, and for me, and this has been fascinating because you know, hearing you know, the history of it, didn't know that, and just kind of the the breakdown of you know of how this division of the company works. One is fascinating. I think it is for a lot of listeners out there. You're working in one area of the company, it's great to hear you know how it works in another area. But I love you know, at times at night, running back and forth, you know, Chattanooga, kids up soccer or whatever's going on. But coming back at night, the lights are on, the paving crews are out there, and I'm just like, that's my company. You know, like those are Wright Brothers guys. You can see them, they're just out there killing it, you know, late at night, doing their thing.

SPEAKER_02 31:54

I think they spent nine months on night shift last year, last season. So wow. Yeah. That was, you know, they just they do such a good job, and you know, they're out there. I mean, it gets it's not it's definitely not safe. So, but uh, we I mean I appreciate what they do.

SPEAKER_01 32:10

Yeah, not safe and probably not easy managing sleep schedules and it throws their body off, and it's just like you know, trying to figure out okay, is it daytime, is it nighttime, what what am I doing? You know, yeah, that's that's tough.

SPEAKER_04 32:22

Yeah, but other than but they uh last year in particular, you know, you guys performed at a high level and just tell everybody real quick about the ride bonus on I-75.

SPEAKER_02 32:34

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_04 32:35

You know, that was that was is the tons that they put down last year and everything else was phenomenal, but a real source of pride is the ride bonus on 75. Explain that forest.

SPEAKER_02 32:48

Yeah, you know, some of these projects for T Dot there is a ride bonus, so they they go out and ride it with uh with their I IRI machine. I think correct me if I'm wrong that, but they go out and ride it and they figure out the the the roughness of the road and and if you you know if you get within a certain percentage, you you get a bonus per the amount of tonnage you put down. Really? So yeah, we had I mean it was a pretty significant bonus on that job. So I mean it was it was great.

SPEAKER_03 33:19

There's also a penalty too.

SPEAKER_02 33:20

If you yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. On the flip side of that, if you if you if the job doesn't ride right, then you gotta spot mill, pave, and you do not get paid for that.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

So it's like it's kind of like the final exam, you know, where it's coming in. It cuts both ways. Just this, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:36

And that you know, that that begins at the beginning of the job. You mean lane, you know, a lot of people think it's it's simple, it's two lanes, you're gonna mill it and you're gonna pave it and you're done. It it's really not because I mean you gotta you gotta think how you're gonna cut that road out, where you're gonna start. Is the miller doing a good job? I mean, it's it's a it's a lot of details. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 33:53

It's a lot of details. Yeah, it's a lot of details. So but T Dot specifically pointed out to us on that, that, that ride bonus. They were like, hey, yeah, y'all did y'all did good here. Y'all did good. So that's cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

And it looks fantastic. Oh, yeah. You know, yeah, it really does. It's changing the ride through Chattanooga. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 34:10

Well, Jared, with that, I think I think we can wind this one up.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

Yeah, let's wrap it up. And guys, thanks so much. And to all of you out there listening, thanks for tuning in and uh catch us next time on Talking Grit.

SPEAKER_00 34:23

That's gonna do it for this episode of Talking Grit. Thanks for listening, and thanks to everyone out there putting in the work day in and day out. If you liked what you heard, be sure to follow the show and share it with someone who knows the value of hard work. We'll catch you next time right here on Talking Grit.