Advanced technology fuels RP Constructors' expansion across country

  

 

 

Completing a construction project requires many things, but the two main components are the job plans created by engineers and the workers who carry them out.

 

Even the most thorough plans can be derailed once ground is broken. When this happens, resolving it requires a massive amount of data and communication between the two parties, resulting in lost time, costly changes and project stakeholder frustration.

 

But what if both the engineers and the field professionals had the same training, communication style and — most importantly — boss?

 

RP Constructors LLC answered that question: successful and efficient project completion.

 

In 2009, Callaghan LLC started as an engineering firm in Sioux City, Iowa, that focused on designing plans for civil construction projects. In 2014, it expanded into the field when it purchased a portion of a local construction company and started RP Constructors. This move enabled the company to not only design the plans but also carry them out to completion.

 

“It was always our plan to do construction,” recalled Vice President Travis Thom. “We started with 15 employees, and now we have 83, including separate plumbing, industrial and welding crews.”

 

Having both engineering and field professionals is one thing, but what makes RP Constructors unique is how it integrated them.

 

“Typically, our engineers spend their first couple of years in the field and learn how a jobsite works,” described Thom. “It gives them a leg up, and they become better designers because of it. A 46,000-pound pipe section doesn’t look that heavy on a piece of paper. An actual 46,000-pound piece of pipe is completely different. That first-hand experience saves a lot of time in the initial design as well as adapting to changes that are needed when a job starts.”

 

“Most engineers don’t know how to build — ours do,” added Director of Logistics Phil Sorensen.

 

 

Remote expansion

 

Today, RP Constructors completes design-build projects across the country from its headquarters in the Siouxland area. The spark that enabled that expansion was the technology in Komatsu’s Smart Construction equipment.

 

“Until 2020, the farthest we’d traveled was Ida Grove, Iowa, which is 100 miles,” reported Thom. “Then, we took a job in Georgia.”

 

The job was a quantum leap for RP Constructors, but Thom said the company was confident because of its fleet of Komatsu intelligent machine control (IMC) equipment and Smart Construction software.

 

“We were truly 100% remote for the whole project,” noted Thom. “We didn’t even have finalized blueprints when we left, but we were confident that we had the technology, crew and equipment to do it. We finished the plans, uploaded them to the machines and got to work.”

 

A large part of that confidence was the training RP Constructors received from Road Machinery & Supplies Co. Technology Solutions Expert Tyler Sherrill and support from Territory Manager Mike Albright.

 

“Tyler was very beneficial,” shared Thom. “He worked with our crews, and he was able to remote in when there was an issue. For example, we had to redraw a plan because there was a water line at the jobsite that wasn’t accounted for in the plans. Instead of driving the 1,000 miles to the jobsite — which is what you would do if it was local — we did it all remotely in a couple of hours.”

 

Since then, RP Constructors has repeated the process in Texas, Alabama, West Virginia and Arizona.

 

 

The cutting edge

 

The technological capabilities Komatsu offers won over the office side of RP Constructors, and the machines have delivered in the field — especially the IMC pieces. Komatsu has a major presence in the RP Constructors fleet with two Komatsu D61PXi IMC dozers as well as PC490LCi and PC360LCi IMC excavators.

 

“The technology side has always kept us with Komatsu; they’ve always been on the cutting edge,” reflected Thom. “Our operators really like the hydraulics and the IMC capabilities.”

 

“We have a couple of operators with 50-plus years of operation, and they’ve seen a lot of changes in their lifetime,” stated Sorensen. “One of them was very much against the IMC at first, but after the first time he used it, we couldn’t get him out of it! Once he realized how it worked and finally ran it, he loved it. He’s 72 and is our biggest proponent of the machine.”

 

 

Searching for difficult

 

The successful Georgia project cemented the mindset for RP Constructors that it would continue to travel for complex projects, no matter where they were.

 

“It was clear that we were set up to compete for those big jobs. The more complex it is, the better it is for us,” said Thom.

 

That outlook is on full display on a current project in the Dallas, Texas, area. RP Constructors is working on a phase of a water treatment plant installing pipe ranging from 54 to 96 inches in diameter.

 

“It’s a three-year project that really encompasses what we can do,” explained Thom. “We were involved in the design and construction, and it requires some very complex work. For example, we’re laying 50-foot sticks that weigh upward of 46,000 pounds.”

 

Completing projects like these have earned the firm a strong reputation.

 

 

Strong partnership

 

Having a trusted partner is key to successfully completing projects across the country. With RMS and Komatsu, Thom emphasized that RP Constructors has the confidence it needs to work competitively.

 

“The equipment and technology are why we chose Komatsu, but a big part of why we’ve stayed with it is RMS and the team we have with Mike, Tyler and [PSSR] Chad Brown,” commented Thom. “A lot of times, guys in the field will bypass the office and call Tyler on their own. They’ve built that close of a relationship.”

 

Location is also a major factor. RP Constructors’ facilities are just a few minutes from RMS’ new Sioux City branch location, a site RP Constructors designed and built.

 

“When RMS was looking for a new location, they reached out to us. We drew up a site plan and all the site utilities and paved it — we even did the inside plumbing,” said Thom.

 

“When buying any product, the first question I always ask is, ‘What’s your after-product look like? Who am I calling, who can I count on, and what can I expect after the purchase?’ RMS has continued to demonstrate that they will answer the call for us,” concluded Sorensen. 

 

 

*The opinions expressed here are based on the customer’s specific experience. Results may vary.

 

 

Customer snapshot

·      Company: RP Constructors LLC

·      Location: Siouxland area

·      Established: 2014

·      Employees: 83

·      Area of expertise: Design-build projects

·      Komatsu equipment: D61PXi IMC dozers; PC490LCi and PC360LCi IMC excavators

·      Komatsu technology: Smart Construction solutions, including intelligent machine control (IMC)

 

 

By the numbers

·      100% remote management of a project out of state was possible with Komatsu intelligent machine control (IMC) equipment and Smart Construction software, which saved approximately 2,000 miles of driving to and from the jobsite to update plans

·      3-year project for a water treatment plant is currently underway