Father and son team up to form earthmoving business, start developing their own properties

This year marks Threefold Services LLC’s 10th anniversary, and while Rob Beauchamp and his son, Ty, continue to maintain the roots on which they formed the business, they have also made a major change in the last few years.

“We got tired of the rat race of bidding hundreds of jobs to only end up with one, so we decided to shift to mainly doing our own projects,” explained Rob. “We had the opportunity to buy some property and develop it. That went well, so we continued down that road. I’d say that makes up about 75% of our workload now.”

Between the two of them, the Beauchamps have plenty of experience in land development. Rob has been in the earthmoving industry for more than 30 years and previously owned multiple excavation businesses. Ty grew up in the industry, helping his dad and running equipment whenever he could. After Ty graduated from college with an emphasis on business management, he teamed up with his father to form Threefold Services.

Ty commented, “We were both on projects all the time, but as our emphasis shifted, now I’m working more toward taking care of the field, and Dad is taking more time to find new pieces of land for us to acquire and develop or focusing on putting together the quotes and bids that we still want to go after.”

Building on family land

Rob and Ty have kept their own land development efforts close to home, building subdivisions west of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, mainly in Wise, Parker and Johnson counties. Threefold Services does everything from clearing to finish grade to build roadways, house pads and ponds, as well as install utilities.

“We do all the subgrade prep, then sub out the paving, and have a builder put up the houses,” said Rob. “They are large enough that we mostly concentrate on doing one development per year.”

Threefold Services’ latest undertaking is a 52-lot site in Wise County on land that had been in the family for several decades. The Beauchamps purchased it from Rob’s uncle, who had bought it from Rob’s grandfather. When complete, they will have moved approximately 50,000 cubic yards of dirt across 65 acres to construct pads and prep 4,500 feet of roadway. Threefold Services will also put in about 5,000 feet of water line and a small amount of storm.

“In terms of size, it’s average for us,” said Rob. “We usually like to stay in a range of about 50 to 80 lots per subdivision. It tends to work out better all-around for us in terms of getting our work done, financing and partnering with builders.”

Solid repeat customer list

When it’s not in the midst of its own projects, Threefold Services is doing a variety of dirt work for a diverse customer base. According to Rob, jobs have typically ranged from $2,000 to around $1 million.

“It varies from a single house pad to a large railroad project down in Brownsville,” Rob pointed out. “We like to mainly stick with just dirt work, but we have done some municipal projects that involved storm drain.”

Ty added, “Mostly, our outside work has been private residential and commercial, and we have built up a solid repeat customer list. We have a couple builders that we work with, and we go all over the United States with them. We’re still a very mom-and-pop operation, so in those instances, we bring the whole crew: my dad, myself, my uncle and a new hire. Customers know that we will treat their project like it’s one of our own, so the job will get done on time and on budget.”

Loyal to KSM, Komatsu

For many years, the Beauchamps primarily rented equipment because Threefold Services’ projects varied so much in size and location. Now that they are doing more of their own work locally, Rob and Ty decided that buying machines would be a good move. Whether purchasing or renting, they work with Kirby-Smith Machinery Inc. (KSM) Rental Territory Manager Jacky Miller and KSM Territory Manager Keelan Crosby.

“Jacky helped us pick and choose the size of equipment we needed for each job, so that made renting advantageous for us,” said Rob. “Once we got to the point where we were doing so much more of our own stuff and using the same equipment over and over, it made sense to purchase.”

Threefold Services’ first Komatsu purchase was a D51EXi-23 Intelligent Machine Control (IMC) dozer with an operating weight of 30,380 pounds.

“The production rate was so good that we realized that we probably were not going to be competitive if we continued to do things the traditional way with stakes and surveying,” said Rob. “We used to do a lot of parking lots for a commercial retail operation, and each was 20,000 to 25,000 square feet. It would usually take four or five days to manually grade one. With the IMC dozer we could do it in probably an hour and a half if it’s roughed in. You cut your time down by 50% to 60% really easily. Everything’s integrated, so there are no masts. We went with that size-class machine because it gets the job done, and we can put it on our triple-axle trailer and pull it behind our dump truck.”

Threefold Services uses IMC from first pass to last with the dozer, as well as the PC360LCi-11 IMC excavator the company bought last year. Threefold Services uses the PC360LCi-11 for everything from mass excavation to utility installation. Rob noted that the excavator won’t dig beyond the target elevation, which saves time and reduces material costs.

“Both the excavator and dozer always know where they are in relation to final grade, so you don’t have to worry about overcutting or undercutting,” said Rob. “It’s a matter of putting in the model, and letting the machines follow it. The operators have all the information they need right in front of them.”

KSM technicians service both of the Komatsu machines under the Komatsu Care program, which ensures scheduled maintenance is done on time.

“One reason we’re loyal to Komatsu and Kirby-Smith is the response time,” noted Ty. “If we call for something, they are on it. It’s the same with service. They get to us quickly and keep us updated on where things stand.”

The ultimate goal

In terms of the type of work Threefold Services does, the Beauchamps don’t see any major changes. Rob and Ty will continue to do good work for their clients, and they hope to expand their portfolio of personal property development in the future.

Ty concluded, “We are trying to get to the point where we are doing specifically our own projects where we’re buying the land and developing it.”