Connecticut's Mather Corporation, originally a material supplier founded in 1927, has evolved into a leading heavy/civil construction firm in southern New England. Under fourth-generation leadership, the company tackles large projects with experienced manpower, modern equipment fleet, and a focus on adapting to market needs. Partnerships with suppliers like Able Tool have been key to their success.
Photo courtesy of Mather Corp
Installing shoring, excavating and removing all steam lines, along with roadway, sidewalk and drainage upgrades at the University of Connecticut.
In 1927, Dexter Mather founded D.P. Mather Company & Sons. Later known as Mather Corporation, the company started primarily as a material supplier to the Hartford, Conn., region. The source of the materials — primarily sand — was the company's dredging operation in East Hartford, Conn., dredging sand out of the Connecticut River.
The second generation of Mather Corp. was led by Linwood Mather Sr., who continued working as a material supplier, but expanded operations to offer rental equipment and trucking. This was a booming period for Hartford and the surrounding communities of Connecticut: the defense industry, banking industry, as well as the insurance industry were growing at a significant rate. This created many opportunities for Mather Corporation to thrive performing a variety of work.
Photo courtesy of Mather Corp
Woody Mather (L), vice president, and Todd Mather, president, both of Mather Corporation.
The third generation of Mather Corporation was led by Linwood Mather Jr., most commonly known as "Lin," who led the company into a period of dramatic growth. He demonstrated an ability to adapt and identify growth opportunities. Specifically in the roadwork and utility sector which tied well with the smaller size site work projects they had been performing. The transitional phase of third to fourth generation took five years, during which the company performed many sizeable earth projects, in excess of 100,000 cu. yds. This was a busy time in Connecticut and the private sector needed warehousing, shopping malls, and manufacturing facilities.
Today, the company is a leader in the heavy/civil construction market in southern New England, tackling some of the most challenging projects in the region. Mather Corporation's experienced manpower, modern equipment fleet and depth of experience within the project management and estimating department have contributed to Mather Corporation maintaining its position as a market leader. A variety of projects comprise the job history of the past couple of years. Several sizeable utility projects involving the installation of steam lines in sensitive environments, sitework of all scale, and roadwork.
Mather Corporation has been involved in some of the most technical projects in the Hartford area where conditions dictate working in a confined city environment. Specifically, the State Office Building Garage project included deep excavation in rock and hazardous material excavation. The conditions also required a variety of different shoring methods be utilized. The ever-changing conditions challenged all involved and Mather performed flawlessly.
Mass excavation projects have become an important segment of the company's portfolio. With the construction of warehouses and sizable institutional buildings, Mather Corporation was able to gain significant market share through creativity, hard work, and professionalism.
Today, the fourth generation of Mather Corporation is led by brothers Todd and Woody Mather, who took the reins of the company in 2000. The day-to-day operations are led by Todd and Woody along with a well-seasoned management team, most of whom have more than 20 years of experience.
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Todd Mather, president, works closely with and oversees the accounting, estimating and project management staff. His ability to administrate and communicate effectively with the staff has reinforced the company's sound reputation of being a strong and consistent organization. Having a long history in estimating and project management, he has a keen eye for identifying projects Mather can be competitive and successful on so it continues to be a top-notch contractor in the industry. The company holds many certifications to make it a viable candidate for bidding in an ever-changing market.
Woody Mather, vice president, focuses primarily on operations, customer relations, business development, and purchasing. As the construction market in Connecticut continues to change and expand, the need to grow staff is a daily goal. Woody focuses on supporting corporate goals by recruiting the best in the industry. As he says," every individual in this company is a valuable asset and my role is to help them improve so we all improve as a team."
Under current leadership, Mather Corporation is able to balance a mixture of public work and private work for its clients. It can accommodate all aspects of the heavy civil market, including schools, roads and utility infrastructure, all while keeping the company agile enough to also compete on smaller, intricate projects for its clients. The majority of the company's work is in Connecticut, but under the right circumstances it will tackle projects in western Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
Looking toward the future and keeping with tradition, there is now a fifth generation of Mather family members that are being introduced to the company.
Technology and staying abreast with it is a responsibility that falls to Woody.
"In the last 10 years, technology has grown so fast that it's difficult for one individual to stay on top of it, which you need to do to make informed decisions that will move our company in the right direction," he said. "Currently, we are using a team approach, typically myself, my brother Todd and Cory Brulotte, our superintendent. We evaluate what technology is available; should we make the investment; and if we do make the investment, should we be looking at purchase or rental?"
When asked about current market conditions, Woody said, "The infrastructure bill that was passed a couple years ago is starting to have an impact. It has taken some time for the money to trickle down to the authorities that will actually release the projects and spend the money. We have seen a lot of towns that have had projects on the books for years now ready to schedule those projects as a result of the federal matching funds."
Currently, the company is involved in a number of projects, doing a large variety of work, including Trinity College, where it has been working continuously on expansion and improvement projects. The college has been a Mather Corporation customer for decades. This year's project is the south campus utility plant and installing 4,000 ft. of underground chilled and hot water pipe.
Photo courtesy of Mather Corp
At Bulkeley High School, Mather has removed 75,000 yds. of material and is working on a variety of ground-up improvements. Structural excavations, storm water and sanitary improvements, and a variety of site finishes are abundant around the site. A significant piece of the exterior improvements includes the installation of a new synthetic football field, track and natural turf softball fields. Inside the existing school framework, Mather crews trenched more than 7,000 ft. of under slab utilities, utilizing a fleet of small to mid-size excavators and skid steers. The Bulkeley High School project is a $27 million job and will last two years.
Controlling the company's rate of growth and anticipating market conditions are critical to Mather Corporation.
"We are constantly identifying market sectors that fall within the sweet spot for our company size," Woody said. "We are certainly not small, but neither are we one of the giant construction firms. The size we are at right now gives us the ability to be flexible and adjust to market conditions. We take pride in our ability to find key employees who typically stay with us a long time, due in part to creating a good working atmosphere and maintaining a high level of enthusiasm among our employees.
"There are two aspects of our company that are critical to our success, our employees — many of whom have been with us for decades — and our equipment fleet. The primary supplier, almost exclusively, of mid-size and large equipment is H.O. Penn and Caterpillar. For our compact equipment needs and specialized tools we rely on Able Tool and Equipment.
"Derek Bauer and his team at Able Tool and Equipment are a valuable resource to our company. They are flexible enough to take calculated risks and put new niche pieces of equipment out there, which sets them apart from their competitors. Our relationship with Derek, president of Able Tool and Equipment, goes back before he started his company.
"As a representative of a major rental chain, decades ago, Derek demonstrated the ability to work closely with our team and identify areas where a project could be expedited using rental equipment. Derek has always had a reputation for honesty, hard work and integrity, exactly the things that we look for in a supplier. When Derek started his own equipment company, we immediately became a customer. We have been doing business together since the early '90s. I like to think that our two companies have risen together.
"The breadth and scope of equipment that we can get from Able Tool and Equipment today is impressive and their knowledge of the industry and equipment is critical to us. We use Able Tool and Equipment in a wide variety of scenarios that we encounter in the heavy civil market: electric machines when emissions are an issue, specialized tools, compact machines and any type of compaction equipment imaginable."
Reflecting on the history of the two companies' relationship, Bauer said, "Over the years I have been impressed with Mather Corporation's ability to adjust to market conditions. More than once I have seen them rescale the company to adjust to challenging business climates, and yet maintain the level of excellence in their work. When the market returns, they are able to quickly retool and increase the size and scope of their operation. They also have a reputation within the industry for being very easy to work with. As a result, they often find themselves working for or with New England's largest construction firms. Their reputation for honesty, hard work and integrity precedes them wherever they go."
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According to Cory Brulotte, Mather Corporation superintendent, "We often use Able Tool and Equipment's rental fleet to determine if a piece of equipment is something that we should look at to be added to our fleet. Currently, we are using site dump carriers provided by Able Tool and Equipment at the Trinity College site. This is our first year using this type of equipment, but with the confined space projects that we work in, we are finding them very useful. We are currently working on a site at Trinity College that is so confined that wheel loaders and dump trucks cannot access the area. We can move up to four yards of material into a tight spot and when the operator has unloaded instead of backing out, which can be dangerous, the operator can swivel the seat in the other direction and drive out of the site.
"We utilize Able Tool and Equipment when we are looking to purchase or rent compact excavating machines. There has been a trend in our industry toward using compact wheeled excavators. We purchased a Wacker Neuson EW65 after doing extensive research. Using these wheeled machines, we can work in areas where we have as little as nine feet of operating space.
"With the zero-tail swing and tremendous reach, our Wacker excavators never seem to come off the job. We have found a lot of practical applications for the machine and thus far it has been bullet proof. We've had no issues with it at all. With the Wacker wheeled excavators and tracked excavators that we have purchased, the lifting capacity has been impressive. Things like granite curbing and catch basins are extremely heavy and the Wacker machines have been up to the task."
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"We were introduced to Wacker by way of their small compaction equipment, which has always been very reliable for us," Woody added. "Wacker has experienced massive growth in their product offerings over the last several years. Deciding to make the investment in Wacker excavators was in part due to Derek facilitating the opportunity to dialogue directly with Wacker as needed. That has given us an increased level of confidence in buying Wacker earthmoving products.
"Sometimes you can get lost in the crowd when you work with large chain rental companies. With Able Tool and Equipment, I can have direct conversations with the owner and know that we are on the same page and are looking out for each other's best interests. Able Tool and Equipment guides us in making solid decisions."
For more information, visit www.abletool.net and www.mathercorp.com. CEG
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