The Redland Company Inc. is a site work contractor headquartered in Homestead, Fla., primarily operating from Orlando to Key West, and extending to both coasts. A family-owned business that was founded in 1957 by road contractor Charlie Munz, the company has been run since 1971 by his son Charles “Pinky” Munz, the current president and owner.
Today, “Pinky” Munz is joined in the family business by his son, Chad, who is the general superintendent and vice president of The Redland Company. Operating with a roll-up-your-sleeves, organized, honest attitude, The Redland Company has been delivering reliability throughout infrastructure development projects for 55 years.
A Loyal Staff and
a Technological Edge
The company, which employs more than 150 workers, the majority of whom have been with the business for at least 10 years, has made a name for itself in the heavy site development industry as a business that self-performs just about all of its work. This dedication to self-performance provides greater control for The Redland Company over the highway construction, bridge work, commercial site preparation and water/sewer/drainage projects on which it is a team player.
Construction capabilities include survey, layout, erosion control, clearing, grubbing, drainage, water, sewage construction and beyond. In addition to its self-performance capabilities, Redland owns and operates its own fleet of heavy construction equipment (in excess of 100 units), allowing it to evolve with the changing industry landscape.
According to Chad Munz, “the missing component was Redland’s ability to self-perform paving, and the decision to actively get involved in this aspect of the business was made at the beginning of the year.”
Munz further noted, “Today’s projects have very tight time constraints, and we’ve had a number of paving jobs that needed to be done quickly. Unfortunately, like most small subs, our guys couldn’t afford to leave a paver on our job or haul it back and forth between projects, and it became increasingly apparent that setting-up our own paving operation was a necessary and prudent thing to do. It was a combination of economics, and the economy, that drove us to it.”
The benefits of branching out into paving were apparent pretty quickly once it got underway.
“With our own paving operation, we’ve created a built-in flexibility that benefits us and our clients. Now we can go to where we need to go, or simply leave a paver on a job for a few days, allowing us to save hauling costs and pave when we need to, something our subs couldn’t really afford to do. This is especially helpful with our projects in Key Largo and Marathon, where it is difficult to haul a paver down and back,” Munz explained.
“Before we start any job we have a pre-construction meeting to discuss all of the specifics of the project and, equally important, to discuss any ’value engineering’ opportunities that will allow us to complete the job as quickly as possible and provide our client with the greatest cost-efficiency possible,” explained Munz.
Like any of Redland’s decisions, all available equipment was fully researched by a number of Redland’s construction management team.
“At the end of the day we decided on the Mauldin 1750-C from Kelly Tractor Company in Miami for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was Kelly’s willingness to provide an extensive demo for us,” Munz said. “They brought in 20-tons of asphalt and set up a four-hour instructional class with our crew. They also brought in the Mauldin representative to work with us and they remain on-call whenever we need the help.
“We felt very comfortable with Kelly Tractor Company and their ability to work with and train our crew. With the exception of Cliff Scott, our underground superintendent, who also was heavily involved in the buying decision, nobody on our staff had any previous paving experience. Patrick Kettel, our Kelly Tractor representative, and their Paving Specialist, Mike Wohlert, were incredibly professional and informative while training our crew, and are always available to answer questions and help solve problems.”
Scott added, “I’ve been around paving a long time, and it’s easy to see that, in the Maudlin paver, Kelly has truly designed and built an extraordinarily capable machine. The training, and practice the crew got, certainly paid off as our first job, 10,000 yards of city streets, went very well. The crew did a great job.
“We also rent two Hyundai 145 zero-tailswing excavators and they have been great to work with,” Scott continued. “They are the perfect size for what we need on one of our current jobs. They have worked flawlessly and we’ve had no problems with them. That’s a big statement because we’re digging in rock and it’s no picnic. The machine also has some very good safety features including a camera in the back so the operator can see what is behind him. They also have a GPS system so we can keep track of where they are and what they are doing.”
A Diversified
Client Base
The Redland Company prides itself on a reputation of integrity and value engineering that it has built over the years, which has ensured the company a position on the shortlist of bidders of a diversified client base, ranging from the Florida Department of Transportation to local municipalities to residential communities and commercial clients.
Munz elaborated, “We’re a company respected by many of the major contractors throughout Florida, having worked on a wide array of difficult and important projects ranging from large scale retail centers and multi-use residential communities, to FPL’s Turkey Point Nuclear Power Plant, the Southern Command (Southcom) World Headquarters, the Homestead Motor Speedway, the FIU Chapman School of Business and the South Florida Evaluation & Treatment Center just to name a few, and that respect has been created by what we do, not what we say, over the course of countless projects.”
Among The Redland Company’s recent projects is its work on the Rickenbacker Causeway, which connects Miami to Key Biscayne, Fla., and is surrounded by the waters of Biscayne Bay on each side. The project involved expanding parking areas, bike paths and beaches to avoid land erosion. One of their current projects is a major Everglades Restoration effort, as part of the Kiewit Construction team, for the Army Corp of Engineers. The work includes one mile of road demolition and reconstruction as well as the construction of a one-mile bridge.
Underlying all of The Redland Company’s detail-oriented work is its commitment to its core values, including honesty, integrity, hard work, strong organizational skills and pride in one’s work. The company enjoys taking on time-sensitive projects, as that is when the team performs at its best, and everyone in the organization is proud of the fact that it has never had to pay “liquidated damages” on any project. In fact, the company has been awarded bonuses for early completion.
Because the company, as a site work contractor, often comprises the first team of people working on a project, its efficiency often moves the entire job ahead of schedule. And, understanding that time is money, The Redland Company properly assesses each project, caring greatly about being given the opportunity to offer the project owner alternate approaches in order to find the most cost- and time-efficient means to completion.
Led by the professional and ethical vision of “Pinky” and Chad Munz, and armed with the talent and skills of a highly loyal team of flexible employees, The Redland Company Inc. is poised to continue its successful central role in the site work industry throughout southern Florida. CEG
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