MELCAR GROUP
HITTING HOME James McIntyre, Managing Director at Melcar Group, tells us about the company’s origins with “a sledgehammer and a vision”, and how the business is moving forward to answer the demands of the market Writer: Marcus Kääpä | Project Manager: David Knott
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CONSTRUCTION
Aidan Carolan started this firm with a sledgehammer and a vision.” The words of James McIntyre, Managing Director, sums up the origin of Melcar Group (Melcar) and underpins the drive behind the company. Melcar was established in 1989 in the US. With over 32 years of vanguard experience, the company takes a global approach to the continuously evolving infrastructure
James McIntyre, Managing Director
industry. Within this space, Melcar is a driving force in underground and aerial construction, directional drilling, microtunneling and auger boring. The firm has built its unwavering reputation by undertaking the most difficult projects, providing exemplary results in a demanding industry. With extensive experience in densely populated cities. Melcar ensures that the local communities, environment, and existing infrastructure are minimally affected
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less Interlock System Tri-Loc Case Study - Summer 2021 PROJECT:
Easley Combined Utilities - Crayton Creek Sewer LOCATION: Easley, SC
CONTRACTOR : FULLER & CO. CONSTRUCTION LLC
SCOPE: 320 LF grade guaranteed auger bore on 0.40% slope uphill in soft sand and clay with minimal ground water. Due to soft materials and criticality of grade, pilot tube method selected. Tri-Loc was chosen because of risk of building friction pressure from collapse of hole during pilot tube reaming process. SOIL CONDITIONS: Soft sand and clay with minimal ground water. RESULTS: Along with pilot tube method Tri-Loc allowed for 60’ - 100’ per day average installation leading to exceptionally fast completion. The first 100 feet of the bore encountered ground water. Since the first 100 feet was installed in a day and a half the ground water turning the materials into runny unmanageable slop was relegated to only two pushes rather than at every joint because the water didn’t have time to saturate the spoil in the casing during joint welding. TESTIMONIAL: Tri-Loc coupled with the Akkerman Pilot Tube system created the conditions for the fastest possible installation of a bore under these conditions. There is simply not a Jarred Fuller, Fuller & Co. Construction, LLC. better combination available to our industry. -
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MELCAR GROUP during construction, while preserving the safety of all who are involved, be they the workers or the public. “And today, we’re a prominent force in the infrastructure construction industry,” McIntyre tells us. “Throughout the company’s history, we have gone from being a telecommunications contractor to being a horizontal drilling contractor, and through added capabilities we became a
AT A GLANCE MELCAR SERVICES The Melcar companies collectively offer all-inclusive construction solutions backed by decades of expertise in the industry. In-house fabrication provides custom built products coupled with unique solutions engineered to meet the demand of diverse projects. Company services include: • Directional drilling • Microtunneling • Offshore wind and power • Renewables development • Storm restoration • Tunneling • Auger boring • Infrastructure development • Heavy and specialized hauling • Crane services • Pipe ramming • Hydro excavation • Welding and fabrication • Engineering survey and design • Pipe fusion
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trenchless construction contractor. “There’s nothing that we can’t do in-house when it comes to the field of infrastructure construction.”
ACROSS THE POND Melcar began with Aidan Carolan who immigrated to the US from Ireland in 1986. He had, prior to moving to the US, gained experience scaffolding in London, UK, and used his knowledge and skills to scaffold all across New York City (NYC). “At that time telephones were becoming more common in high rises and the wealth of the average person was increasing,” McIntyre explains. “Those living on the upper floors of the buildings needed telephone lines to reach them, and you had to work through peoples’ closets, fire escapes and other places to facilitate this. “As for streets, many didn’t have overhead electric lines and it was
cheaper to set these up underground. You would have to go under multiple driveways to reach the person who had purchased a telephone, and so the workers would dig a trench perpendicular to the driveway under multiple properties to get there. “Early in his career, Aidan used a sledgehammer to get the job done. One day, he saw another company using a very early version of a directional drill to bore a tunnel through which to feed the cables and noted that he and his colleagues were actually getting the job done faster by hand. Aidan then realized that if he and his team used a drill, they could get the job done 10 times quicker, and so they turned to directional drilling.” From this single vision, the business that later became Melcar skyrocketed, providing a wide range of services supported by its founding values of quality, safety and reliability.
T
rinity Products’ weldless interlocking system, Tri-Loc offers contractors the ability to install casing much faster and more efficiently by eliminating field welding. The machined Male and Female ends of each pipe joint interlock by means of barbs or teeth, that once engaged, do not separate, making it ideal for trenchless Pipe-Jacking installations. Trinity Products manufactures 2 variations of their Tri-Loc steel casing; a 3-Tooth Design used in Auger Boring, and a 4-tooth Design used for Microtunneling. For Auger boring, the 3-Tooth design allows for a reduction in the required jacking forces to fully set or “mate” the interlocking joints. Using a press-fit connection steel pipe eliminates the timely and costly process of aligning and welding each joint of steel casing before advancing more pipe down hole. A joint that may usually take hours to weld, is connected in minutes. Once the auger is placed into the steel casing, the whole process moves quickly. The casing is lowered into the excavation pit by means of the lifting lugs which Trinity Products provides on their TRI-LOC pipe. Once in place, the crew easily aligns the auger pins, and then aligns the joint before advancing the jacking face to set the joint.
Trinity Products, LLC
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T + 1 800 456 7473
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www.trinityproducts.com
MELCAR GROUP
MELCAR MISSION AND VALUES MELCAR’S MISSION IS ITS PROMISE With a generation of young, driven individuals, the company is changing the face of the construction service industry by implementing plans, sales, promotions, and a level of customer service that has forever eluded construction and been held exclusively by the products and hospitality industry. VALUES • Customer Service - As stated in the company mission, Melcar is changing the landscape of customer service within the construction contracting industry by staying true to its roots and maintaining the vision that its clients and staff are always, above all, the firm’s top priority. • Safety – Zero Accident Policy. Safety of staff and the public is put first and foremost on all job sites. • Determination – Completing the most demanding of projects in the most challenging of conditions. • Dedication – The Melcar team is invested in each project, which leads to the overall devotion to seeing each project to success. • Dependability – The history of never leaving a job incomplete or a client unsatisfied presents Melcar with a status of unrelenting reliability.
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LEADING FROM THE FRONT The nature of Melcar echoes throughout its operations and ties in deeply with how it is led; company values trickle down from management level and there is instilled a sense of communal effort that makes Melcar what it is. “We are lucky to have Aidan leading our company, and he sets a great example to our colleagues,” McIntyre tells us. “He leads from the front and is out in the field every single day to ensure quality, productivity, and safety above all else. “It is this dedication that all of our management follow and encourage across the company, and this in turn has helped us form a very unique
culture in the business.” According to McIntyre, part of what makes Melcar different to its competitors in the sector is this dedication of its employees, and the consequent loyalty that stems from this. The company has an incredibly high retention rate and prides itself on valuing each colleague as an asset, recognizing individual efforts and helping bind the work community under a roof of collective effort and stake. “I learnt early on that it is a rarity in our industry to have such loyalty, both from an employee and employer perspective,” McIntyre explains. “However, this starts with the employer, the company. To get
CONSTRUCTION this kind of working culture and result it starts at the core with upper management, and if the company itself is not dedicated to its team members, how can a business ever hope that its staff will be in return.” And from a service point of view, Melcar stands above and apart from its industry peers as a true innovator of service offerings, supplying the market by specializing in all forms of construction to answer a wide range of demands.
DUAL FRONTIER One aspect of Melcar’s innovative nature is exemplified in its capacity to adapt to the needs and requirements of the market and customers. The company is currently transitioning from being an underground construction contractor to focusing more on being an infrastructure contractor, as McIntyre elaborates. “We are aiming to be the one-stop solution for any infrastructure project, from the engineering side to the finished plant,” he says. “Whether the projects are based in the areas of water, telecommunication, electric, or gas, we are looking to provide this full service from inception to the implementation and design, and through to the end process for the customer in their home. “And at the same time, it is an exciting time for Melcar when it comes to adapting to balance underground and above ground operations due to the variety of different needs for either separate environment. For the foreseeable future, infrastructure development is going to be above ground, and so being able to combine capabilities in both environments is going to be a huge and important aspect of business.” Moving forward considering this, Melcar is planning to continue to make large investments into its microtunneling capabilities. The company currently owns all of its microtunneling equipment - that
provides installation ranges of up to 144-inches – and is a 100 percent in-house provided service, with the majority of revenue made by Melcar being placed back into the company to better prepare it and expand its capabilities into the future. This kind of investment is not solely being placed in the realm of service provision, however. Melcar is also geared towards investment in its own teams of employees; dedicated staff that drive the company forward. “Our current and future investment in our business capabilities hinges on our investment in the Melcar team,” McIntyre explains. “We need more crews, more equipment and people in every position from laborer to management. “Over the past two months, we have been awarded more work than we could have ever imagined and so our
first and foremost goal is to maintain who we are. We don’t want to grow too large too fast - we cannot allow ourselves to lose sight of our morals and guiding principles of quality, reliability and values centered around the customers and our people. We are building up new crews and training people one at a time until they are ready both in terms of training, safety, and self-sufficient to operate without mid or upper management on site. “The future lies with a focus on our team first.”
james@melcar.us www.melcargroup.com
North America Outlook issue 06 | 9
MELCAR GROUP 303 Longmire Rd, Suite 601, Conroe, TX 77304 Tel: +1 (484) 653-8259 james@melcar.us www.melcarunderground.com/media www.melcargroup.com
PRODUCED BY NORTH AMERICA OUTLOOK MAGAZINE