Birmingham, AL- Fred Richards is no stranger to hard work, be it on the football field or running his own construction company. After playing for Southern Mississippi for four years and graduating with an engineering degree, Fred tried his luck in the NFL at the New England Patriot’s training camp. He quickly learned that his passions lied elsewhere and returned back to Birmingham to work with Harbert International as a General Superintendent.
It was in this move back to Birmingham that Fred also entered into his daily dealings with the family business, Richards and Sons Construction. JV Richards, Fred’s father, was the founder of the business and owner until 2000. In 2001, Fred acquired the remainder of the business from his brother, Buddy. The company mainly concentrates on standard earthmoving and utility jobs, but also spends time in quarry stripping applications. Ninety percent of their work is done in and around the Birmingham metro area.
Richard and Sons current fleet is nearly 70 machines, with over half being Caterpillars (excavator, dozers, off-highway trucks, etc…). That percentage just received a boost with the addition of eight new Cat Hydraulic Excavators: 1 x 345, 2 x 330s, and 5 x 320s. Rodney Hansard, Thompson Tractor Salesman, started off quoting 1 or 2 machines, then it looked like 5 or 6, and the deal ended up with 8 machines. “The reason I buy Cat is simple: relationships. It’s the relationships that I’ve developed with Rodney and Thompson Tractor. There’s just a lot of value there,” mentioned Richards when talking about replacing his competitive units with Caterpillars.
Fred not only sees value in Cat machines, but he sees value in Cat engines as well. In 2006, the company purchased 8 new Sterling dump trucks, all powered by Cat C-15 engines. He also runs a Cat C-7 engine in his personal Freightliner RV.
The overall age of Richards and Sons fleet is currently 3,000-4,000 hours, which is down from roughly 7,000 hours prior to this recent purchase. Servicing a fleet this size is a job in itself, and the company has 2 service trucks and one full time mechanic. All the 250 hour service intervals and minor repairs are handled internally, but Thompson handles the 2000 hour service intervals and any other repair as needed.
The company currently employees 60 office and field personnel, and Fred jokes that keeping good help is one of the hardest parts of his job. “If the guy shows up for 2-3 days, he’ll be there for the week. 2-3 weeks, he’ll be there for the month. 2-3 months, he’ll be there for the year. And 2-3 years, you’ve pretty much got him for good.” On a more serious note, he is very worried about the lack of qualified laborers in the work place. “Running a machine is not something that you can learn in classroom. You’ve got to be in that seat feeling how the machine reacts under different situations,” pointed out Richards when asked about training operators and the use of simulators.
Fred Richards prides himself on following in the footsteps of his father, who built a foundation for Richards and Sons Construction through “work done right and for a fair price.” Thompson Tractor would like to thank Richards and Sons Construction for their business, and we look forward to growing together in the future.