J. Cumby Construction was founded by Justin Cumby at about the same time the recession started. He found his niche in the market by keeping his business lean and putting in lower bids than larger companies with high overhead. His good reputation and business have both grown since then.
GOING BIG: J. CUMBY CONSTRUCTION EXPANDS QUICKLY
Justin Cumby entered the construction business at exactly the right time for a fledgling entrepreneur –when larger construction businesses with heavy overhead were either cutting back or going out of business.
He started his company, J. Cumby Construction, in 2006, not long after he graduated from Tennessee Tech University in his hometown of Cookeville, Tennessee. He graduated with a degree in criminal justice, and had plans to attend law school. Somewhere in the mix, his plans changed and he found himself in construction, and he hasn’t looked back since.
Cumby started his foray into construction with residential work, but quickly saw opportunity in commercial and governmental jobs. His first commercial job in Roane County was a bathroom in a park, with his bid coming in at $60,000.
“I was really lean, and because it was just me, it was easy to compete. Everyone else was fighting their massive overhead,” he said.
He’s built a reputation of quality and consistency – his company’s slogan is “Building with integrity.” – and his company has grown accordingly. J. Cumby now employees just under 90 people and is always looking for more driven individuals to join the team.
“We’ve got projects literally from one end of the state to the next, and into Alabama. We’re also looking at projects in Kentucky and Mississippi,” Cumby said. “We want to continue to grow and be one of the top heavy construction civil contractors in the Southeast, including municipal, waste water, tunnels and, eventually, marine construction.”
KINGSPORT RAW WATER INTAKE JOB
Some of J. Cumby Construction’s jobs have been fairly routine, and others – such as a job the company won from the City of Kingsport – are a bit more dramatic.
This job requires an eight-foot-diameter tunnel to be tunneled 1,200 linear feet from the city’s existing raw water intake to the existing treatment plant. The tunnel is 130 feet deep at its deepest point, allowing water to flow from the raw water intake to the new pump station that J. Cumby is building at the treatment plant.
New piping and four new pumps are being installed as part of the project – work with which Cumby said his crews are quite familiar. By the end of April 2016, about 350 feet of the tunnel had been dug and, the project is due to be completed by Spring 2017.
“This improves their water system and water supply. The city of Kingsport will have as much water as they’ll need for years to come,” Cumby said.
HALLSDALE-POWELL UTILITY DISTRICT PUMP STATION AND TANK
J. Cumby Construction also won a job to construct a waste water pump station and five-million-gallon overflow tank Hallsdale-Powell Utility District.
“Working in deep excavation on a tight site, along with the expertise to complete this job correctly and on time, are some things we bring to the table that make us great candidates for these types of projects,” said Justin Cumby.
The job itself is in a challenging location, located adjacent to an elementary school on a busy street and across the way from a Boys & Girls Club. The construction started by making an elaborate and strong frame out of rebar that was covered with shotcrete coating in order to create the massive above-ground overflow tank.
The tank connects to a major sewage trunk line and is filled by its adjacent pump station with sewage overflows during storm events, which are later gradually discharged back into the trunk line via an actuated valve in the bottom of the tank.
Sewage overflow tanks such as this one serve as a storage reservoir during higher-than-normal flow rates. They help reduce surging influent sewage volumes to the waste water treatment plant during storm events, which increase the likelihood of short-circuiting the plant’s process and polluting the waterways. Tanks like these are becoming more common due to stricter EPA regulations for waste water treatment plants’ effluent discharge quality, especially when a city does not have a sanitary system in place that separates storm water carrier pipelines from its sewer line system.
Shortly after the majority of the above-ground tank was constructed, crews started excavation and construction of the 40-foot-deep cast in-place pump station. The job is expected to be completed in fall of 2016.
GOOD PARTNERS KEY TO SUCCESS
Cumby denotes good timing, high-quality work, and relationships as the formula for his increasing success. As part of that, he cites the long-term relationship with Stowers Machinery Corporation that he’s had from almost the inception of J. Cumby Construction.
“It’s been a very good relationship, and most everything we have is Cat equipment. What we have that isn’t made by Caterpillar, was acquired prior to our relationship with Stowers, ” Cumby said. “I think Stowers does everything they can for us, and we try to pay them back by being a loyal customer.”
Cumby buys both new and used Cat equipment from Stowers, and said he enjoys the support and customer service that he receives from the Cat dealer. Recently, Cumby’s company added a 374D, its largest excavator to date, to its fleet.
“Stowers played a key role in locating this tractor for us in a timely manner and making sure we were purchasing a high-quality used machine,” Cumby said.
“Stowers has been a great partner for us. We couldn’t have done a lot of what we have done without Stowers,” he said.
WANT TO LEARN MORE?
This story first appeared in the Summer 2016 issue of Infrastructure magazine, a national magazine for those who own or rent building construction products and earthmoving construction equipment. Download the story as it appeared in the magazine.
Visit J. Cumby Construction’s website to learn more about the services the company provides.
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