History & Profile
From Hughes & Ladd
to Ladd And Associates
|
In March 1963 Roy E. Ladd and Wallace
D. Hughes formed Hughes & Ladd, Inc. The company grew rapidly with
over 30 million dollars under contract in 1971, with highway and bridge
projects located in the mountainous regions of Northern California, the
“High Sierras” and Eastern Oregon. At this time the largest
project located in Eastern Oregon was completed for $13.037,626.79. In the summer of 1973, Wally Hughes decided to leave
active ownership in order to donate more time to his family and recreation.
As a result, approximately 50% of the Hughes and Ladd equipment was sold,
and a general belt tightening was experienced within the company. Faced
with a reduced volume, new goals and the best of many competent and dedicated
foremen, the company once again began to move forward. Mr. Hughes continued
during this time to be very active as Chief Engineer and Estimator.
In the winter of 1974 Hughes & Ladd, Inc. became
involved in a project in the Sacramento River Canyon in Northern California.
Strong storms had damaged and/or washed out nearly 30 miles of mainline
railroad. Roy Ladd personally supervised the reconstruction work, initially
being performed on a 24 hour around-the-clock basis, for Southern Pacific,
reestablishing rail service in eight days. (It was estimated at the time
that the Railroad was losing over $1,000,000 a day as long as the line
was closed.) An accomplishment praised at the time by the both the governor
of California and the Southern Pacific Railroad. |
Founder Roy E. Ladd
Read More About Roy
|
In the spring of 1975 the firm’s name was officially
changed to Roy E. Ladd, Inc. and operations were expanded into Arizona
and later Southern California, Idaho, Nevada, Washington and Montana.
Throughout the 1980's and 1990's Roy E. Ladd Inc.
continued to look for and be involved in challenging and difficult projects.
In 1995, with his health failing, Roy began the final reorganization of
the company. His goal was two fold; he wanted to protect the assets of
the company he had spent thirty years building for his family and insure
the company’s continuation, and secondly, he wanted to reward those
employees who had proven themselves competent and dedicated and give them
incentive to stay with the company after he was gone. He achieved both
of these goals by splitting the company into two entities. A new, mostly
employee owned company, Ladd Associates Inc., was incorporated in June
of 1996. This new company began joint venturing with Roy E. Ladd Inc.
under the name Ladd And Associates, and became the chief operational vehicle,
and has been responsible for most of the recent work. Roy E. Ladd Inc.,
which owned most of the older assets and equipment, continues to remain
in the Ladd family and rent its assets to the new joint venture and continues
to do selective projects. Today, most of the companies new work continues
to be bid as Ladd And Associates, thereby allowing both companies to grow
and profit from one another.
Roy’s Vice President and Chief Financial Officer
for over 25 years, Craig Wiseman was promoted to President and CEO overseeing
both companies and has continued in that capacity since 1995.
Other notable promotions included Mark Christopher
to Senior Vice President and Head Estimator, Bill Schoonmaker as Vice
President of Construction, Tom Capener as Area Manager of the Northern
Division including Oregon and Washington, Mitch Lipsky as Division Manager
of Ladd Construction’s Tunneling Division, and Eric Ladd as Vice
President of Roy E. Ladd Inc. equipment company and company Safety Director.
In Summary:
 The work which Ladd Construction has completed over the past forty years,
and continues to bid on, has generally been hazardous, high-risk work
under very competitive bid conditions. The Company’s people and
equipment have always been geared to tough work involving rock excavation
and rip rap and is known throughout the industry for its expertise in
this area. Also, along with this type of work, Ladd And Associates has
always been known as a bridge builder and has completed many bridges,
overpasses, and structural work, including power plants and water tanks.
Although the company has spent much of its time and energies around high-risk
work, the company has always maintained an excellent safety record with
few serious injuries
Some challenging and difficult projects accomplished
recently include:
- Completing a $10,000,000 project with a six month
time limit for the United Water Conservation District
- Completing a $20,0000,000 dollar foundation preparation
and portal construction project involving over 2,000,000 yards of dirt
and rock excavation with the Department of the Army on the 7 Oaks Dam.
- Completing a 2,000 foot exploratory tunnel at 7 Oaks
Dam for the Department of the Army, with no lost time accidents.
- Earning a $400,000 bonus from the State of California,
Department of Transportation for the first phase of a nine million dollar
project within the State’s designated time frame.
- Completing $8,000,000 in emergency flood work on over
70 miles of highway in the Feather River Canyon, reopening the road in
less than three months.
- Completing the blasting and excavation of over 700,000
yards of rock within a six month time frame for the Dan Diego Water Authority
on the Olivehain Dam Project.
- Completing a $30,000,000 project with the US Army Corp of Engineers on
the lower Santa Ana River which involved over 1,600,000 tons of rip rap,
500,000 cubic yards of silt removal from the channel bottom and 65,000
cubic yards of structural concrete channel lining.
- Completing a $12,000,000 project with the Los Angeles
County Department of Public Works on the Pacoima Dam Spillway enlargement
and rehabilitation and winning a national partnering award for the project.
|
