Harper Companies, Salt Lake City

Diversity Keeps Harper Moving Forward

Ask Jimmy Harper what projects Harper Companies is working on right now in the Salt Lake Valley, and you'll likely be listening for awhile.

"To find a job in Salt Lake that we're not involved with is hard to do," said Harper, general manager for Harper's Ready-Mix Division and son of founder Rulon Harper.

"We're really busy right now - we've got a lot of jobs on our plate."

Harper Companies is comprised of five different entities, the main component being Harper Excavating. According to Jimmy Harper, Harper Excavating accounted for approximately $85 million of the firm's $113 million-plus revenues from this past year, making it one of the largest subcontractors in the Intermountain region.

Harper said the key to his company's success is the fact that it does more than just one thing, and it does each aspect the right way.

"We like to stay diversified," said Harper. "If the bottom falls out of something, we've got 10 other things to cover it, no matter what different things we have cooking at the time. If one job is a (bad one), we've got enough other jobs to balance it out. That keeps us strong."

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In addition to excavating, the company also has operations in ready-mix, sand and gravel, pre-cast concrete, and investments.

Harper oversees Harper Ready-Mix, which currently boasts annual revenues of more than $20 million. Harper said the company expanded into the ready-mix concrete business several years ago as a way to stay competitive.

"To compete against big companies, you have to have your own concrete and your own asphalt, so they can't put a squeeze on you," he said. "It helps us compete on any level against any size company."

Harper said as a subcontractor, probably the biggest concerns he sees right now are the two most prominent issues facing the entire industry - labor shortages and escalating costs of materials.

"It's much harder to get labor than it has in the past - it's a constant battle," said Harper, who started accompanying his father to job sites from as early as he can remember. "I was a year old when Rulon started the company (in 1967), and he started dragging me around to jobs when I was five years old. I'd get (mad) if he didn't take to work with him during the summer."

Whereas Harper has a hard time getting his own son interested in a career in construction.

"Young guys today are more interested in how many songs can fit on their IPOD," he lamented. "My son is 15 and he's got a knack for running heavy equipment - he just doesn't have the desire."

Harper, though, loves working in the only industry he's ever known. And his company has worked on several high profile jobs in recent months, including the earthwork/excavating for Miller Motorsports Park, the Utah State Capitol Restoration, Kennecott's Daybreak Development, and the Salt Lake International Airport Land Reconfiguration.

"We'll work with anyone, but have good working relationships with certain contractors and we like working with them," he said.