How a Civil Contractor Unearthed the Value of Data Through Equipment Rental

I remember meeting Matt Gillum, a proud Texan and longtime contractor, through his sister-in-law a few years ago. We connected and discussed construction equipment and the increase in demand as more people decided to make South Texas their home. While it was a chance meeting, you'll never know when a chance meeting will turn into an opportunity to help those who shape the communities where we live.

"In early 2022, five other longtime construction professionals and I left the company we were at to found 'Five Star Civil Construction’," recalled Matt Gillum, a managing partner. "We wanted to build a company that focused on quality, efficiency and relationships that last beyond the project."

The five founding members set a goal to meet South Texas' strong housing demand and precisely complete full-service residential projects—from initial clearing to utility installation, grading, paving streets and finishing concrete work.

"Equipment was a huge challenge when we started as it felt like the equipment industry was still coming out of COVID-19," said Jared Davis, managing partner at Five Star Civil. "No one had equipment, but we were lucky to have great supplier relationships."

Working with the RDO Equipment Co. network, I secured the various wheel loaders, excavators and skid steer models for the Five Star team members to demo. During these demos with myself, product specialists and customer service advisors, we helped the founding members decide on the equipment they'd require during the first year based on their planned projects. 

Now in its third year of business, I spoke with Davis and Gillum to reflect on their journey with RDO team members and identify three tips a residential contractor can use to grow their business.

1. Embrace Fleet Management Software (FMS) Tools Like John Deere Operations Center™

Davis said costs have skyrocketed since he started in construction more than 15 years ago. 

"Material costs are crazy, and sourcing materials has become much harder," he said. "When we started Five Star Civil, we understood that an effective FMS, machine monitoring and automating data collection would be essential.” 

Five Star Civil Construction opted to build their fleet with RDO by financing some machines and renting others. Not only were they able to try before they buy, thanks to rental purchase options (RPOs), but another bonus of renting equipment with RDO is that many machines come with JDLink™Connectivity and StarFire™ Integrated Receiver, so GPS and other data points like production hours and fuel usage can be tracked through their Operations Center account. They got to test the equipment’s capabilities, understand its baseline and see what was possible with construction technology and data. 

Today, project and machine data a crucial part of the Five Star operation. Gillum explained that the first Operations Center report he reviewed was each machine's utilization report to check its idle time versus low, medium, utilization report to check its idle time versus low, medium and high-performance time.

• Idle Time refers to periods when the equipment is running but not performing productive work. It can be caused by various factors, such as waiting for instructions, delays in the workflow or simply being on standby. 

• Low-Performance Time: This is when the equipment is operating but not optimally. It might be due to suboptimal conditions, partial loads or other factors that prevent the machinery from performing at its best. 

• Medium-Performance Time: This indicates that the equipment is working moderately efficiently. It’s performing productive tasks but not at the highest possible capacity. 

• High-Performance Time: The equipment operates at its peak efficiency, performing tasks at full capacity and under optimal conditions. 

Then, Davis uses their fleet's cumulative data to inform bidding on upcoming projects. Davis also works with other Five Star Civil team members to estimate project costs so they can stay competitive.

"Bidding is always a challenge on any project. Margins are tight, and the market fluctuates," Davis said. "The market is saturated, so tracking costs and production is crucial."

Watch this video of Five Star Civil and RDO team members explaining how they partner to keep their fleet running and projects on schedule.  

2.Connect with Customer Service Advisors 

There are usually three crews consisting of six excavators and four loaders working on one of Five Star’s residential job sites near Austin. It’s busy, as it should be, and when unexpected equipment issues have occurred, the Five Star team has greatly valued the support they’ve received from the local RDO service department.

"The job site is not in an easily accessible area. Joe (Olivas, RDO customer service advisor) took an alternator to an excavator that was down so we could get it running and move it from the slope," Gillum said. "If it had rained or the grade changed from disturbance due to another moving machine, that excavator could have been jeopardized."

In this instance, Olivas received an alert from Five Star Civil’s Maintenance Manager, Ashley Lovejoy, about a machine down. Olivas was able to quickly review the excavator’s utilization data to determine the machine required an alternator replacement and get it to the team as fast as possible. 

Downtime isn’t always preventable, though, but Gillum says he appreciates RDO’s readiness to react when a machine does go out of commission. 

"RDO helps us with great lease rates and immediate replacements," he said.

3. Invest in People, Lean on Experience 

Davis and Gillum agree that investing in people and relationships pays dividends that result in learning and growth. When they need to call an equipment partner, they can trust, they turn to RDO and team members like Joe Olivas. 

"We know we can pick up the phone to make a call anytime we need anything, and an RDO team member will immediately handle it," Davis said. "That's how we also like to be with our business — available 24/7. To have somebody on that same level with us, with a relationship, means everything." 

Davis and Gillum highlight that demand for turnkey construction services continues to grow. The future is more exciting than ever for Five Star Civil and its team of 100-plus as they continue to build residential areas in developing communities.