Weaver-Bailey Contractors
Contractor follows meandering road to the top

By George Waldon

Even though Weaver-Bailey Contractors Inc. has followed something of a meandering road to become one of the largest concrete pavers in Arkansas, concrete work has been the 43-year-old firm's foundation.

"The only way you can compete is to find a niche, and ours is concrete paving," said Don Weaver, president of the company.

Weaver-Bailey typically records $12 million-$15 million in annual revenue, with 80 core employees. Fifteen more work at Webco Mining's quarry, a family-owned enterprise that generates an additional $5 million in revenue.

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"We will probably hit around $20 million next year," Weaver said. "We have a $40 million backlog of work."

The company headquarters and adjoining quarry is just north of the El Paso community in the Ozark Mountains, about 50 mi. north of Little Rock. The firm has worked on small projects as well as many of the most prominent projects in Arkansas over the years.

A roster of its high-profile jobs in the state includes the 40-story TCBY Tower in downtown Little Rock, the tallest office building in Arkansas; electric power plants in Newark and Redfield for New Orleans-based Entergy Corp.; Calion Lock and Dam on the Ouachita River; and Arkansas River bridges on Interstates 440 and 430 in Little Rock.

One of the most pressure-filled projects was a $16 million concrete-paving job for Union Pacific Corp. of Omaha, Neb. The work was part of the railroad company's new $70 million intermodal facility in Marion, Ark. Weaver-Bailey was on the job from October 1997 through March 1998 and handled 626,000 sq. yds. of concrete.

"They were in a big hurry on that one," Weaver said. "Every day the facility wasn't opened they were losing business."

Union Pacific can handle more than 375,000 over-the-road trailers or ocean-going containers annually at the 600-acre facility, which replaced two outdated terminals in Memphis.

Dan Flowers, director of the Arkansas Highway & Transportation Department, said that Weaver-Bailey has won peer recognition for its craftsmanship.

"They're a very professional organization and do good work," Flowers added.

Weaver-Bailey has won numerous awards for building smooth-riding stretches of roadway from the Oklahoma/Arkansas Chapter of the American Concrete Pavement Association and others. A few examples of company projects garnering accolades include:

• 4 mi. of new construction on Interstate 540 from Frog Bayou to Mountainburg in northwest Arkansas
  
• 7 mi. of new construction on Interstate 530 from U.S. Highway 65 to U.S. Highway 63 in Pine Bluff, Ark.
  
• 7 mi. of new construction on I-440 from U.S. Highway 67-167 in Sherwood to Interstate 40 in North Little Rock
  
• 4 mi. of reconstruction on U.S. Highway 67-167 between Bald-Knob and Judsonia in central Arkansas

Earlier this year, a joint venture between Weaver-Bailey and Jensen Construction Co. of Des Moines, Iowa, landed the largest highway contract ever awarded by the state highway department.

The $57.9 million project encompasses reconstructing 6.3 mi. of roadway on I-40 in North Little Rock between I-430 and I-30. Four lanes of traffic will be expanded to six along with a new barrier wall and six reconstructed bridges and an overpass.

In June, a motorist tried to take a shortcut through the construction site to beat some rush-hour traffic. The woman zipped past barricades and a large Do Not Enter sign and was in the process of accelerating when she drove into a large patch of wet concrete that brought her to an abrupt halt.

"She wouldn't get out of her car and left her engine running," said Charles Weaver, patriarch of the family business. "When they were winching her vehicle out of there, the concrete was starting to set up because of the heat from her engine, and it almost pulled her tires off." The Arkansas State Police issued multiple traffic tickets to help the motorist remember her dangerous escapade.

The family's roots in the construction business go back to the 1930s when relatives traveled from job to job doing carpentry and concrete finishing work on government projects. As a teenager, Charles Weaver mixed mortar for rock and brickwork for his father, Darrell. His first job after graduating from high school in 1952 was spotting dump trucks on the excavation crew for the Tennessee Valley Authority's Shawnee Steam Plant in Paducah, Ky.

After college, he went on to work as a chemist doing water and coal analysis for the TVA.

In 1960, Weaver-Bailey Contractors was launched when brothers-in-law Voyne Weaver and Joe Bailey formed the venture. Back then, the focus of the business was concrete slabs and driveways for residential developments in central Arkansas.

Fred Weaver joined the firm as an investor and was followed several years later by Charlie Weaver, the third brother to work at the company. In 1967, Weaver-Bailey expanded its market interests by making its first foray into bidding on highway projects.

Charles Weaver worked as a salesman for L&S Concrete Co. of North Little Rock, a ready-mix business in which Weaver-Bailey held a 33 percent stake. The family members bought control of L&S in the '70s and added Gilliam Brothers Inc. of Little Rock to their ready mix holdings in 1986.

L&S Concrete provided concrete for what was a record-setting 169,500-sq.-ft. slab in March 1996. During a 24-hour pour, 314 truckloads of concrete were hauled in for Rank Video Services America (now Deluxe Media Services) in North Little Rock.

"They've done some very significant projects with us," said Lewis May, chief executive officer of May Construction Co. in Little Rock, general contractor on the Rank Video project.

"Charlie, Don and their whole family are just quality people."

In the mid-1980s, Charles Weaver bought out his relatives to become sole owner of the varied concrete interests. In 1998, the Weavers exited the ready-mix business after deciding to cash in on the consolidation trend of large national firms buying up firms such as L&S and Gilliam Brothers.

At the time of the sale, the companies had nine concrete plants at six locations, with a fleet of 80 ready-mix trucks and 13 over-the-road trucks.

"We thought we were downsizing when we sold the ready mix business," Charles Weaver said.

Instead, the Weavers geared up to open their 300-acre quarry operation, which has been a good investment that is getting better. Webco Mining produced 200,000 tons in its first full year of operations in 1999. In 2002, the output hit 800,000 tons.

The venture had a record month in July went it churned out 120,000 tons of material. The quarry is part of a 6,000-acre spread that Charles Weaver assembled, most of which is devoted to the family's cattle and tree farm.

The company has made a point of buying the latest equipment and technology to stay competitive. For instance, the firm purchased the first slipform curb and gutter machine in Arkansas in 1971.

"If you don¹t stay updated, we feel like you're falling behind," Don Weaver said. The firm's unwritten corporate philosophy is that "we believe that if you treat people right it will all work out in the end," Charles Weaver said.

Don Weaver added, "We try to treat our employees like we want to be treated."