GOODFELLOW 9/13/07 2:53 PM Page 64
GOODFELLOW BROS. INC.
materials,” he continues. “It can literally
take months to correct material issues.”
He adds that supply orders should al-
ways be well thought-out. “You don’t
want to sit around waiting for a work
item, because it can delay construction
for quite some time and that is very cost-
ly,” Goodfellow says.
Because materials take about a month
to be shipped in, the company spent six
months planning the Mokulele Highway
project prior to its construction. “To be
cost-effective, materials come in by barge
– plus we factor in how long the suppli-
ers can make the specific materials – so
once construction starts, we can move
quickly,” Goodfellow states.
Another challenge is the limited labor
pool. Due to the difficulty of traveling
between the islands, the company has to
make sure it has enough skilled labor for
its workload. Fortunately, Goodfellow says,
the company has been working in Maui
64 ■ CONSTRUCTION TODAY ■ OCTOBER 2007
since the 1970s and has established
many relationships over the years.
“We are lucky to retain skilled, dedicat-
ed and loyal workers both in the field and
with the administrative area,” he stresses.
‘A Good Neighbor’
The Mokulele Highway is located in an
agricultural corridor of sugar-cane fields,
Goodfellow says. “It is located in the basin
of the island known as the Valley Isle,
which is in between two large mountains
channeling the wind through the proj-
ect,” Goodfellow notes.
This past year has been extremely
windy, he continues, noting that daily
wind gusts can reach 60 miles per hour.
“We have to steadily battle against the
dust,” Goodfellow continues. “Our compa-
ny has a focus to work as environmental-
ly friendly as possible,” he says. “In the
spirit of being a good neighbor to users
and residents, we used recycled paper
mulch, and at times have provided three
times the amount of dust control than
required by the contract.
“It’s an ongoing battle every single
day,” Goodfellow adds. “Some days we
win, some days we have to stop our work-
day early, but that’s how it is when you
try to fight Mother Nature.”
Doing the Right Thing
Aside from its quality work, the compa-
ny’s focus on community service sets it
apart from other companies of it size.
Community involvement is encour-
aged throughout the company’s six other
offices – Oregon, Washington, Kauai,
Oahu, Big Island and Molokai – and
Maui is no exception. “Living on such a
small and isolated island, we have a
responsibility to help others in time of
need,” Goodfellow says. “That means,
when there is a fire that is threatening a
structure, we go and take our water
trucks and help fight the fire. We don’t
get paid for it, [and] our contract time
doesn’t stop, [but] we do it because it is
the right thing to do.”
Growing its Expertise
The company had not done a lot of pub-
lic works projects in Maui in recent
years, Goodfellow notes. The company is
performing roughly 40 percent public
work, compared to five years ago, when
infrastructure projects constituted only
20 percent of its portfolio. “We’re chang-
ing our business model to handle that
workload,” he states. “Since the state and
the government are [allocating] funds for
infrastructure, we anticipate that in the
next couple of years, [we’re going to do] a
much higher percent of public work.”
For now, however, Goodfellow Bros. is
focusing more on forming strategic part-
nerships. “This allows us to be more com-
petitive,” Goodfellow says. “We’re able to
focus more on what we do well, which is
dirt work vs. our competition who may
to do it all in-house. Starting things out
in a trusting environment gives users a
higher-quality project that is low in budg-
et and completed ahead of schedule.”
Dan Blackburn, corporate manager for
F&H Construction, praises Goodfellow
Bros. for its hard work. “We’ve got a lot of
good things going,” he states, “and [have]
continued plans to grow together.” ■