Boyce Excavating

Over the course of four generations, Boyce Excavating has made a name for quality and efficiency in the site work and utility game. The business opened its doors in the late 1930s — current president Garry Boyce Jr. says his records indicate 1939 as the official starting point, founded by his great-grandfather, Jack Boyce Sr. With more than 75 years in the construction industry, this family business has a reputation for being able to accommodate projects of all sizes.

“A lot of what sets us apart from our competitors has to do with the name,” explains Brian Cutler, the company’s vice president. “People in the area know Boyce Excavating. The rest is the work we do; our history; our resume. We did the only hospital built in New York state in the last 35 years — all the site work.”

With an equipment fleet exceeding 100 machines and a staff of around the same size based in Slate Hill, New York, no job is too big or too small. In an era when speed is crucial and projects are going up faster than ever, it makes a big difference when a contractor has the resources in-house to perform. Clients, who include general contractors, developers and municipalities, know that Boyce Excavating can get the job done within the time allotted.

A history of expertise

Over the course of the company’s history, Boyce Excavating has changed hands within the family several times. Garry purchased the company from his father, Garry Boyce Sr., in 2005 and has been leading the team ever since. Decades ago, Boyce Excavating specialized in trucking. For a time, the business provided general contracting services but currently serves exclusively as a site work contractor.

The firm’s portfolio is primarily composed of commercial site work, and municipal utility projects. “We’re doing earth work for commercial and industrial projects, which often includes drainage, concrete curbs and sidewalks and asphalt paving,” says Cutle
r. “We do quite a bit of landscaping, though we sub that out on some of the larger projects. Our role is to take a site from a patch of woods or field to where you can put up a building – though we are not involved in blasting or tree clearing. We also do a lot of municipal water and wastewater piping and sewers.”

While much of the site work aspect of the business is seasonal, Boyce Excavating keeps a year-round full-time staff of approximately 35 people. “We have six in-house mechanics for our fleet who are here year-round,” Cutler elaborates. “We have eight people in the office. There are around 20 guys in the field, many of them are snowplowing, but we try to take on sewer and water main pipe work in the winter. And we keep our foremen on all year.”

In-house capabilities at work

Boyce Excavating completes dozens of projects each year, at varying sizes and scopes. The team typically stays within an hour of its home base in Slate Hill, operating in the areas between New York City and Albany, New York. The last decade has brought changes in the commercial construction market and Boyce, Cutler and their colleagues have kept up by building strong relationships with clients.

Over the last eight years, the health care market has been fairly strong. Boyce cites frequent work for doctors’ offices and hospitals. “We have an ongoing relationship with Crystal Run Healthcare,” recounts Boyce. “My dad built the first doctors’ office for the lead physician and we just built his hospital. He operates several locations including this huge hospital that competes with all the major hospitals in the area.”

Crystal Run Healthcare

Other recent work includes the site work for the Orange County Airport runway, several municipal utility projects and a number of warehouse projects. The team recently completed site and utility work for a new Old Dominion shipping and warehousing facility.

Another project known mysteriously as “Project Blackhawk,” is laying the groundwork for a major pharmaceutical company’s facility. “We won’t know the name until they open,” notes Cutler. “But this is a huge trucking warehouse with shipping and receiving for this pharmaceutical company. This was a big site work project at approximately 300,000 yards. That’s what we go after and nobody else around here has the equipment fleet like
us. We have 25 excavators, several pan scrapers and we can do the work for half the price of competitors because we have the equipment in-house.”

The team is currently eyeing new opportunities, sending out bids and scoping schedules for upcoming projects. Now and in the years ahead, Boyce Excavation’s experience, expertise and in-house resources present quality, efficiency and reliability to clients in the commercial, municipal and industrial sectors throughout New York’s Capital District and the Hudson Valley.