Hubbard Construction Co.

Hubbard Construction Co. (HCC) has become one of Florida’s largest heavy civil construction companies since its inception in 1920. The business is headquartered in Winter Park, Fla., with three additional locations strategically located throughout the state.

With locations in Jacksonville, Oakland Park, Tampa, as well as Winter Park, Fla., the company is able to serve all major markets in the state with top-of-the-line equipment and industry leading experience in the public and private market. HCC has diverse in-house capabilities with four construction divisions, three paving divisions, five asphalt plants, four state-of-the-art equipment shops and a materials supply division.

Tony Geach, director of business development HCC, began as a division and operations manager before transitioning to his current role four years ago. “This is one of the oldest infrastructure companies in Florida,” Geach explains. “We have a lot to be proud of. Hubbard and our more than 550 employees will be celebrating our 94th birthday in 2014. In those 94 years Hubbard has performed billions of dollars of infrastructure work and has helped the state of Florida develop one of best transportation and highway systems in the United States.”

A Strong Set of Services

HCC works with a wide range of public and private customers, including counties, municipalities, ports, airports, the Florida Department of Transportation, as well as major tourist attractions. “We perform all facets of road and bridge building,” Geach notes. “We do a lot of large scale infrastructure, design-build and private public partnership [PPP] work in the state of Florida and the southeast United States. We have built a solid reputation as a bid-build and major design-build contractor.”

The company has been involved in a number of complex projects, and is able to self-perform between 60 and 70 percent of the work on each contract. “We subcontract out specialty items, such as electrical work, toll buildings, signing and striping,” Geach explains. “We know we can rely on our network of engineers and subcontractors, and we work with them on a repeat basis.”

Recently, the team has delivered a number of highway projects, as the state of Florida has been transitioning into a new concept in traffic control that utilizes express lanes on a toll basis to reduce traffic congestion. Drivers utilize Florida’s SunPass transponders and pay varying tolls, depending on current traffic patterns.

“We have been working on the I-95 Express Managed lanes in Miami,” Geach says. “Much of Florida is going with this new pattern and there are similar projects coming in other locations throughout the state. These types of projects are not only popular in Florida but in other locations in the country, as well.”

A Changing Market

Much of the construction industry was impacted when the economy slowed down in the mid-2000s. “Fortunately, through state and federal funding and initiatives, the market in Florida is turning on an upward swing,” Geach explains. “The industry is really picking up in our areas.”

The company has been fortunate for a number of reasons. Hubbard Group is owned by parent company Eurovia, a large network of 330 companies that operate in 17 countries across the globe. Solid support from related businesses allow HCC to enjoy stability as markets fluctuate. Additionally, the large team is comprised of hundreds of professionals, leading the market in experience and capabilities.

Alan Cahill, president and CEO of HCC, has positioned the company for controlled and continued growth. Currently, Cahill and the team are preparing for a number of upcoming major projects.
“We are putting a lot of focus on design-build and private public partnership work,” Geach explains. “We have a lot of bidding opportunities in front of us. We are pushing to stay where our infrastructure work is. The private market is starting to pick up, as well, with more detailed paving work. We have done a lot of work for Disney over the last 40 years, including monorails, roadways and parking lots, and we look forward to helping them grow well into the future.”

As the private sector picks up, HCC is looking forward to expanding services and capabilities to continue meeting the needs of a varying client base. Whether working on a transportation system for Disney or the Florida Department of Transportation, the crew continues to embrace a culture of safety, quality and professional ethics. These qualities guarantee many successful years to come as Hubbard Construction Co. approaches a full century in business.