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Concrete Comes Full Circle

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Left to right: Formco Foundations Operations Manager John Graber, Owner Kirby Justesen and General Manager Paul Smoot.

Through smart equipment purchases and minor business refocusing, Formco Foundations was able to weather a changing market and move from performing 85 percent residential/15 percent commercial to a 50/50 split over the course of just a few months.

Formco Foundations supplies all the materials on its jobs, which gives the company quality control and allows management to build strong relationships with suppliers.

Three major mobilizations were required in building the footings and foundations in this complex, 25,000-square-foot-plus mountaintop home.

Formco Foundations crews dealt with 11 wall heights in building its winning entry in the Basement of the Year Awards.

Formco Foundations is currently using its crane trucks to set its Big Panels, but owner Kirby Justesen, who is always looking for ways to improve his company, says he's looking for equipment that will help his crews more efficiently set the new panels.

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By Rebecca Wasieleski

It can be a disappointing realization to work at something for years only to find yourself back to where you started. Not so for Kirby Justesen, owner of Formco Foundations out of West Jordan, Utah; especially when you're back and stronger than ever.

Justesen started Formco in 1992 as a footings and foundations business focused on residential concrete work after several years in business as a commercial concrete contractor. Justesen was looking to grow his company bigger but didn't feel he could in the commercial market at the time. "I had grown tired of the commercial end, and it seemed like it was easier to grow in the residential market because it was a bigger market. I could focus on one specific item in concrete and therefore gain efficiencies through having the best and most effective methods to do it," Justesen explains.

After expanding his business over the last 15 years and with the current residential downturn on the horizon, Justesen saw an opportunity to move his company in a direction that focused on commercial work in a way he wasn't able to before. The change has helped Formco weather the market fluctuations and put the company in a strong position for the future.

Building residential
Justesen started Formco with four employees building walls with a set of Symons forms. Over the years, he wasn't afraid to add equipment and learn new technologies to help grow his company. One of the first investments Justesen made in Formco was joining the Concrete Foundations Association (CFA). With the association, he was able to stay on top of industry trends and found mentors in contractors all over the country who could answer his questions about their experiences in the footings and foundations market. "I think that our eventual expansion beyond footings and foundations came out of the people at the CFA who gave me ideas," Justesen says.

Soon after establishing Formco, Justesen realized the convenience of having an in-house excavation crew. Justesen says he doesn't push the excavation services, but having the skills and equipment to perform the work is helpful. He now offers both cast-in-place and precast block retaining wall systems to compliment the excavation services. The 1990s also saw Justesen add aluminum forms and crane trucks to his equipment lineup.

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