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Q&A with Jeanne Staton
AGC of Oregon's first woman president
has made her mark in a tough specialty market
By Mark Shaw
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Jeanne
Staton
PRESIDENT
STATON COMPANIES
Demolition Contractor
Eugene, Oregon
Born: I'm a 'web-footed' native of Eugene
Age: 58
Experience
> Worked in trucking business before coming to construction;
now over 30 years with Staton Co.
> First woman president at AGC of Oregon, five years ago
> AGC of America national board
Key Staton Co. Projects
> Springfield High School, Eugene
(first demolition project)
> Armitage Bridge demolition, Eugene
> Dillard Bridge implosion, Dillard, Ore.
> Lovejoy Viaduct demolition
> Klamath Falls Bridge demolition
E-mail:
jeanne@statonco.com
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When former AGC of oregon President Jeanne
Staton left the trucking business for the construction industry
over 30 years ago, she knew that she'd finally found her calling.
Constructor: Not many firms set out
to do only demolition work. How did that come about for you?
Staton: That's true of
us too. When we first started, we did a lot of sitework. Then
the city started an intense urban renewal program in the early
'70s, where they needed to tear down about half of downtown
Eugene. We demolished a lot of retail and public buildings,
and that got us started toward being more specialized. At
first, we didn't really know what we were doing, but eventually
we figured it out.
Constructor: That's still your focus,
demolition of buildings?
Staton: No, we still
do plenty of that, but in the '80s we were introduced to bridge
demolition. In fact, it was another AGC member who made our
first bridge project happen. We've done about a jillion since
then, all over Oregon and Washington. And that just keeps
getting better and better. Last fall, Oregon passed a $2.4-billion
bond measure to rebuild the state's bridges, which means that
a lot of the old ones will have to be torn down, so we've
got a lot of work ahead of us. The big challenge is to keep
the Oregon Dept. of Transportation from bundling those projects
so that smaller contractors like us can handle it. It's an
ongoing battle.
Constructor: And now you're almost exclusively
a demolition contractor?
Staton: Yes, that's what
we do. We are at about $6 million a year in volume now. But
we have to work hard at coming up with work that's appropriate
for us. We have a smaller field crew than some contractors,
but we're able to keep them working year round. For years
we had tried to be everything to everybody, plus we were undercapitalized,
so we had erratic success. Then in the early '90s, we did
an intense analysis of our customer base and most profitable
projects. We decided to zero in on more corporate and DOT
work. The shift allowed us to get rid of excess equipment
and buy the best tools for demolition. Now we also take down
old paper mills, malls and highway structures.
Constructor: How has the business changed
since you've been a part of it?
Staton: A big change
has been even more specialization and the need to do more
recycling of demo'd materials. The cost of landfilling has
gone through the roof, so it pays to be careful, sort it out
and pile it up. Also, there's more recycling of concrete and
asphalt now. Oregon is a pretty environmentally conscious
state, so recycling is a big deal here.
Constructor: How long have you been
with AGC?
Staton: We became members
about 15 to 20 years ago. For me, it's more than just the
benefits, which are great. It's the networking opportunities.
People look out for me there, and not just because I'm a woman
in the man's world of construction. My fellow contractors
are always trying to help. They know that I'm capable and
Staton has a good reputation. AGC has helped to bring us into
the center of the industry here. I don't know what I'd have
done without it and the friendships I've made there.
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