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Following a Vision for Success • Norman Hubbard and HUBCO, Inc. •

Norman Hubbard has been in the construction business ever since he can remember. "My dad ran D8’s and D7’s in his asphalt/dirt work business," says Norman. "When I wasn’t in school, I was often sitting on one of his machines alongside the operator, ‘helping’ work the job." Later, as a teenager, Norman operated equipment for his father on weekends and during the summer.

In 1972, Norman bought a motorgrader from his dad and went into business for himself. He started out following in his father footsteps, doing asphalt repair and small dirt jobs, but Norman envisioned a bigger organization with more equipment to tackle bigger projects. He soon graduated to commercial building pads and parking lots. Ten years later, Hubbard’s company, HUBCO, Inc., entered the highway paving business as a subcontractor, working for general contractors, such as Jones-Finke, McCarthy Brothers, Williams Brothers and J. D. Abrams.

Today, HUBCO usually works as the general contractor, doing soil stabilization, concrete paving, underground utilities, milling and asphalt paving. According to Norman, "We do just about everything there is to do in the civil field." HUBCO continues to serve the commercial side of the business, as well, having formed a separate sector of the company to specialize in that area.

	HUBCO is currently replacing existing culverts in San Jacinto County with those featuring Safety End Treatments.

The Northwest Houston firm has grown to nearly 300 employees with an equipment fleet of some 150 machines, most of which are Caterpillar. HUBCO job sites are scattered throughout east and central Texas. One job is a 30-acre parking lot in Dallas for the world’s largest auto auction. This project involves moving 60,000 yards of material, soil stabilization, underground utilities and asphalt paving. The company is looking at an opportunity to do a 250-acre lot for the same company in Las Vegas, NV. Another current project is on Highway 10 in Houston for Balfour-Beatty, involving some 90,000 tons of hot mix, some to be laid at night.

Norman pays close attention to his jobs, but direct supervision of HUBCO’s projects is divided between general superintendents George Bergen and Rick Diffly. Tommy Miles is HUBCO’s equipment manager.

In Norman’s business, equipment availability is crucial. He can’t afford to have a fleet of trucks tied up, waiting for a machine to get repaired. That’s why he’s stayed with Caterpillar. "Availability is a top priority for us, but resale value and service support are other important considerations," says Norman. "As far as I’m concerned, you can’t beat Caterpillar in those three areas."

HUBCO’s operating experience has shown that the Cat D-5G’s prove to be: “stronger, bigger and faster than the competitive machines.”

HUBCO’s Mustang parts and service rep is Neal Childers, who has recently enrolled the company on the Cat filter program. HUBCO is also a strong believer in Cat Custom Track Service. "We’ve never put anything under a Cat track machine other than a Cat undercarriage," states Hubbard. "We might save a little money on Brand X, but in the long haul, we get better undercarriage life using Caterpillar parts."

An interesting application HUBCO is involved with is using a Caterpillar M318 rubber-tired excavator on culvert work on two DOT projects in San Jacinto County. This machine is equipped with a swiveling quick-coupler and two buckets – an excavating bucket and a clean-out bucket. The projects involve placing culverts under existing roadways, as well as replacing roadside culverts with installation of Safety End Treatments (SETs) to those culverts. The SETs allow vehicles leaving the road to ride up over the culvert instead of slamming into it. The M318 is ideally suited to this type of project as it can quickly ditch across roadways to allow placement of the culvert, then switch buckets to clean out the roadside ditches, all without any damage to the existing roads.

	Photographed at their Northwest Houston headquarters is (l to r): HUBCO’s owner Norman Hubbard, Mustang Sales Rep Ken Rickett, Equipment Manager Tommy Miles, General Superintendent George Bergen and Mustang Product Support Rep Neal Childers.

Recently, HUBCO converted its small dozer fleet to Caterpillar taking advantage of Cat’s Value Option (CVO) lease program, leasing ten Caterpillar D5G hystat track-type tractors. Under the same program, he leased eight Cat 420D backhoe-loaders. "It’s hard to beat low interest financing, monthly payments at about half the normal rental rate, with an option to either buy after three years or send it back in exchange for a new one," says Norman. "We’re thinking we might want to put the whole fleet under a program like that. Mustang really has some incredible financing programs."

Cat’s Value Option lease program enabled HUBCO to lease their equipment at competitive rates.

Norman is extremely pleased with his D5Gs, because they are stronger (90 HP), bigger and faster than the competitive machines they had used before. Plus they’ve satisfied his number one concern: "We’ve had them eight months and have had not one hour of downtime over that period," he says, "something we were certainly not used to with the competitive brand we had been using." He’s been similarly pleased with the 420D’s.

Ken Rickett has worked with Norman Hubbard, first as a Mustang parts and service manager, and later as his machine sales rep for more than 15 years. " Ken knows my business and that’s a great asset,’ says Norman. Ken says Norman is a great example of someone who has a dream for success and carries it out.

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