The American way: Southern California's American Wrecking Inc. shines brightly in the Golden State

Construction & Demolition Recycling, Nov-Dec, 2007 by Brian Taylor

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Cooperation in the competitive endeavor of establishing a small business can be a difficult thing to maintain. But the three people who own and lead American Wrecking Inc., South El Monte, Calif., have established the type of cooperative relationship worthy of a business management textbook case study.

Brothers Pepe and Jerry Galaviz and their friend Bob Hall each play critical roles in the ongoing management of the multi-faceted demolition and recycling company. And while each man can sometimes pick up the slack for another, each has also placed great trust in the others as the business has grown.

This unwritten pact of mutual trust and confidence has allowed American Wrecking to grow from a one-truck enterprise billing less than $1 million per year in 1984 to a company of more than 110 employees that may be working at up to 18 sites at one time.

L.A. STORY

As the second largest metropolitan statistical area in the United States, the Los Angeles region sees an incredible number of business start-ups in any given year.

Being a gateway area for immigrants from Latin America and Asia infuses Los Angeles with an additional amount of entrepreneurial zeal.

Brothers Pepe and Jerry Galaviz are among the immigrants in Southern California who have followed up on their plan to graduate from worker to business owner.

Pepe had entered the construction and demolition field as a heavy equipment operator, working for smaller subcontractors and eventually Cleveland Wrecking, a sizable demolition contractor based in Covina, Calif.

In the early 1980s, Pepe struck out on his own by starting Galaviz Loader Service. He and his brother Jerry operated a loader and dump truck to perform as a subcontractor at construction and demolition sites.

In 1984, the brothers purchased the assets of American Wrecking Co., which included the critical component of a California demolition license.

As start-up demolition company owners often do, the Galaviz brothers built their business up by steps, moving from houses up to smaller commercial buildings and often serving as subcontractors to larger construction and demolition firms.

Among the firms the company served was Cleveland Wrecking, where Bob Hall worked in a management role that brought him into regular contact with his former co-worker Pepe Galaviz.

Since each admired the way the others operated, the notion of all three of them working together was eventually approached. "They persuaded me to join them in 1994," recalls Bob.

The partnership has proven to be a winning formula for American Wrecking. In the ensuing 13 years, the company has grown year-over-year while adding personnel, equipment and winning bids.

Today, Bob and Jerry estimate that the company has some 94 employees, two dozen semi truck trailers, 20 excavators, 18 skid-steer loaders, eight large wheel loaders and a fleet of nearly 30 pick-up trucks that allow site supervisors and those researching bids to visit several current and potential job sites in one day.

The company has grown in scale, but it remains driven by the vision and hard work of its three key managers.

American Wrecking has also helped its bottom line by focusing on the recycling of materials from the outset, always assessing jobs not only for the scrap potential, but also salvage and re-use possibilities.

WASTE NOT

Among the first jobs that Pepe Galaviz had in the Southern California demolition market was one involving cleaning and grading individual bricks for potential re-sale.

That practice remains very much in place at many American Wrecking job sites, as the market for reusable whole red bricks remains a healthy one in Southern California.

At a demolition job site in Alhambra, Calif., a crew of four workers demonstrates how the process takes place. Bricks from a recently dismantled academic building are inspected by the workers and placed onto one of several nearby pallets.

According to Jerry Galaviz, older, darker bricks are the most valuable and are often re-used in the construction of upscale Southern California homes. In particular, bricks that carry an imprint that can help identify the origin and manufacturing timeframe are especially valued by homebuilders.

Red bricks are not the only salvageable item that American Wrecking keeps in mind. Timber and lumber that can be harvested without endangering a project's timetable is also salvaged.

Often, this lumber is marketed through a sister company with facilities in Durango, Mexico. Importaciones Inmobiliarias Galaviz also sells salvaged steel beams and other building materials for which there is a ready market in Mexico. Bob refers to it as the "Durango Home Depot."

American Wrecking also keeps a sharp eye out for fixtures, components or machinery that may have a resale value at a given job site, such as some electrical control panels at the Alhambra site.

"Some demolition contractors don't allow much for salvage, be we allow salvage value and credit it back to the cost of the job," says Bob. "We'll share that information with the owner of the property or the developer--whoever is the customer."