As 2014 begins, Bob and Becky Gilfoy, owners of B&B Excavation Inc. are celebrating their 15th anniversary in business, after spending nearly the same amount of time mastering all of their many services.
For the first 15 years, Gilfoy worked on his own. The last 15 years, he has worked with family. In fact, their company’s very name reflects the union of husband and wife.
Serving Cape Cod and beyond, B&B Excavation’s tagline motto is, “Let our family serve your family.” Family is everything for them, as is their lifelong residency and involvement in the picturesque community of Sandwich, Mass., one of the most popular spots for tourists all summer in the Upper Cape.
Before opening B&B Excavation Gilfoy had worked as a diverse laborer in the excavation field for 15 years. When he decided to go out on his own his family was completely behind him. He began the firm with just one excavator and a six-wheel dump truck. When it came time to make his first hires, he turned to his own son, Matt, and his son-in-law Rick, along with daughter Marci (Wright), who handles the phones and paperwork and handles community work through the local Chamber of Commerce.
His son Matt had truck-driving experience as well as running various pieces of heavy iron equipment, while Matt’s brother-in-law Rick was a seasoned mechanic, a vital role to keep the company vehicles in top shape.
Things started slowly and the men were often out searching for work, but soon, the Sandwich community’s familiarity with the family and their growing reputation for excellent quality of work and customer service began to spread.
“The majority of our business is through Title Five Septic Systems — design, installation, upgrade/repairs, inspections and maintenance,” said Bob Gilfoy. “We also provide services of lot clearing and demolition, foundation excavation, Bobcat services, roadway construction, drainage systems, and town water hook-ups and repairs.”
They began the company with a home office and eventually moved to an office/shop location. Word spread quickly about the business.
“Word of mouth is extremely important to us. We really don’t do much for advertising, but have been able to build our excavation company through referrals and repeat customers,” Gilfoy said. “Our employees are the backbone of our business. We are successful because of their hard work and dedication.”
Because of these referrals, B&B has added services to the company over the years. Rick and Matt became Massachusetts licensed septic inspectors.
“We have purchased two pump trucks for septic maintenance. We have also expanded the area in which we work to cover the entire Cape and some areas off the Cape as well,” said Gilfoy. “We now have twelve full-time employees, as well as part time help in the spring and summer months. We are starting our 15th year of service and we hope for many more.”
The company has expanded to include an oil division.
“We founded B&B Fuel in 2005 to provide home heating oil at reasonable rates and supplement our decrease in excavation work in the cold winter months,” said Gilfoy. “The majority of our work is for residential customers, though we have taken commercial projects as well.
“Most recently, we replaced the septic system at the Sandwich Public Library and received excellent reviews from the town of Sandwich. We have done excavation and septic work for hotels and commercial buildings in industrial parks as well.”
As far as solving challenges, B&B is foremost a family business and work together to address any issues.
“Our employees all realize that our business is also our family and we spend time together outside the job also,” said Wright. “We have great Christmas parties, employee appreciation dinners and even vacations together.”
With more than 30 years of total experience, B&B Excavation’s friendly and professional staff serves with reasonable prices and excellent quality of work.
“When we finish the job, your yard may even look better than before we arrived,” said Gilfoy.
A Tradition of Family and Service
When Matt married Beth she joined the team and became an excellent addition to the office staff. Bob and Becky have five grandchildren, who might represent the next generation of B&B. Marci and Rick have Matthew, Joshua and Kaitlyn, while Matt and Beth have Braden and Evan who may someday join the business.
“They already enjoy helping around the office, and are learning to operate equipment,” said Wright. “We consider all of our employees ’family,’ even if they aren’t blood related,” said Gilfoy.
Water and working with water is a top priority in Sandwich. The Cape Cod Canal passes through the Lower Cape through Bourne and around the town and empties into Buzzard’s Bay, the Cape Cod edge of the Atlantic.
Equally as precious to residents in this oceanfront vacation spot is the fresh water tributary that splits the very center of town, with the purest of drinking water. Neighbors and tourists come from miles around to fill countless bottles and jugs from this icy cold spring, in downtown Sandwich.
The community of Sandwich trusts B&B to manipulate water above and underground.
After 30 years of doing so, Bob and Becky are as much of a fixture in town as that gushing spring fountain which has satisfied so many.
“Our advice to a new company would be to build a good reputation for your business by providing excellent service and quality of work to your customers. We strive to exceed our customers’ expectations at all that we do — from the person you speak to on the phone to the employee who comes back to loam and seed your yard after work is complete,” said Wright. “We treat each job as if we were working at our own home and take care to make it look better when we leave than when we got there. We constantly receive phone calls and letters of thanks and praise.”
Many of those letters come from community organizations.
B&B excavating has often supported the Cape Cod YMCA, through projects and financial donations, and have received many plaques of recognition, which hold a special place on one wall in the office,” according to the family.
“We support Toys for Tots as a donation site and also our local food pantry,” said Gilfoy. “This Thanksgiving, we held a food drive and were able to donate over 1500 items to be distributed. For each item donated to us, we gave a raffle ticket and raffled off 500 gallons of free oil from our fuel company [B&B Fuel]. Several of us also volunteered time to the food pantry.”
“We are lifelong Sandwich residents and believe in supporting our community and showing our gratefulness for the way we have been able to grow our business,” said Gilfoy. “We also work with many excellent realtors who call us for septic inspections or upgrades on septic systems at properties they are selling.”
B&B Excavation’s office is located on 374 Route 130, Sandwich, Mass.
For more information call 508/477-0653 or visit www.bandbexcavationinc.com or www.bandbfuel.com.
Today's top stories
