“Expect the best when you work with Lindamood.” Those are the words that guide mother-and-son team, President/CEO Kayla Lindamood and Vice President/COO Jake Lindamood, as they lead their business that has been family owned and operated since 1975.
Lindamood specializes in demolition, earthmoving, and heavy civil construction in the Irving, Texas, area and throughout the Southeast and Southwest. Its founder, Bobby Lindamood, Sr., started the business focusing on earthwork for house pads and expanded services with the help of Jake and Kayla until his passing in 2009. His guidance and knowledge have kept the company growing today, with expanded services to additional parts of the U.S.
“Dad started the business with one track loader before moving into demolition, heavy hauling, and more. My mother started working with him in the 1980s, and then I came on as a young kid,” Jake said. “Today, we have around 400 employees and 250 to 300 pieces of equipment, not counting trucking.”
For Jake, the equipment is one of the most appealing aspects of operating Lindamood.
“One of the reasons I followed my father's footsteps into the industry is that I lived and breathed equipment and tractors when I was a little kid,” he said. “I played with Tonka toys until my parents made me come inside. I just never could get enough of it. I was raised on these job sites my whole life, so it’s in my blood.”
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According to Jake, he would spend time riding with his dad and other equipment operators and continued to cultivate his interests in machinery as he grew older. He has worked as a mechanic, operator, and semi-truck driver.
Today, Lindamood’s fleet has one of the largest high-reach booms in the South at 120 feet tall, plus new excavators from SANY that Jake learned about from his dealer, Landmark Equipment — powered by EquipmentShare. The SANY SY365C and SANY SY500H are among a larger class of hydraulic excavators, offering an operating weight of 80,910 pounds and 120,520 pounds, respectively. The relationship between Lindamood and Landmark led to the purchase of the SANY excavators.
Lindamood provides demolition, excavation, and heavy hauling to keep its customers’ projects — no matter how large or small — on time and within budget. The company also has a proven record of safety and environmental stewardship. Lindamood follows LEED green building practices for its demolition projects, recycles concrete and metal, and mulches lumber.
“I think the reason that people like doing business with Lindamood is we do what we say,” Jake said. “We try our hardest to have the best equipment on site. We follow the lead of the GCs [general contractors] or the owner. We work with them ahead of time to help plan their project. And we're honest people. We can also offer turnkey solutions that shave weeks or even months off our customers’ schedules.”
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Jake sees similar efficiencies, transparency, and commitment to excellence in the work Landmark does.
“We've got a great relationship with Landmark,” he said. “We rented equipment from them for years and now purchase from them through the dealership side of the business. Their decision to carry SANY equipment was a bonus. They're on the ball when we need them to be out here. Luckily, we don't have many issues with the SANY excavators, but they have an inventory of parts just for us if we need them.”
According to Jake, Landmark listened to what Lindamood needed in its new excavators, taking into account some issues they had with other manufacturers and coming back with the SANY solutions. The equipment has the features Jake and his team of operators are looking for, along with the right warranty hours and buyback options.
“We want to run these machines as long as we can,” Jake said. “We're running around 100 excavators now, and we want to rotate these things out every five to six years. We haven’t had a breakdown yet, but it’s going to happen. It’s part of the industry. But I truly feel when that happens, Landmark will make sure that we're successful in our project by supporting us in any way they can.”
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Both excavators have been designed with powertrains and hydraulic components intended for reliable performance and long lives. That is particularly important given that some projects Lindamood takes on, like the recent site development for a future data center, can be intensive.
While Lindamood manages projects in industries ranging from mining and power generation to heavy highway, rail, and wastewater, the boom in data center development has brought additional work to the company. The 45-acre data center site it is currently developing posed some challenges. Jake and his operators were able to tackle these with their in-depth knowledge — and by relying on the SANY SY365C and SANY SY500H Hydraulic Excavators.
Because of the site’s location in Texas, the main challenge came from the soil. In this instance, it is heavy clay, which required Lindamood to perform soil moisture conditioning to excavate and grade the area properly for the data center foundation.
“On this project, we had over 400,000 yards of moisture conditioning to do. We used the SANY to dig the soil out to a certain depth, around 10 to 15 feet, and then we put the optimum amount of moisture back in the soil to make sure it didn’t swell,” Jake said. “We did this under all the building pads and the pavement because the soil expands, and we want it to expand as much as it can before we put the dirt back in place.”
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Jake further explained that they also have around 230,000 tons of base to import to put on all the building pads and about 140,000 yards of soil to export off the job site. The import/export and soil moisture conditioning process encouraged a stable base for the upcoming construction.
According to Jake, the two SANY hydraulic excavators got the job done through a combination of proven performance and simple features.
As with other equipment in its fleet, Lindamood built out the SANY excavators so they are capable of both demolition and earthwork, which optimizes the machines’ utilization across the company. For this project, Jake and his operators appreciated that the SY365C 80,000-pound class excavator could be taken off a demolition job and fitted with a large bucket to take care of excavation work. Low- and high-pressure hydraulics make that possible. The SY365C excavator, for example, features optimized negative flow hydraulics. These improve operating efficiency by up to 5 percent, with the added benefit of increasing fuel efficiency up to 10 percent.
The SANY SY365C offers a gross power of 275 horsepower (hp) with a dig depth of 23 feet 11 inches, while the SANY SY500H provides a gross power of 399.6 hp and a dig depth of 25 feet 3 inches. Jake especially likes the combination of power and weight of the SANY SY500H excavator.
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“That 500 class machine is up there on the higher spectrum of weight, around 120,000 pounds,” he said. “So for this wet soil, it has the extra weight to not tip, and it’s able to handle the job. The SY365C is just as reliable and also powerful. They both hold up in this soil and have done a great job for us.”
The responsiveness and ease of control are additional features that Jake and Lindamood operators appreciate about the SANY excavators.
“These are very smooth machines. Everything operates just how it should,” Jake said.
“The controls are great when you lift it up,” Equipment Operator Juan Tamayo agreed. “The machines are responsive and fast. For a new heavy equipment operator, the controls may be a bit faster than they’ve experienced with other equipment, but they can start off with the [slower settings] to get the hang of it.”
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Operator Ramiro Garcia also likes the controls. “They're responsive,” he said. “They work great and do what you need them to do.”
Safety and comfort are also important factors associated with the SANY hydraulic excavators.
“We put cages on the front of all our machines for window guard. It's not really required in the dirt industry, but I think it helps. Safety comes first,” Jake said. “These guys may be digging through here and hit a root or a rock, so we always want the front window protection. We also spec a little heavier underguard protection in between the tracks and the mainframe. That way if dirt piles up on there, it doesn’t bend it. But that's one great thing about SANY. Most of all, that naturally comes on the machine, which makes it ideal for Lindamood.”
Tamayo and Garcia also like the comfort and visibility offered by the excavators.
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“The visibility is good. You can see through the front, and it also has the rearview mirrors and the backup camera,” Tamayo said. “The spacious cab is nice. If it's cold in the morning, I put the heater up a little bit, and it gets me pumping and ready to take on the day.”
“The cab is great. A pretty good space,” Garcia added. “I’m in the cab about 10 hours a day, and I can get out of the machine with no problem because of the comfort of the cab.”
Along with these benefits, Lindamood employees enjoy operating the SANY hydraulic excavators because of their simplicity.
“SANY offers back-to-basics machines that go out and get the job done. Not every machine needs every bell and whistle. We need something that has hydraulics and is fast,” Jake said. “We do demolition. We move dirt. We don’t need all the electronics and the weight sensors and the huge screens inside.”
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According to Jake, SANY “has really kept to the basics of what an excavator needs to be, and that's worked very well for Lindamood.” He said that simplicity is one of the main things that drove them to love these excavators.
“I really like operating the SANY excavators, especially the 365,” Tamayo agreed. “I've worked with them in rock, concrete, and dirt, and they do the job right.”
The simplicity of the SANY excavators has also reduced their equipment costs, which is always welcome when running a large fleet-based business.
“The price of the SANY excavators has really helped us be even more competitive on job sites,” Jake said. “We can start lowering our bid rates, but we weren't able to do that with other machines. At the end of the day, we can make more money.”
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Jake recognizes that the growth and success of Lindamood is the result of hard work, which will drive the business in the future — a sentiment Kayla shares.
“We just want to do a good job for everybody and grow our family of employees,” he said. “Supporting our clients and doing a controlled growth of the business is what keeps us on top of everything. As COO of Lindamood, one of the things I'm most proud of is that growth and taking on some of the most challenging projects.”
The SANY excavators and an ongoing relationship with Landmark is also positioning Lindamood for more success.
“Having Landmark literally in our backyard from my office in my shop has been great,” Jake said. “Companies like ours and theirs have the same values in this region and industry. We love what we do, and we try to be the best at it we can. So do they.”
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And for those who are not familiar with SANY equipment, Jake says to give them a chance.
“We tried something new, and the SANY excavators fit our mode,” he said. “I would say to anybody who’s nervous to move away from what they’re comfortable with, give it a try because it could really turn your company around. Their equipment has given us a whole different outlook, and it has done very well for us.”
