Power to the Preppers

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DXI Construction lays the groundwork for greatness as the Mid-Atlantic’s premiere site preparation firm.

DXI Construction really digs groundwork. As the premiere construction site preparation contractors in the Mid-Atlantic, DXI takes on complex, difficult, and fascinating projects that often take on aspects of archaeological digs, given the rich history of the areas in which they work: Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia.

“We have the culture and the history of a small, closely-held business that really cares about its people and its clients, but we've grown to have incredible capabilities to handle the largest and most complex projects that we undertake in the region,” Michael Dorsch, DXI’s Director of Business Development, told BOSS.

The expertise required in proper site prep and pre-construction work often eclipses the capabilities of general contractors, who turn to DXI for their expertise in creating the ideal setups for large commercial, industrial, and government construction projects.

“We specialize in turnkey site preparation, which means everything from clearing the land, grading, excavating, to wet and dry underground utilities, pad preparation, and paving,” he said. Demolition is also part of the comprehensive services they provide, as well as soil stabilization and stormwater management.

Specialized construction capabilities include wetland restoration, shoreline stabilization and restoration, site surface demolition, retaining walls, leachate collection tanks, pumping stations, and pedestrian bridges.

“There are a lot of pitfalls and pratfalls that a contractor can run into when they start digging in the ground and preparing these sites, especially when it comes to cut and fill,” he explained. Balancing the amount of soil to be cut and/or filled on a construction site is a key issue on many projects. Despite the advance contributions of engineers and site planners, site preparation can hold many surprises that are only revealed once DXI arrives on the job.

“We go to great lengths during pre-construction to understand what's there,” Dorsch stressed. Soil testing and analysis reveals the condition of the ground, its suitability for the project’s purpose, and whether dirt must be removed and replaced.

“We also use our technology and expertise to help balance the site as best as possible to minimize the expense of hauling soil on or off site,” he noted, adding that underground utilities add complexity to the process. “Stormwater, supply water, wastewater, electrical conduits — all those things have to be treated with expertise in order to get a high-quality product at the end of the project. That's what we provide that most general contractors are not equipped to do.”

DXI’s extensive fleet of equipment is fitted with GPS technology for state-of-the-art site management, and leverages CAD and 3D modeling technology to accurately forecast material estimates. The resulting digitized models guide the GPS-enabled equipment in the field to make sure the completed job is on time, on or under budget, and executed to the client’s satisfaction. Drones are used to evaluate job progress from an aerial perspective.

“The use of technology has enabled us to react much more quickly, provide more accurate data and material estimates, and to be much more responsive to our clients,” Dorsch said.

Given that their service area is the seat of our nation’s government, home to many federal and municipal offices and military installations, DXI maintains a stellar safety record and all of the qualifications necessary to engage in work immediately upon winning a job, including city and county-specific qualifications, USACE, DoD, high-security clearances, and hazardous site projects. In addition, DXI holds specialty qualifications to work in the energy and mining sectors.

Among the many projects currently in their portfolio, DXI is engaged in the largest redevelopment project in the nation, Tradepoint Atlantic. The planned multimodal port and distribution complex spans 3,200 acres just outside Baltimore Harbor, and will host Amazon, Under Armour, Home Depot, Volkswagen, and a host of other warehousing clients. “The site was used for shipbuilding back in World War II and Bethlehem Steel was there for over a century, and what we've run into there has been incredible,” Dorsch said.

Speaking of the massive challenge of discovering and demolishing layers of pre-existing infrastructure, Dorsch recalled breaking down a tunnel only to find a larger one beneath it.

“Nobody knew it was there. We found giant iron ore and steel ingots, some as big as a passenger van. The last one I saw would fill an entire room. You can't just pick that stuff up and move it, so crews spent weeks out there cutting them up with torches just to get them out of the way so we could continue our work.”

An innovator on every level, DXI applied ingenuity to mountains of old blast furnace slag, waste from the steelmaking process. “We've come up with a way to crush that slag and process it to make structural fill material and use it on site for building huge pads for the million to 2 million square foot warehouses that will be build.”

A culture centered on customer experience is a cornerstone of DXI’s success, which can be seen in its high customer retention rates: over 70 percent of its business comes from repeat customers.

“We come from a small business type of culture and we’ve maintained that even though we've grown significantly from our roots.” Members of the founding Dixon family still work for the firm, despite having sold DXI to former employee Shawn Pyle in 2017.

“It's a culture of learning and growth and teamwork. We all work together to satisfy our clients. Everybody comes together as one team to get the job done and we have a deeply ingrained culture of safety. Our folks are trained not only on the equipment they’re going to be using, but they also get continuous training in their area of expertise. ... Our team holds over 2,200 different certifications so, there's not a project we can't work on because we don't have qualified people with the proper training. That's always been a big part of our culture as well.”

“We pride ourselves on the fact that we have the capacity and the desire to move a lot of dirt in a hurry, and in our ability to provide the skilled professionals and state-of-the-art equipment needed to get jobs done on time, on or under budget, and meet our deadlines. If we commit to completing a project in a certain manner and timeframe, we live up to it come hell or high water. Often it is high water that creates the challenge,” he chuckled.