Business with a Handshake
ATL Construction, Inc. earns reputation 
of integrity and versatility
Scott Burgess, President of ATL Construction, Inc. (ATL), conducts business old school—with a handshake and his word. Sure, there is still paperwork to be completed, but once he has an estimate and the approval, he’s on the job.
Based in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts, ATL is a family-run business that has been operating for about 40 years. “Our strength is in our versatility,” Scott says. The company provides a number of construction services, including excavation, utilities, paving, street print, snowplowing, septic systems, trench work, equipment rental, demolition work, residential driveways and commercial parking lots. Most of the company’s work is done for developers and end users.
“It’s all about relationships,” Scott says. “Half of the projects we do are done with a handshake. There’s still paperwork flying back and forth, but we have about 15 clients that we work with regularly, and for the majority of them, we have that type of relationship.”
These longtime clients are comfortable with ATL and know that Scott and his crew will do whatever it takes to get jobs done right. “We don’t take shortcuts and we don’t skimp,” he says. “You’ve got to be able to switch directions at the drop of a hat. Some of our customers want to change the building or the way the parking lot goes, so we work with them to accommodate that. We do some design-build projects, and if we can save them some money and make the project flow better, too, then that’s what we should do.”
Two of ATL’s biggest clients are Conroy Development, which develops a variety of large projects including self-storage facilities for CubeSmart across the Boston area, and Eversource Energy, New England’s biggest energy delivery company.
ATL is on a response team with Eversource for power outages. “When there is a blizzard, we help them, whether it is re-ramping or building roads 20 miles through the woods to access the power lines that may be overgrown, to trucking their poles and supplies from one location to another,” Scott says.
Family First
ATL employs about 40 people, and Scott’s motto is “family first.”
“If employees have to leave early or come in late because they have a doctor’s appointment, I don’t ever tell them no. We’re happy to help them if they need a ride or with whatever they need,” he says.
Scott likes to hire military veterans when possible. “They understand structure and deadlines and know that the job has to get done,” he says. “They’re also on time, ready to work with no excuses.”
While his team is like family, his family is a big part of the company, too. Scott’s son, Johnny, works alongside him, as do Scott’s brothers, Mark and Eric. Running the office are Nick Perner (Scott’s stepson) and Diane Burgess (Scott’s wife).
“I believe in leading by example and so does my son,” Scott says. “When it was too hot this summer [at a site in Plymouth, Massachusetts], he would bring the crew water and send them home after lunch. He’s a kind-hearted guy, and that’s the way we handle things.”
Origins of ATL
Entrepreneurship is in Scott’s blood. His dad, Phil, was self-employed in the firewood business, and Scott worked around chain saws and in agriculture throughout his childhood. His mother, Sally, passed away when he was about 12 and that was a driving force for him to start mowing lawns, raking leaves and working for his father. He delivered firewood from the time he was big enough to unload trucks with his dad. Scott and his two brothers would cut and split more than 300 cords of wood each year.
Scott attended Norfolk County Agricultural High School and wanted to focus his studies on agricultural mechanics. There weren’t enough students to fill the program, so he wound up in what would now be called the horticultural program. He and some friends—Jim Young, Ed Baker and Brian White—worked evenings and weekends, landscaping and cutting trees to make some extra money. The boys called their business Acorn Tree and Landscape with the slogan of “Where the Nuts Are.” The name stuck with Scott, and he eventually shortened it to ATL for his own business. Around 1980, the trio disbanded and Scott carried on with the business.
After graduation, he kept working with trees and landscaping before he started doing paving. In the early 1980s, when the cable television industry was taking off, Scott got a call to fill in trenches after cables were placed underground. He didn’t have the proper equipment at the time, so he loaded up supplies in the back of his pickup. He could fill 30 driveways per truckload. As demand for his services grew, he knew he had to make an investment.
After some advice from his dad and his accountant, he invested the $70,000 he had earned into buying a 753 Bobcat, a 580 backhoe, an International® dump truck, a Pavemaster roller and an Ingersoll Rand air compressor.
Bump in the Road
Business was growing, then Scott hit some major snags in his personal life. Not long after Johnny was born, Scott and his first wife divorced, and Scott found himself as a single parent with an infant.
“At the time, I was a construction worker with about eight to 10 employees, starting my day at 6 a.m. every morning with a baby in a carrier, telling people which way to go and giving them their work orders before taking the baby to day care,” he recalls. “I developed a close relationship with my son because we were glued together those first three years. That’s when I met my wife, Diane, and we’ve been together ever since. We met on a blind date and it was love at first sight.”
Life changed again drastically in 2008. Business was booming, and Scott was in the process of buying a bigger building. He moved into the new facility, and less than three weeks later, 13-year-old Johnny ran into a clothesline, which turned his neck black and blue. A blood clot broke off in his neck and blocked the blood flow to his brain and he suffered a stroke.
Scott’s focus shifted fully to his son’s well-being.
“His whole left side was impaired,” Scott says. “He spent seven days in the ICU at Boston Children’s Hospital. Then, we spent another 10 days at the hospital and 60 days at Franciscan Children’s. I basically left my business when that happened.”
Longtime employees Paul Adamo and Chris Lade, plus Scott’s brothers, stepped in and kept the business running, along with Diane.
“I spent every day and night in the hospital with him,” Scott recalls. “I was in the middle of a complex $1 million building purchase that was hitting snags, and my wife advised me to just buy it and be confident that it would all work out. She was right.”
Johnny was discharged from the hospital in April 2008 with left-side impairment. His prognosis was good. But when he returned to school (the same school his father attended), he struggled with math. He got derailed trying to count past 18. Subtraction skills escaped him.
That’s when Johnny’s math teacher, Robert Hall, stepped up and said he would spend as much extra time as was needed to get Johnny back to normal.
“It was tough for Johnny, but he graduated and was even prom king,” Scott says. “His determination not to give up left a legacy for him at the school. Now, he works for the company, and he’s on the job every day at 4:30 a.m., unlocking the gate, getting the equipment running, running loaders, dozers.”
To honor Johnny’s incredible journey, Scott set up the Johnny B. Scholarship for Norfolk County Agricultural High School students with physical disabilities who plan to attend college. A panel at the high school selects the winner of the annual $500 scholarship. “That scholarship will live on forever,” Scott says. “It was important to me because Johnny has such a legacy at the school. He’s been out since 2012, but he goes back to visit the teachers he knows, and the kids still know who he is.”
Even Workaholics Can Have Fun
When he’s not busy with work, Scott likes to compete in truck or tractor pulling. His brother Eric builds and maintains the Ford truck that Scott hauls around to local fairs to drive. He competes in about 25 events each year and boasts a winning record.
Every Sunday afternoon, he and Diane hop on their Harley-Davidsons for a drive. It’s a good break for the self-proclaimed workaholic.
Scott says, “One of the catchphrases I’m known for: I work every day that ends in Y.”