Family Connections
Metropolis Excavating CEO preps his children to take the reins
After more than 35 years in the construction industry, Windale Tate has learned a thing or two about how to succeed as a general contractor. The CEO of Metropolis Excavating, Inc. (Metropolis)—a utility infrastructure, site development and excavation company based in the Detroit region—Tate has begun sharing those lessons with his children, four of whom are involved in the family business. While creating a legacy for his offspring, Tate remains an active entrepreneur, as he plans the imminent launch of a new service aimed at linking nonlocal general contractors working in the Detroit area with qualified subcontractors and suppliers.
Positioned for Growth
A full-service residential, commercial and municipal contractor, Metropolis specializes in such activities as land clearing, excavation, mass earthwork, underground utility installation and repair, storm drainage retention and detention systems, demolition and trucking operations.
The company was incorporated in 2015 in Farmington Hills and operates in southeast Michigan, central Ohio and northwest Kentucky.
Metropolis is poised to expand, thanks to Tate’s business acumen and extensive construction experience. From his beginnings as a laborer, Tate has risen through the ranks of the construction industry, fulfilling such roles as civil engineer, director of estimating, construction manager, quality control manager, site safety and health officer, chief operating officer and corporate strategist. Metropolis also benefits from the experience of Tate’s partners—Danielle Bass, the company’s controller, and Lawrence Sant, a developer and custom homebuilder based in Northville, Michigan.
With about 20 employees working in the field and a six-member office staff, Metropolis may be small, “but we’re not limited,” Tate says. “We have or can put in place the resources necessary to get the job done.”
With access to $10 million in aggregate bonding capacity, Metropolis can take on jobs both large and small. “That’s what positions us for growth,” he says.
Metropolis currently focuses on projects involving franchise facilities, particularly restaurants, pharmacies and similar businesses, situated on sites ranging from 1 to 3 acres. As a certified franchise executive, Tate has ties to the franchise industry, helping to facilitate opportunities in the sector. For example, Metropolis recently conducted the civil site work for the redevelopment of a Burger King in Dearborn Heights, a Big George’s Home Appliance Mart in Ann Arbor and a Panera Bread in Livonia.
Children on Board
As his four oldest children came of age, Tate decided to bring them on board at Metropolis to give them a start in the industry that has served him well. Tate’s sons Antoine, Ajon and Armani, as well as daughter Asia, work full time at Metropolis. “I’m trying to bring them up in the field where I came from and get them more involved in the general aspects of running a business,” he says.
Tate, 56, says that he hopes to see his children run the business one day, so that he can retire in several years. “They’re my motivation,” he says. “I just want to see them grow.” Fortunately for Tate, his children appear to be on board with his plan. “They seem to want to get into this for the long term.”
Learning the Trade
Each of the Tate children is focused on learning a particular area of expertise. For Antoine, 25, that concentration involves earthwork. When not in the field carrying out such duties as operating equipment, laying pipe or removing dirt, Antoine works as a project manager in the company’s estimating department. In this role, he is learning the ins and outs of interpreting and analyzing geotechnical data and calculating the volume and cost of earthwork for potential projects.
When he is not working in the field, Armani, 20, is also receiving training as a project manager in the estimating department, focused on underground utilities. Although he “likes getting his hands dirty,” the estimating work suits him, Armani says. “I like dealing with numbers.”
Ajon, 23, is training to become the company’s certified safety officer. He currently promotes safety by giving toolbox talks in the field and ensuring that construction staff comply with safety protocols. “I enjoy reminding people about their safety,” Ajon says. “In this industry, safety is paramount; the safety manual is like my second Bible.”
Asia, 23, serves as office manager as well as in-office bid coordinator. As office manager, she ensures that “nothing gets past me or my father,” Asia says. As bid coordinator, she helps to identify projects to be bid and ensures that the estimating team has all the information necessary to bid a project on time.
Family Matters
Tate’s youngest child, Ace, may only be 7, but he considers himself ready to join the family business. “He’s eager to operate the skid steer and wants to become an engineer,” Tate says.
Making Metropolis even more of a family affair, Antoine’s fiancée, Bianca Gover, recently started at Metropolis, helping to coordinate the bidding process. “The main thing I enjoy is the family aspect,” she says.
Although working together took some getting used to, the Tate siblings have come to enjoy the arrangement. “We’ve become a great team,” Antoine says.
Armani agrees. “We are family oriented,” he says. “Sometimes we may fight, but we’re still there for each other. We still love each other. That’s what makes it special.”
The Tate children acknowledge the opportunity they’ve received from their father and realize that they have a responsibility to work hard to ensure that Metropolis lives up to its full potential. “Our father has given us the pieces to this puzzle,” Armani says. “We have to put the pieces together.”
Making Connections
In recent years, Tate has noticed an uptick in the number of general contractors based outside of Michigan that were competing for projects in the state. While working as an independent estimator, he often fielded last-minute calls from such contractors looking for local firms that could help to round out their bids.
Tate recognized the need for an organization to act as a go-between to connect nonlocal general contractors with local companies. Many outside contractors often cannot “cover the full scope of a project,” he says, “simply because they’re not familiar with the market or don’t yet have an established base of subcontractors in the area.”
Metropolis does have existing relationships with many local subcontractors and suppliers, thanks in part to the connections that Tate and his partners have made over the years. “We have a substantial and loyal sub base because we’re active in both building and development opportunities,” he says.
Against this backdrop, a couple of years ago, Tate began to develop Genlynx, a new service to be launched during the fourth quarter of 2018. Genlynx will offer services pertaining to bid procurement support and on-site representation for nonlocal contractors looking to obtain and complete work throughout southeastern Michigan. In this role, Genlynx will “recommend local subs that will ultimately contract directly with the general contractor,” Tate says. “We deliver multiple trade bids through one estimating contact.” As a representative of the general contractor, Genlynx will manage building and construction activities in the field on a per-contract basis.
Compared to conventional online services that seek to pair contractors, Genlynx will rely more on existing connections. “For us, it’s a matter of picking up the phone and having a personal conversation,” Tate says. “It makes a difference if you have an established relationship with a sub.” In such cases, a local subcontractor or supplier is much more likely to respond and follow up a solicitation, he notes. “You turn it over to us, and we make sure your entire scope is covered.”