Wired to Do It All
Bothwell Corp. excels in telecommunications, electrical and concrete
Bothwell Corp. does a little bit of everything—and, according to its customers, the company does it well. While the common adage may be, “Jack of all trades, master of none,” Bothwell Corp. has flipped the saying on its head.
The company was founded by Glenn Bothwell as a general contractor in 1984; but over the years, its services have expanded to include telecommunications, electrical and concrete—each one distinct, and each one mastered by the Bothwell Corp. team.
The Difficult Jobs
Five years into his general contracting business, Glenn Bothwell was approached by GTE to build a cell site. “Back then, Glenn Bothwell thought that if we built just five cell sites a year, we’d be doing great,” recalls Greg Draxton, President/CEO of Bothwell Corp. “By 2002, we had a crew of 25 people and were doing close to 50 sites a year—it just blew up.”
Today, Bothwell Corp. has turned telecommunications into a major part of its business. The company is a preferred partner of Verizon and T-Mobile and is known for its ability to construct complex and innovative cell sites.
One example was the cellular antennas that Bothwell Corp. installed on the roof of a church day care center. While the project itself may seem straightforward, Bothwell Corp. took it a step forward, completely disguising the antenna with a façade that blended into the church building.
The job didn’t come without challenges. The cell site itself was positioned directly above the day care center, making coordinating the project tricky since there were children in school there every day and the work required a lot of on-the-ground construction, as well as construction on the roof of the day care center itself.
First, the Bothwell Corp. team constructed the steel frame that held all the telecommunications cabinets protecting electrical cabling and equipment. Then, they constructed a fiberglass cupola, designed to hide the antennas, which had to be raised onto the roof with a crane.
“When all was said and done, you couldn’t see anything,” Draxton says, “The antennas were all masked.”
Another logistical challenge was that the church is a wooden building with steel supports. This meant the Bothwell Corp. team had to weld structural steel components in an environment of dry wood. Draxton describes the situation as “dicey,” but the team navigated it with no issues.
“We have a reputation for being able to complete the difficult jobs—the ones that take a lot of coordination and planning,” he says.
Because of this reputation, Bothwell Corp. is just one of four companies allowed to work at Verizon’s switch facilities—a job that brings its own unique challenges.
“If you work at a switch facility and accidentally damage something, you could knock out hundreds of cell sites across the area,” Draxton explains.
He recalls one job when the Bothwell Corp. team was hired to perform structural upgrades directly above the microwave room at one Verizon switch facility. The location was particularly challenging because, as the technician at the facility informed the team, “If you accidentally bump one wire, you can knock out cell service for half the West Coast.”
But if there is anything to be said about Bothwell Corp.’s team members, Draxton will say it’s that they are meticulous and dedicated to completing a job as close to perfect as possible. They hold themselves—and each other—to the highest standard in every area of the business.
Jobs Large and Small
In addition to telecommunications work, Bothwell Corp. performs a variety of electrical services for jobs both large and small, handling anything from power upgrade testing to power generator installation.
As in the telecommunications division, sometimes these jobs require a bit of ingenuity. For large commercial companies, Bothwell Corp. not only installs power generators, but also performs masking, using everything from a brick wall to fencing to hide the generator(s) from sight.
All in, the electrical division has more than 30 years of experience, and every Bothwell Corp. electrician is licensed in the state of California.
Most recently, Bothwell Corp. has added a cement division, which is focused on growth. While concrete has been part of Bothwell Corp.’s repertoire for a while, the firm is now actively pursuing large concrete projects, from residential driveways to commercial concrete removal and repair. A recent project included pouring cement for an 8-foot-wide stairway at a local high school.
“We’re a unique company,” Draxton says. “We do it all.”
Changing of the Guard
In 1998, Draxton was hired by Bothwell Corp. as a crew foreman. Eventually, he became a project manager before being promoted to operations manager. Last year, when the company founder was ready to retire, Draxton and his wife, Marie, bought the business. Twenty years after he was hired, Draxton became President/CEO.
What he has always loved most about working for Bothwell Corp. is the sense of camaraderie and family among the 20-plus employees, most of whom have been with the company for many years. As soon as he took the helm, Draxton was determined to not just maintain that company culture but deepen it. “I want to make sure Bothwell Corp. is a place where people are happy to come to work.”
From the quarterly safety incentive barbecue to the annual holiday party, Draxton ensures that Bothwell Corp. offers employees a chance to relax and bond outside of the workplace.
And the day-to-day work can vary quite a bit, making the Bothwell Corp. team highly adept and adaptable. “There’s no one job we’re going to go to every day,” Draxton says. “Someone might be digging a ditch one day and climbing a tower the next.”
Cross-training in the different areas of the business is essential, both for individual skill training and for developing a cross-functional team.
As Draxton explains, “We all know we’re a unit, and we all feed off each other. There’s a real camaraderie, and there isn’t any competition to be better than the next guy. We’ve all been around each other and worked with each other a long time.”
In looking to the future of the business, Draxton has big plans for potential expansion. In addition to continuing to grow the new concrete division, he also wants to expand the business’ service area—specifically into Southern California and Nevada. But there’s one thing he’s certain of: no matter how much the company grows, Bothwell Corp. will retain its close, family-like culture. His intention is that it will always be a company where people are happy to come to work.
“We have people who have worked here 15 to 20 years, so we’ve done something right! What we have is a good thing.”