Good Truck. Great Team. All Heart.
Family-owned Brannon Corporation clears the way to success
Founded in 1993, Brannon Corporation is a family-owned and operated demolition and excavation business based in San Jose, Calif., that owes much of its start to a man and a gift to his grandson—a used Peterbilt truck.
At 19 years old, Paul Brannon started working with his father and grandfather in their construction business. But Paul wanted his own company. So, with an eye on the equipment delivery business, he (with help from his grandfather) bought a truck to go with his Class A commercial driver license. Paul built his business one client at a time, moving equipment for contractors and developers and building a reputation for good work and timely delivery. Five years later, with business growing steadily, he incorporated his new business.
Today, Brannon Corporation bears little resemblance to those early days where it was just Paul and his truck—except at its heart. His wife of 15 years, Renee, is President and co-owner of the company. She handles the business end of the multimillion-dollar operation, including contracts, insurance, payroll and accounting, while Paul and his close-knit crew do the field work. And they do it all with the same focus on quality and integrity that Paul put in place over 20 years ago … despite a few obstacles that they’ve hit along the way.
Demo and the Decline
In the 1990s and early 2000s, Paul’s trucking business proved profitable. He met and married Renee, a corporate travel agent and executive administrator, in 2002, and they had a son in 2004.
During that time, Renee helped with invoicing and other office tasks, using her skills to streamline Brannon Corporation’s processes and programs. Her work helped considerably and the trucking business continued to grow.
When the recession hit and contractor work slowed, so did the need to move equipment. Paul and Renee looked for other avenues to generate income. Paul got involved in recycling in the Nevada area for a few years, but the commute took a toll on him personally and professionally. However, he learned during that time that there was a market for recycled materials that come from demolition jobs. So he shifted one more time—once again with the help of his trusty Peterbilt.
After obtaining his excavation and demolition license in March 2010, Paul used his trucking and equipment moving experience to add demolition to the company’s portfolio of services. “Adding the demo side to our services seemed like a good fit,” recalls Paul. “We felt it would expand our opportunities and support our growing client base.”
By October that same year, the company had enough backlog that Paul and Renee moved the business from their home–based office to a stockyard in San Jose with an office trailer and a place to house the equipment.
“We believed that we could succeed once people saw the quality of our work.” Renee Brannon, President and Owner, Brannon Corporation
Digging Deep & Delivering
One of the company’s first jobs was the demolition of a multistory commercial building in San Jose. All went well at the job site with Paul performing much of the work himself.
Renee recalls, “It took a few years, but we worked to get our name out through a dynamic website and involvement in local marketing groups in San Jose. We then expanded to other parts of the Bay area, traveling a bit for jobs. We believed that we could succeed once people saw the quality of our work.”
Their confidence and hard work paid off. To this day, many of their clients are repeat customers, for large jobs that could take several weeks to small interior jobs that take one day. Renee believes clients come back because Brannon follows through on the jobs until the end. She adds, “We make our customers a priority.”
The company offers a wide variety of commercial, residential and industrial services, including excavation, grading, hauling, land clearing, interior and exterior demolition and much more, in the San Jose, Santa Cruz and surrounding San Francisco Bay area as well as parts of Nevada. For instance, the company recently completed several demolition jobs in a residential area in the city of Palo Alto, a commercial building in Visalia and a fast food restaurant in downtown San Jose. In 2015, the company added concrete crushing and recycling services, a natural fit with the demolition and excavation activities. Crews recently completed a very large concrete crushing job in the city of Milpitas, north of San Jose.
Paul and Renee are also actively involved in the local community. Most recently, they participated in a TurningWheels For Kids bike build event where volunteers built around 2,400 bikes for Bay area kids.
From a business perspective, the two are particularly proud that in February 2017, Brannon joined the International Union of Operating Engineers Local 3, the largest construction trades union in the U.S., representing over 35,000 members across Brannon’s four-state jurisdiction of California, Hawaii, Nevada and Utah. Both believe that union membership is a strong way to offer their employees the benefits that a small business isn’t always able to offer. Also, Brannon is an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Lead-Safe Certified company with EPA-approved training following lead-safe work practices, and a proud member of the Better Business Bureau and the National Demolition Association.
The Brannons are extraordinarily proud of their company’s growth and their crews, in particular. Paul concludes, “On every job, I feel like we’re clearing the way for progress.”