In a volatile construction market that was shaken by the telecommunications bust of the early 2000s, contractor K & L Trenching, Huxley, Iowa, has sustained a steady, profitable business for more than 16 years.

The family-owned company--Jon Ersland; wife, Lori; and son, Aaron--have served clients in a variety of utility markets, including telecommunications service providers, power and gas companies, municipalities and other government agencies, educational institutions, departments of transportation, and general contractors.

The company has survived economic downturns and prospered by doing quality work and adapting to changing market needs with the services it provides and adding specialized equipment to expand its capabilities.

"We started out with a small Ditch Witch 1976 model R40 Combo with combination vibratory plow and offset trencher component, and began trenching and plowing in underground utilities," says Jon Ersland. "Today we're operating a newer version 5110 Combo. We bought our first horizontal directional drilling unit--a Ditch Witch PT620--in 1994, owned two JT920 models, and now operates a newer JT921. Our most recent equipment addition is a new Ditch Witch XT1600 excavator-tool carrier."

Ersland says in the early years of business, underground work was about 80 percent plowing, 40 percent trenching. The Combo, with both trencher and plow on the rear of the machine, provided the capability of one machine performing both functions without changing or adding attachments.

"Directional drilling has taken on a greater portion of our daily work," Ersland continues, but there still is a lot of plowing and trenching, and we often plow, trench, and bore on a project. For example, we do a lot of subdivision work, and where landscaping isn't in place we plow or trench, and bore under streets. We may have jobs where there is several thousand feet of trenching."

The 50-horsepower, four-wheel drive 5110 has a mechanical digging chain-plow drive and hydrostatic ground drive with infinitely variable travel speed. It also is equipped with a front-mounted utility backhoe.

The track-mounted JT921 HDD unit is powered by a 50-horsepower diesel engine and develops 9.000 pounds of pullback, 1,100 foot pounds of torque, and spindle speeds to 180 rpm. Depending on site conditions, as much as 75 percent is done by drilling which limits surface disturbance to streets, sidewalks and drives, landscaped areas, and other surface improvements.

The 59-horsepower XT1600 is like no other construction machine on the market. It has an excavator boom and bucket on the front and a dual-arm tool carrier component at the opposite end. The rubber-track unit can excavate like a compact excavator and do multiple other tasks using interchangeable attachments mounted on the tool component. Without a rotating cab, offset excavating is accomplished with a dual-pivot arrangement. The boom's pivot point is at the front of the machine where the boom is connected to the tractor. The other pivot is near the center of the machine beneath the floor of the non-rotating operator's station, and it rotates the boom assembly, including the boom swing pivot. To offset dig, the assembly is rotated in one direction from the center pivot, and the boom is swung at the front pivot point in the opposite direction. Maximum excavator component sweep is 260 degrees.

"We use this machine every day for multiple jobs," says Ersland. "We have a 20-inch bucket, we dig pits. We use it to lower fiber and cable for street projects and to set transformers and sectionalizing cabinets. The offset excavating capability is very useful for digging bases for transformers and cabinets. We want to keep sides of the excavation square and are able to do that without moving the machine."

Ersland also says he is amazed at the power the machine has for its compact size which allows it to be transported by a one-ton truck.

The number of K & L employees varies with season and workload.

"We've stayed a small company on purpose, because we don't want to lose control of the quality of the work we do," Ersland says. "We care about our work, and I believe it shows. Pride in the work we do has carried us a long way. Our business philosophy is: do a good job at a fair price, and customers will call you back."

Ditch Witch equipment is manufactured by The Charles Machine Works, Inc. (CMW), Perry, Oklahoma. CMW is a leading producer of underground construction equipment, including trenchers, vibratory plows, horizontal directional drilling equipment, HDD tracking electronics and utility locators, compact excavators and mini skid-steer loaders, accessory products and attachments, and support equipment, including vacuum excavators.

Ditch Witch products are sold and serviced through the worldwide Ditch Witch dealer organization. Ersland says the support of his dealership, Ditch Witch - Iowa, is an important part of K & L's success.