U/G Entergy Contractors, LLP is an underground utility construction specialist with more than 30 years experience. The company, based in Bacliff, Texas, stayed busy during the recent economic slowdown, and continues to have a heavy workload.

Company President Joe Evans says U/G Entergy’s success is a combination of providing excellent service to a specialized market and careful selection of equipment to maximize production.

U/G Entergy dates back to 1968 when Evans’ father, George, purchased a compact walk-behind trencher to install water service lines and sewer laterals in a new resort community on Galveston Bay. As the business grew, it began doing water and sewer work for municipalities in the area, then began installing underground electrical cable.

“Today we mainly do power work. We are a primary contractor installing underground duct and cable runs, building the electrical distribution systems in new subdivisions, as well as the underground maintenance work for a local utility. We are replacing a lot of old cable, going back to subdivisions we built in the 1970s and installing new conduit by horizontal directional drilling.”

In fact, the company is an HDD pioneer, putting one of the first directional drills—an early Jet Trac® model—in service in the Houston area a dozen years ago.

“It is important to take advantage of new technologies and equipment as they come along, or you get left behind,” Evans believes.

U/G Entergy crews operate Ditch Witch® equipment—two 75-horsepower 7610 trenchers, one 40-horsepower 4010 trencher, a HT115 vibratory plow, and a JT1220 Mach 1 directional drilling machine.

The HT115 is a 115-horsepower, track-mounted machine that packages a lot of power in a relatively compact size. A computer-operated track drive system with speed and direction controlled by a single joy stick facilitates operation, and it’s powerful vibratory plow speeds installation through a variety of soil conditions.

“Until we purchased the HT115, most new construction was trenched,” says Evans. “We replaced a smaller 8020 plow with the HT115 because it enables us to plow in multiple ducts at depths providing four feet of cover. We estimate that the HT115 has increased our production by 50 percent. The dress up after the installation is minimal. The steel tracks provide the traction to pull the plow in all weather conditions with minimal ground disturbance. Overall it produces much cleaner jobs.”

The machine has the ability to plow in two 2-inch HDPE ducts and places the warning tape in one pass. A trench is dug to place larger-diameter ducts.

Evans says that directional drilling is responsible for a growing percentage of the company’s installations.

“We are doing more drilling because of innovative thinking about ways to use the technology to make our work easier and faster,” says Evans. “We use HDD for rehab work replacing old cable because it limits the surface damage and to avoid obstacles when we encounter them—going under existing utilities and then coming back up on the other side.”

The JT1220 Mach 1 is one of the Ditch Witch HDD models. The compact track machine is powered by a 60-horsepower liquid-cooled diesel engine and develops 12,000 pounds of pullback force, 1400 foot-pounds of torque, and spindle speeds to 180 rpm. The machine’s innovative pipeloading system is controlled from the operator’s station and automatically matches carriage speed with spindle rotation during pipe makeup and breakout.

“The JT1220 is much quieter and operator friendly, which helps increase production,” he adds.

U/G Entergy’s business remains strong in the fast-growing area between Galveston and Houston. We are completing the electrical distribution systems for three subdivisions, and averaging installation of 28,000 feet of conduit a month.

Evans says that continued success in the company’s niche market depends on providing the best possible service. Properly trained personnel, using the right equipment to maintain maximum production is an important part of achieving that goal.