SRM CONCRETE’S HUGE SUCCESS DUE TO TEAMWORK OF FAMILY

from Southeast 26, December 29, 2021

by Construction Equipment Guide

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By Eric Olson

CEG CONTRIBUTING EDITOR

Back in 1999, Mike and Melissa Hollingshead decided that they needed to build a ready-mix concrete plant in their own Middle Tennessee backyard.

An unusual choice for most folks, certainly, but Mike did so only because he was often frustrated in getting the materials he needed to run his small concrete business.

What’s more unusual is the fact that in only 22 years, Mike and Melissa’s operation is today a huge company that employs a staggering 4,000 employees working in 13 states.

Smyrna Ready Mix Concrete, better known as SRM Concrete, offers a range of services, but its concentration on ready-mix, mining and materials production has made it one of the fastest growing operations in the eastern half of the United States.

Today, SRM is still rooted in providing superior customer service, just as it was in the early days when the personal touch was key to the growth of Mike Hollingshead’s company.

How Did They Do It?

The level of drive, determination and faith that the Hollingshead family possesses is clearly behind SRM Concrete’s success.

“Dad was in the ready-mix business working for himself finishing driveways and patios locally, but he kept getting poor service from a distributor due to the larger jobs they had going,” said Ryan Hollingshead, Mike’s son, and the current president of SRM Aggregates, a division of the larger company. “That is what made him want to put up his own concrete plant.”

Although it was not an inexpensive proposition to do so, and with little money of their own, the couple scraped together enough to erect what is today known as Smyrna Plant 1, a larger and still fully operational facility at 4500 Hickory Grove Road in Murfreesboro.

“[Dad] did not have a clue going in about what he was doing, and he had to work through that, but he had the good Lord’s grace on his side,” Ryan added.

Within six months of launching SRM Concrete, though, other area concrete finishers took note of the new plant and began ordering from the family business.

Having Ryan as president of one of SRM’s major divisions, and his other son, Jeff, serve as both company CEO and the family member in charge of the ready-mix operations, has allowed Mike Hollingshead in 2021 to enjoy his status as founder and owner.

But that’s not to say he isn’t involved with SRM’s operations.

“I can assure you that my dad is heavily involved in everything he can get his hands on,” Ryan said with a laugh.”We don’t have the turmoil you sometimes see in family-owned businesses. We have a good relationship that is carried over to our business. It means so much more because we are working as a team, and we do everything together outside of work, like go to church and go on vacations.”

Product Offerings, Acquisitions Grow SRM

Interestingly, the younger Hollingshead said that in 2014, SRM Concrete was able to buy out the ready-mix company that had earlier denied his father the products he needed for his one-man projects, which, in turn, led to the creation of the large multi-service firm.