ECI – Engineers Construction

Engineers Construction, Inc. Transitions to 100% Employee Ownership Through ESOP

November 1, 2024

Williston, VT – Engineers Construction, Inc. (ECI), a Vermont-based heavy civil construction company,
has officially transitioned to 100% employee ownership through an Employee Stock Ownership Plan
(ESOP). This significant step reflects the company’s commitment to its employees and community,
ensuring an employee-centric future and eliminating the need for future ownership succession
planning.

“Selling to the employees was something we wanted to do to let the company culture we’ve built live on
and continue to improve,” said Kenneth Pidgeon, who along with his brother Scott, purchased the
company from their father Alan in 2004. “Rather than selling to the highest bidder, we wanted to do this
for the employees because they helped bring us to this point.”

Founded in 1965 by Alan Pidgeon, ECI has been a leader in Vermont’s construction industry over the
past six decades. The company, known for its technical expertise and dedication to safety and quality,
employs over 200 people, including seven registered professional engineers and 50 employees with
technical degrees. Its portfolio of innovative projects spans a wide range, from bridges and tunnels to
ski resorts and Burlington’s Downtown Transit Center. The ESOP transition marks a new chapter for the
company, designed to solidify its core values and strengthen its workforce.

As part of this transition, Ben Dow, an engineer and long-time leader at ECI, will step into the role of
President & CEO. Dow has been with the company since 1988, holding nearly every position in the
organization throughout his tenure. Since 2004, he has played a crucial role in evolving ECI’s culture
from a centralized, “old school” management style to a more collaborative, team-based approach that
has allowed the company to grow and take on larger projects. Notably, Dow was also instrumental in
developing the company’s Code of Conduct, which serves as the foundation of ECI’s culture today.

“It’s natural for ECI to become a company that operates for the benefit of the employees because the
company has already been run that way up to this point,” said Dow. “The most important people in the
company are not its executives but the people that are out there more than we are every day creating
success for the company.”

The ESOP allows each of the ECI employees to become shared owners of the company, with vesting
over time, via an employee retirement plan. By combining the new ESOP with the existing 401(k) plan,
ECI is providing a more stable future for its workforce.

“We have many employees who are really good with a shovel or an excavator or a transit but planning
for retirement and making those hard decisions to save early on in their careers can be difficult,” shared
Dow, “the ESOP is a great solution for our employees who work hard, day-in and day-out in rain, wind,
and snow, and, over time, the ESOP will help fund a meaningful portion of their retirement.”

ECI has been actively involved with the Vermont Employee Ownership Center (VEOC) since beginning
to explore employee ownership in 2019, attending VEOC’s annual conferences and receiving support
throughout the ESOP conversion process. “We’ve definitely felt that the support of VEOC and its annual
conference, as well as from the ESOP companies at the conference, has been very helpful,” Dow said. “It
feels like joining a club that is very supportive across the board in sharing strategies on what works well
and what doesn’t.”

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About Engineers Construction, Inc.

Founded in 1965, Engineers Construction, Inc. (ECI) is a heavy civil construction company based in
Williston, Vermont. Known for its technical expertise and commitment to safety, quality, and customer
satisfaction, ECI provides a range of construction services for infrastructure projects throughout
Vermont and the region.

Left to right: Previous co-owners Ken and Scott Pidgeon along with president and CEO Ben Dow in front of ECI’s new logo.

We are proud to announce that during our 2023 Holiday Giving Campaign our employees collectively donated $27,018.

ECI also made a corporate contribution to bring the total up to an even $30,000 for this year which was evenly divided between the following local charities:

• UVM Medical Cancer Foundation https://www.uvmhealth.org/medcenter/about-uvm-medical-center/foundation
• Vermont Make-A-Wish https://vermont.wish.org/
• Vermont National Guard Charitable Foundation  https://www.facebook.com/Vermont-National-Guard-Charitable-Foundation-185255287247/
• Mike Loyer Foundation https://www.theclassicmikeloyer.org/about-us/

ECI employees have a history of making charitable contributions during the holiday season and this is the largest contribution by its employees to date – exceeding last year’s contribution of $21,483

In addition to the holiday giving, employees have purchased ECI sweatshirts and T-shirts throughout the year as part of other fundraising efforts.  Our October Pink T-shirt and Cancer Sweatshirt sales totaled $1,140 and were donated to the UVM Medical Center Cancer Foundation – Cancer Center Patient Support.  The rest of our apparel sales raised $10,377.50 for The Classic Mike Loyer Foundation.

We are proud to announce that our employees have collectively donated $21,483 which was divided between the following local charities:

• UVM Medical Cancer Foundation https://www.uvmhealth.org/medcenter/about-uvm-medical-center/foundation
• Vermont Make-A-Wish https://vermont.wish.org/
• Vermont National Guard Charitable Foundation  https://www.facebook.com/Vermont-National-Guard-Charitable-Foundation-185255287247/
• Mike Loyer Foundation https://www.theclassicmikeloyer.org/about-us/

ECI also made a corporate contribution to the funds to bring the total up to an even $25,000 for this year.

ECI employees have a history of making charitable contributions during the holiday season and this is the largest contribution by its employees to date – exceeding last years contribution of $20,158.

In addition to the holiday giving, employees have purchased ECI sweatshirts and T-shirts throughout the year as part of another fundraising effort.  The program raised $8,956 and all proceeds were donated to the UVM Cancer Foundation.

The paper entitled “Anchored Hollow Bar Tangent Pile System for Underpinning” was authored by Ken Pidgeon (ECI), Ben MacKinney (ECI), Ken Allard (ECI), Marco Boscardin, and Adrianne Boscardin.  The paper presents a case history of our unique application of a system of vertical micropiles with horizontal soil nail bracing and shotcrete facing for underpinning at the Brattleboro Memorial Hospital.  Marco and Adrianne are from Boscardin Consulting Engineers which provided engineering services for the project.

The underpinning system was used to support and protect an existing 2-story hospital building during demolition and renovation. The goal was to limit building movements and have the building remain in use during construction of an abutting addition. Excavation depths were up to 15 feet (4.6 m) below the existing footings.

Marco presented the paper at the DFI event at the Gaylord Hotel & Conference Center in National Harbor, Maryland.  Ken Pidgeon attended the conference with Marco.

ECI was the prime contractor to the Vermont Military Department to relocate the existing Fallen Heroes Memorial from inside of the Camp Johnson compound to outside of the security fencing at the Route 15 entrance in Colchester, VT.  ECI was awarded the contract late in 2020 and our crews worked hard to accomplish an aggressive construction schedule to allow the Rededication and Memorial Day Observance on May 27, 2021.  The project included removing the existing sculptures, benches, personalized pavers, plaques, and other memorial features and then relocating them to their new home.  The new location included significant site infrastructure improvements such as site grading, fencing, lighting, paving, sidewalks, landscaping, and concrete foundations for the monument.

Several ECI workers from the project attended the Rededication – Memorial Day Observance ceremony and are photographed below with Heather Sheehan (holding yellow rose).  Heather’s husband Kevin was killed in Iraq in 2004 and was an ECI employee at the time of his deployment.  We are forever grateful for Kevin’s sacrifice to our country and still grieve the loss of Kevin.  This upcoming Memorial Day weekend, we encourage everyone to pause and reflect upon the great sacrifices that our fallen heroes and their families have made.  It’s up to us as survivor’s and beneficiaries of their sacrifices to move the world forward with dignity and respect.

We are proud to announce that our employees have collectively donated $19,672 which was divided between the following local charities:

• American Cancer Society https://www.cancer.org/about-us/local/vermont.html
• Vermont Make-A-Wish https://vermont.wish.org/
• Vermont National Guard Charitable Foundation  https://www.facebook.com/Vermont-National-Guard-Charitable-Foundation-185255287247/
• Mike Loyer Foundation https://www.theclassicmikeloyer.org/about-us/

ECI employees have a history of making charitable contributions during the holiday season and this is the largest contribution by its employees to date – exceeding last years contribution of $17,340.

We are proud to announce that our employees have collectively donated $17,340 which was divided evenly between the following local charities:

• Vermont Make-A-Wish https://vermont.wish.org/
• Vermont National Guard Charitable Foundation  https://www.facebook.com/Vermont-National-Guard-Charitable-Foundation-185255287247/
• Mike Loyer Foundation https://www.theclassicmikeloyer.org/about-us/

ECI employees have a history of making charitable contributions during the holiday season and this is the largest contribution by its employees to date – exceeding last years contribution of $12.150.

ECI’s Middlebury Tunnel Project was highlighted in the May 2018 edition of Trenchless Technology.  This early work package contract included construction of the deep stormwater conveyance tunnels for the upcoming railroad tunnel project.  The three 60-inch-diameter tunnels in rock  conditions were launched from a 40-ft-dia by 35-ft-deep launch shaft constructed in the heart of busy downtown Middlebury.  The drives ranged from 140 to 152 feet long.  The rock consisted of marble with an unconfined compressive strength of up to 20,000 psi.  The third drive extended through the hard rock and into a mixed face and then a soft clay over the last 20 feet.  ECI used a Robbins Motorized Small Boring Unit (SBU) tunneling machine with hard-rock disc-cutter tooling.  The SBU is mounted at the front of steel casings which are jacked forward with an auger boring machine from inside the launch pit.  The electrically motorized SBU head rotates as the steel casing transfers the applied jacking force from the auger boring machine system.  The operator is inside the SBU-M and uses a laser-guided target to stay on line and grade.  Steering is achieved by slight adjustments to the articulated forward shield.  The tunnel is permanently lined by the trailing steel casing connected with permalok snap-on joints.  This project used a 42-in-dia polypropylene corrugated steel pipe as the main carrier with annular grout fill.

Trenchless Technology Magazine:  https://trenchlesstechnology.com/eci-robbins-sbu-m-three-hard-rock-crossings-vermont/prettyPhoto/0/

ECI’s involvement in the project will continue into the next phase of the railroad tunnel construction anticipated to start up this summer and completion in 2020.

VTrans Project Website:  https://vtrans.vermont.gov/projects/middlebury

Robbins Company SBU-M Bochure:  https://www.therobbinscompany.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/SBU-M-spec-sheet-2009_metric.pdf

ECI recently presented a technical paper at the No-Dig 2019 yearly conference for the North American Society of Trenchless Technology in Chicago.

In addition, the project presented by ECI was used as the cover article in the Spring 2019 edition of “Trenchless International,” a publication of the International Society of Trenchless Technology.

Mr. Tom Loyer of ECI co-authored and presented the case history technical paper on a Vermont Agency of Transportation project involving three culvert replacements below the Vermont Railway in Ferrisburg and New Haven, Vermont.  The culverts were installed by pneumatic driving of 72-in-dia steel casings aligned by guided bore technology.  The casings were subsequently lined with corrugated polymer coated pipes.  The work was completed on schedule without any delays to the operating railroad above.

We are proud to announce that our employees have collectively donated $12,150 which was divided evenly between the following local charities:

• Camp Ta Kump Ta  http://www.takumta.org/
• Vermont National Guard Charitable Foundation  https://www.facebook.com/Vermont-National-Guard-Charitable-Foundation-185255287247/
• Mike Loyer Foundation https://www.theclassicmikeloyer.org/about-us/

ECI employees have a history of making charitable contributions during the holiday season and this is the largest contribution by its employees to date – exceeding last years contribution of $11,400.

All three charities attended our Christmas barbecue at ECI’s shop to receive their donation.