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.

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