Prescott-based Fann Contracting, Inc. celebrates its 50th year in business this summer. The company was first founded in 1960 as JL Fann Ditching & Excavating by the late James L. Fann and his wife, Sylvia. What began as a small business with a single piece of heavy equipment has grown into one of Arizona’s leading heavy construction contractors, and the largest locally-owned heavy highway contractor in Northern Arizona.

"We started out that first year with one backhoe that had two mortgages on it," recalls Sylvia Fann Smith. "Jim taught me how to use it and how to drive a dump truck, too - a truck I once had to drive down from Mingus Mountain in the pouring rain!  We bought the rest of our equipment one piece at a time, as we needed it."

"We were 50-50 partners and stockholders from the first day," continues Smith, who handled the office and bookkeeping while her husband ran the heavy equipment and project bidding.
"The business began to grow in the 1970s when Jim got his  general engineering license. That enabled us to pursue bigger contracts like state highway jobs."

The couple raised four children, continuing to run the business as equal partners until they separated in 1988. Jim and Sylvia Fann divorced in 1991, and Jim took his half of the business up to his new home in Flagstaff. By this time, son Michael had already entered the family business. He soon purchased his mother’s half interest and subsequently became full owner and CEO of the entire operation in 1995.

Mike Fann and his employees have taken the company to new heights. Today’s Fann Contracting has a vast equipment fleet, requiring full-time mechanics, operators and equipment managers. That equipment is used to construct highways, landfills, public infrastructures,  subdivisions and commercial sites. The company performs large excavations of both soils and solid rock, installs underground utility systems, builds wastewater and water treatment facilities and more. Contracts now range anywhere between $50,000 to $30 million. The Iron Springs road reconstruction project for the City of Prescott is among those on a long list of successful projects across Arizona for Fann; it was completed in June 2008 for about $17.4 million.

"Mike has done phenomenal things with this company," says Smith, "things that Jim and I could never have done. I’m so proud of what he’s created and everything he’s done to help this community and others around the state. I think the loyalty he’s earned from so many of his employees is the result of the kind of person he is - it says a lot about the way he runs his business."

Company founder James L. Fann began as a one-man crew (1960).

Safety and Compliance Officer Philip Rice, who first came to work for Jim Fann in 1970, agrees. "Yes, Mike’s very quality oriented about the work - and community-minded, too, just like his Dad was," says Rice. "And once Mike took over the reins by the early 90’s, the company was really growing in great new ways, thanks to his vision."

Rice recalls that back in the 70s when he started, "There were only about 17 or 18 employees. Everybody learned everything; you did everything. Jim was very hands-on and did a lot of the cross-training of new employees himself - and there was a lot more that had to be done by hand in those days!  Today the equipment is so much more technologically advanced than it was 30 years ago -  and while there’s still cross-training that goes on even now, Mike has specialized crews for specific jobs. He knows that with the advancements in construction that have come along, you maintain a higher quality of work when you have people out in the field who really know what they’re doing."

Rice’s brother, David, is a Driller, Blaster and Paving Operator at Fann who began his career at Fann Contracting in 1980. "The company had just about 50 employees at that time, so there was still a lot of hands-on, person-to-person mentoring going on. We were doing smaller jobs than what we do now; you still needed to be versatile to get the work done, because we didn’t have a very large work force - nowhere near the number of people like we need for the really big projects we have now."

David Rice also has high praise for Mike Fann’s operating style. "He’s outstanding," says Rice.
"Patient and persistent - and really smart, too, branching out into utilities and environmental, a whole new division of the company. Mike’s just a great, giving guy in general - encouraging employee involvement, keeping us excited about what we do, and providing the employees the incentives to give back to our communities, just like he does himself."

Mike Fann, however, is quick to point a finger right back at the two people who raised him. 

"The keys to our success over our half-century in business can be traced back to my parents’  influence - and to my dad’s strong work ethic, his deep commitment to quality and the desire to give back to our community," says Fann.

The elder Fann, who passed away in May 2006, spent his high school years at a trade school. Although Jim Fann never obtained a college degree, he was a stickler about educating others in the construction trade, and became known as both teacher and mentor to many who knew him in the industry.

Fann Job Superintendent Gary Steinmetz, who has been with the company for more than 30 years, says, "I feel very fortunate to have worked with Jim for so many years. I was able to gain an abundance of knowledge and wisdom from one of the best teachers I’ve ever known."

Neil Morrison, another longtime Fann superintendent, remembered a day, many years ago, when he was in a meeting with Jim Fann and Arizona Department of Transportation officials.
 
"It was shortly after I went to work for Jim," says Morrison. "Answering a question posed by one of the ADOT guys, Jim replied that he had no ambition to be the largest contractor in Arizona; that he only wanted to be the one that does the best work. That’s when I knew I really wanted to work for this organization."

Mike continues to draw heavily on his parents’ high standards for integrity in business, applying them to his relationships with owners, subcontractors, suppliers and employees alike. Those principles have served Fann Contracting well: Over the years, the company has picked up industry honors that include the ADOT Award for Construction Excellence, ADOT Contractor of the Year, and recognition by the Arizona Quality Initiative.

Fann Contracting is widely recognized for its charitable works as well, although some forms of aid that the company provides - such as in-kind contributions of time and materials - are characteristically offered without public recognition. Mike Fann has expanded on the example set by his parents, even engaging his employees in the company’s giving efforts.

"Our employees are like family to us and we have a lot of big-hearted people who work here. They’re a big part of what we are able to do now," says Fann.

Fann refers to the company’s innovative FEMAD program (Fann Employees Making a Difference). Employees donate to area nonprofits they want to help from a master list determined by committee at Fann. Each participating employee chooses the amount he or she wants to give via payroll deductions, and the company matches every employee contribution dollar-for-dollar. Last year the FEMAD program raised $42,000, which was distributed among seven nonprofit recipients. Since FEMAD began in 2006, the program has generated more than  $160,000 in charitable contributions.

Mike Fann appears equally proud of the James L. Fann Memorial Scholarship, funded in 2007 with a $250,000 gift to Arizona State University’s Del E. Webb School of Construction.

"Dad knew how hard it is for some kids to afford school; I was fortunate in that regard," says Fann. "I think he would be really pleased to know that we’re helping make sure that some talented students from Central Yavapai County get the best start they can in our industry."

Mike Fann’s son, Jason, graduated from Arizona State University in 2002 with a degree in Construction Management. He is now a project manager for the company.

About the way Fann Contracting operates today, Jason Fann remarks,  "I feel really proud to be part of a family tradition my grandfather started - hard work, holding ourselves to a high quality and safe work standard, and taking care of our employees and our neighbors. This is the foundation that Fann Contracting was built on, one that makes me really look forward to the next 50 years." 

Fann Contracting, Inc., a professionally licensed general contractor, design builder and Construction Manager at Risk (CMAR) is located at 1403 Industrial Way in Prescott, Arizona 86301. For more information, call 928.778.0170 or visit online at www.fanncontracting.com.