Erin married her high school sweetheart Chris in 2011. They have two dogs — Titus is a 120-pound Cane Corso, and Diesel is a seven-pound Miniature Pinscher. She enjoys spending time with her family, working outside, and pursuing her photography hobby.
Erin started with Southern Site in 2019, but she’s been involved in the construction industry all her life. She grew up in a family-owned excavation business, and has been operating “all types of equipment from skid loaders to a CAT 963 since I was old enough to walk.” She is the third generation of her family to work in this industry.
Before she joined Southern Site, Erin worked as a licensed veterinary medical technician for over a decade. She says that she enjoys the people in this industry, and that Southern Site sets itself apart from the competition by “setting achievable goals that not only value the customer, but also the team of employees. We offer our team members many benefits, but also an environment to grow and maximize their potential.”
Q: How long have you been with Southern Site Contractors? What brought you here?
A: I’ve worked here since April 2019. Will Grimes is my god-brother. He was the one that said, “We really need some help, and I think your organizational skills are something we need.” So, I came to work here and I’ve absolutely loved it.
Q: What is your background before you came to Southern Site?
A: I grew up in excavating. It’s what my dad always did, from the time he was about 19 years old. His father started a business, and my dad took it over when he was 21. I originally went to school and became a certified vet tech. After doing that for about ten years, I decided I was just ready to do something different.
Q: What do you think sets Southern Site apart from other companies in the industry?
A: This company is a complete 180 from the excavation world I grew up in. My dad never had more than three or four employees at any time, and he had no marketing. There was no logo, it was just a name. The thing that I really like about Southern Site is that this company is known for its great people. We have customers that continue to come back for work. They like the way they were treated the first time, so they want to do business again.
Q: How is the internal culture for employees here?
A: It’s awesome. I’ve worked with several different groups of people in my career, and this group just gets along so well, from management all the way through the laborers. We have good communication from step to step.
Q: Why should someone come to work for Southern Site?
A: We’re growing by leaps and bounds all the time. I started in April 2019, and I think I was the 70th employee. Less than a year later, I believe we’re now up to 143 employees. It’s amazing for me to think about where we’ll be six months from now, or five years after that. Also, because we fall under Berkshire Hathaway’s corporate umbrella, as far as I’ve been told, our benefit plan was basically hand-picked by Warren Buffett. We have a medical insurance benefit plan that’s really good value for what you get. We also have short-term and long-term disability, everybody gets $30,000 worth of life insurance, and they match our 401k up to 4% after one year.
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