After one and a half decades serving Chicagoland, Venditti Demolition moved its knowledge and experience, together with a competitive approach to service delivery and considerable love of this industry, to the south four years ago. And judging by the lively growth the company has enjoyed since it opened for business in Austin in 2020, the southern market for breaking down buildings appears to be speeding up.
Supplying private and civil projects with excavation and demolition, large commercial site preparation, waste management, and underground utility services, the company ensures that its customers also have access to the heavy haul services of a full fleet of trucks.
Over the past four years, Venditti Demolition has approached every new financial year as an opportunity to beef up operations and become better and faster. The result is an annual expansion rate that saw the team triple its performance across the board, including its revenue, equipment fleet, the scale of the projects it can tackle—and, of course, its size. It also recently received an Excellence in Demolition Award from the National Demolition Association.
The team’s hard work and tenacity are reflected in the fact that many of the region’s most prestigious projects, owned by multinational giants, come its way, and Venditti Demolition’s aim is to keep things moving in this direction. “We plan on continuing that trend for the next eight to ten years,” says Thomas Venditti, Chief Executive Officer. While managing new markets is not always a simple process, the company’s leadership established its clear and actionable roadmap in the early days. This has proven to be a useful planning tool that is now more valuable than ever.
Yet, even with the best tools at hand, running operations smoothly amidst such expansive growth needs expert navigation—like continuously negotiating the demands of logistics and coordinating all the usual contradictory realities of a hard-charging business.
Against this backdrop, ensuring that the company’s technology remains current is paramount, and dedication to optimally applying its team’s skills is another key requirement. Consequently, the company ensures that its team comprises only genuine industry experts. As a result, the team is proactive in testing and implementing new systems fast when old systems prove outdated. “We value the visibility of project coordination and knowing how we can best use everyone involved to their full potential,” says Kirk Zajac, Chief Operating Officer.
By hiring only experienced people seasoned in the field, Venditti Demolition ensures its customers know that their projects are never practice runs for novices’ new skills. Venditti is convinced of the merits of running this type of business, with solid people and all its own equipment.
“Everything we do is 100 percent in-house. We offer a full-package service which we manage very well internally,” Venditti tells us. With 120 committed professionals on staff to back up that promise, its future in the south is promising.
As the company’s approach to technology is one of maintaining predictability and reliability, investing in premium products is a priority and the company has implemented Trimble GPS equipment on all its civil projects, giving customers the benefit of knowing that all its work is executed to exacting standards. The company also uses software suite Procore for project and financial management, leading to a high level of accuracy and transparency.
Venditti Demolition has a history rooted in an outstanding work ethic. Establishing the original company in Chicagoland in 2004, Thomas Venditti decided it was time for a new chapter when he sold the first company in 2015. In 2020, following the agreed contractual trade restriction period and after thorough research, this demolition legend opened up shop again—this time, in Austin, Texas. During his time out, Venditti, a serial entrepreneur by temperament, had traveled the country to identify the best region for his next endeavor.
Passionate about the industry and driven to be a leader in this field, Venditti started working in demolition at a young age. Since then, he has gone from strength to strength both personally and professionally, fully intending to remain in demolition indefinitely. But, as we know, markets are fickle, and business, at the best of times, is not all sunshine and roses.
The company’s runaway success in Texas therefore comes as a pleasant if not wholly unexpected surprise. “It turns out that our work and communication styles seem to be appreciated much more here than those of other demolition and site-preparation companies,” says Zajac, pointing out that most of its business comes from referrals and high public visibility. Its growing range of offerings no doubt also contributes to its popularity.
In addition to its standard services, Venditti Demolition offers a generous amount of information and sound advice in the form of insightful articles on its website. These cover subjects that help potential clients plan and decide how to choose a demolition contractor, what questions to ask, and important considerations for pool installations, summer demolition projects, et cetera. These educational pieces go a long way toward helping people outside the industry understand the intricacies of hiring a contractor of this type, the scope of the work they need, and the requirements to execute it.
There are also the realities of having oversized equipment present on projects. Part of this education process, of course, includes sharing the company’s strict safety policies, as keeping its staff and contributors, customers, and the public safe is paramount in any project. Acutely aware of the environmental impact of demolition, the company also takes upon itself the responsibility to educate its employees and customers in how to be the best environmental stewards they can, armed with the latest knowledge and equipment available today.
To help minimize the volume of debris sent to landfills, for instance, Venditti Demolition suggests reusing and recycling materials as much as possible by turning repurposed wood into outdoor furniture and similar. The team also advises ensuring the efficient use of materials by not over-ordering, and instead conducting careful quantity surveying to avoid waste. Naturally, its seasoned teams of waste removers provide more detailed expert guidance on the correct disposal of each different type of material being discarded, as well as on repurposing reusable materials.
Known for consistently analyzing market needs to ensure it provides services that deliver precisely what the market requires at fair prices, it has not taken the Venditti brand long to become a trusted member of the local demolition scene. Adding waste management services that include competitive commercial and residential dumpster rentals to its portfolio around twelve months ago, the team was impressed to discover exactly how big the local need is in this field—if the 700 customers that employ this service are anything to go by.
Constantly looking to evolve and accustomed to the highly competitive contracting environment it came from, this team is naturally proud of its tremendous achievements. It also appreciates the warm welcome it has received from Texan construction contractors. So far, Venditti Demolition has spread its presence from Austin to San Antonio and Dallas, bringing home growing numbers of projects. With Houston next on its list of more permanent expansions, business remains exciting.
Of course, without trustworthy employees, none of this would be possible, and company leaders could not be prouder of the people at the center of this company. “Every one of our employees brings a unique angle on how to do things in the office or the field. Every employee we hire today is hand-picked to bring the most value to the company,” Venditti says of the thorough selection process people pass through before getting the nod.
In return, the firm ensures that its staff is treated well. Management also goes to great lengths to identify how every individual learns and functions optimally to help people flourish and evolve in their respective positions. The approach has proven invaluable to the everyday running of the company as everyone forms an integral part of the bigger picture, contributing to overall efficiency and well-oiled systems.
With that said, the approach also serves to move the company forward, and the future is looking good as plans are being laid to grow the company’s reputation and expand its Texas presence even further.
As Venditti Demolition works toward becoming the demolition expert of choice in the state of big spaces and equally big ambitions, to us it looks like a very achievable aim.
