When he was 22, Bud Fultz took stock of his life. He was working at a grocery store – exactly where he didn’t want to be the rest of his life. And so he bought a backhoe and every morning after getting off his night shift he’d go out to his property and practice digging. “I dug holes and filled them back in all over that property, learning how to run a backhoe,” he says.
Soon Fultz was running his own excavating company, subcontracting for several contractors in the area. One of the contractors he worked for was another excavating contractor by the name of Charles Duggin. “Ole South Excavating was actually started out of tragedy, when Charles and two others lost their lives in a trench cave-in,” Fultz says. “He was a good friend; in fact, my youngest child is named after him.”
A developer who had used Duggin’s company approached Fultz. “John Floyd asked me to take over Charles’ jobs, and Charles had around 18 workers who needed work, so we teamed up. We acquired quite a bit of debt off the bat, since we paid Charles’ widow for his equipment.”
So Fultz and Floyd joined to form Ole South Excavating in 1995, with Fultz eventually buying out his partner. “I got a golden opportunity, and the years of experience in the business I already had behind me let me grow the company,” he says. Even though he’s a totally separate entity now, Fultz still keeps his offices in Floyd’s Ole South Properties building in Murfreesboro, Tennesee.
Near-vertical growth
Ole South also has benefited from an area that’s seen a near-vertical growth rate. Located just southeast of Nashville, Murfreesboro has benefited from that proximity and from the Nissan truck manufacturing plant in nearby Smyrna. “The growth has amazed me,” he says. “I grew up here, and where we were living at the time used to be out of town. No longer.”
Housing development shows no sign of slowing down. His crews have been working on one entry-level housing development, Evergreen Farms, for seven years now, and more than half the property remains to be developed. “It will probably be around 2,000 single-family homes by the time it’s through,” Fultz says. “That’s our bread and butter.”
Fultz says he’s learned to understand the objectives of his clients. “For them,” he says, “it’s how many lots do they have available for sale. I can’t look at it as just putting in hours. My job is not to let them run out of lots.”
This attitude is noticed by his clients. “Bud’s reputation is excellent,” says Mike Lilly with Cason Lane Developments. “He’s got a loyal crew; some have been with him for years.”
