Mark Shepard is firmly connected to the communities where he lives and works. Shepard, who owns Utilities Excavating Inc. in Overland Park, Kan., believes being part of a community brings opportunity and responsibility.

For more than 20 years, his business has been rooted in this rapidly developing area about 12 miles southwest of Kansas City and five miles west of the Missouri state line. He has worked in many communities.

First a homebuilder, he got into excavating and utility installation when he saw that “the only excavator in the area was gouging holes in the soil and my bottom line.” He bought a backhoe to cut costs and was instantly in demand to work for other builders.

That led to an occasional pipe repair project, which he describes as “more personally rewarding than installing a new sewer line in a new subdivision.” By 1996, Shepard had moved into the onsite industry.

“I took on a few system installations,” he says. “I liked the idea of working on virgin territory — of going into a bean field and installing a system that worked with nature.” With every change of focus, he found opportunity and reward.

Today, Shepard and his company install a major share of the mounds and advanced treatment systems around Johnson County. The business includes about 75 percent new systems, 10 percent system repairs, and 15 percent utility installation and repair,

Along the way, he finds ways to help his profession and help people in need in and around Overland Park.

Employee community

Shepard is an integral part of his three-person crew. Every day, he works side by side with Kelly Eshleman, an area resident for 15 years. Jim Kinerk, Shepard’s brother- in-law, has been with the company for about three years. “We’re so small, we don’t have job titles,” says Shepard. Eshleman and Kinerk are also good friends. “They get along both on and off the job,” Shepard says.

In the office, Mary Ann Siscoe is the part-time office manager who works with Shepard’s wife and company president, Jeanne. Shepard expects to add an equipment operator this year and free himself up for more sales, design and customer contact.

A small crew size has not kept Utilities Excavating from having a large impact in the onsite industry in Johnson County. In 2007, county regulators issued 166 permits for major repairs or new systems. Shepard and his crew were on nearly 25 percent of those jobsites, where they installed 25 new systems and handled 15 major repairs.

When mound systems were introduced locally, Utilities Exca-vating was right there. Shepard and his crew installed the first mound system permitted by the county, and they still install a large share of new mounds there. Shepard also installed the county’s first aerobic unit from Bio-Microbics Inc. — a MicroFAST 0.9 system.

“We have also installed a good number of 750 gpd Model DF75-FF systems from Delta Environ-mental Products,” he says.

As a board member in the Kansas Small Flows Association, Shepard attends annual training events and serves that diverse community as well. He describes KSFA installer training as “state specific.”

“Training is definitely needed, and most installers prefer participatory sessions rather than lectures,” he says. Big training events at state and national venues provide unlimited opportunities for one- on-one conversations and small group discussion forums, formal and informal.

Diverse and growing skills

Shepard installs a variety of systems in his service area, which covers about an 80-mile-radius from Overland Park. Last year, in his home county alone, he installed 13 conventional gravity subsurface systems, six of which included a lift pump that moved the effluent uphill from the treatment tank before gravity finally took over.

The company also installed four mounds, four drip systems, and one sand filter. Crews installed 15 replacement treatment tanks and three holding tanks for commercial installations. The workload took Shepard to several other jurisdictions. “While the basic work remains the same, local regulations sometimes require handling different activities differently,” he says.

Utilities Excavating is always looking for emerging technologies. Working on systems where the absorption area was in distress, he has found success installing Pirana bacteria generators from Pirana System and White Knight septic tank inoculation systems from Knight Treatment Systems.

In northeastern Kansas, where public sewer systems are often nearby, “The trend is to ‘repair’ failing systems by connecting the building sewer to the public sewer,” Shepard says. “If the public pipe is within 200 feet, we have no choice but to connect.”

About three years ago, Utilities Excavating expanded its services to include comprehensive onsite system management and maintenance. For pressure distribution systems, the standard service includes inspection and lateral cleaning every six months. Any problems found are resolved, and the homeowner has the comfort of knowing his system is being kept up to specifications. The company has about 100 systems under contract — including some installed by others.

Simple is best

Supporting his crew is a modest roster of well-oiled and well-tended machines. When he got into excavating, Shepard developed a preference for wobble-stick controls. To help his transition from one generation of machine to the next, he specifies that control system on new equipment.

Besides his 2006 Takeuchi TL130 skid loader, his 2006 Case 580 Super M backhoe has wobble-stick control. “It is faster to use and eliminates confusion when moving from one piece of equipment to the other,” he says.

To move the equipment from job to job, a 2003 Ford F-350 pickup with dual rear wheels and a 1992 Ford 9000 chassis with a 22-foot box stand ready. Shepard calls the 1992 his “warehouse on wheels,” as it hauls all tools and parts to each jobsite. To avoid the cost of a dump truck, he has all aggregate materials delivered to the site.

When not working hard on installations and repairs, Shepard gives freely of his own and his employees’ time to help the community. “When there are people in need and you have the ability to help, you simply do it,” he says. “It’s the right thing to do.”

Using his carpentry skills, Shepard showed up at a Habitat for Humanity worksite one day to help with finish carpentry. After watching a well-meaning volunteer try desperately to create a pleasant-looking final grade as he struggled with the controls on a donated wheel-loader, Shepard could not hold back. He left the jobsite and returned an hour later with his machine.

Later that day he bought a load of topsoil and donated it. “I did not do this to embarrass or diminish the other volunteer,” he says. “I did it to help him out and to make the final job look right.”

Lending a hand

When he encountered a land-owner who needed help replacing an onsite system, Shepard coordinated the donation of the materials, and his crew installed an aerated treatment tank that discharged to a gravity absorption area.

“All of the materials and all of our labor were donated to the KSFA,” Shepard explains. Because the owner had the resources to make reduced installment payments, “We arranged for him to send his payments to KSFA.”

Taking things a step further, Shepard opened the site to regulators from several jurisdictions. “We encouraged them to come visit, watch a professional installation, get their questions answered and grow professionally in what I called a ‘familiarization session,’” Shepard says. “Everyone benefited from this job.”

That summarizes Shepard’s approach: Learning, participating, leading, giving. The pattern has served him well, creating work opportunities, providing personal and business rewards, and making each community a better place. “It is not about giving back,” Shepard says. “It is about giving.”