Caterpillar Plant Hires Georgia Company to Clear Site

has hired Plateau Excavation of Austell to excavate and grade the property near Athens, GA, for its 1 million-square-foot manufacturing plant. Work on the $200 million heavy equipment plant has begun already. The project should be significantly completed by January 2013, and Plateau has 35-40 team members working on the project – approximately half of which are new hires. Caterpillar plans to eventually employ 1,400 at the new facility.

The local excavation firm, which specializes in providing turnkey site development construction, will install 14,300 linear feet of storm drainage through out the site. The disturbed acreage will be 115 acres, while the earthwork volume is 850,000 cubic yards.

The new plant is set to begin production in late 2013 and will make small bulldozers and excavators. The company will occupy 245 of the 900-acre Orkin property on which it’s located. The company reportedly will relocate suppliers to the rest of the property, further increasing revenue and jobs for the Athens area.

“It’s an honor for Plateau Excavation to work on Caterpillar, who manufactures much of the equipment we use throughout the Southeast,” said Brad Carroll, vice president/COO of Plateau Excavation. “The plant’s decision to relocate to Georgia is a huge win for our state, and we appreciate Governor Deal and his staff for making this happen, as well as to Gray Construction for their recommendation and confidence in Plateau Excavation.”

All work will be performed with Caterpillar equipment, which comprises most of the equipment utilized by Plateau Excavation. The firm will also use several advanced GPS “machine control” tractors, which nearly eliminate the need for traditional construction surveying. As each portion of the pad is excavated, Gray Construction will immediately begin construction of that phase. The first section of the building pad, which is approximately 200,000 square feet, will be completed in less than a month.