Located in southeast Indiana, Lees Ready Mix & Trucking Inc. has provided high-quality ready- mixed concrete, stone, sand, and trucking since 1971. Company president Larry Lee joined his father’s business in 1973 where he started out sweeping floors, cleaning bathrooms, and operating the loader. Lee began to move up the ranks as a truck driver and dispatcher, and ultimately became company president in 1981.
Lees Ready Mix is doing everything it can to separate itself from the rest of the pack and has started two new companies to support the ready-mix industry.
The first is Wash-Out Systems LLC, an onboard washout system that leaves nothing at the jobsite. The second, New Image Mixers LLC, offers companies the option to send the trucks to Lees’ for remanufacturing instead of just buying a new mixer or glider kit.
“We are innovative and always staying ahead of the curve,” says Lee.
Lees Ready Mix has worked with polished concrete, self-consolidating concrete, pervious concrete, colored concrete, and stampings. The producer is not afraid to venture out into the unknown; white concrete has been its new best-selling item.
“One thing that really sets us apart from our competitors is our willingness to take on any type of new mix,” says Lee.
The concrete producer is in the process of buying land for a fourth ready-mix pant and a third sand and gravel operation. The business is 70% dedicated to concrete; 30% is focused on sand and gravel.
Lee realizes the importance of growing the company through technology as well.
“We are constantly looking at and investing in technology such as GPS tracking, updated batching computers, and updating our administrative computer systems and processes,” says Lee.
Like the rest of the industry, Lees Ready Mix was hit hard by the recession. The producer made the appropriate cutbacks, but is still burdened by the scarcity of drivers.
“The lack of qualified drivers has been a major problem. We run ads in newspapers and on the radio and even offer to pay for the CDL license,” says Lee.
In the last few years, Lees Ready Mix has completed work on many Indiana Department of Transportation projects on I-65 and more than 20 bridges. The producer has also done jobs for local hospitals and schools.
