At the northern end of the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex is the unassuming municipality of Little Elm. But in Little Elm there is something big — Texas Xtreme. It’s an explosively growing road construction and industrial site services provider. The company serves construction contractors and industrial sites throughout the DFW area, greater Texas, and Oklahoma.
Texas Xtreme Owners, George and Autumn Brown, have been on a wholly unique entrepreneurial journey. George transitioned from a successful career in heavy equipment sales, and Autumn left her career in the medical field, to build a now booming, family-run powersweeping business.
George recognized the opportunity through his heavy equipment background and decided to make the leap into road construction site services. It’s a story of daring change from two steady incomes, and a clearly stable future, to a truly extreme entrepreneurial risk. Along the way, they’ve raised six beautiful kids. Four are now thriving adults, one is in college, and one is a senior in high school.
Texas Xtreme Business Model
TX Xtreme Construction Services offers a full range of commercial construction site services, including street and parking lot sweeping, debris cleanup, erosion control, parking lot striping, powerwashing, joint sealing, land clearing, right-of-way mowing, demolition, backfilling, and interior and exterior final cleaning. Some of the currently most frequently used services the company provides are:
Powersweeping
The parking lot sweeping service provides milling & paving cleanup for road construction crews, trackout cleanup for construction site management, and industrial cleanup.
Debris Cleanup
Texas Xtreme offers clean up of larger debris that is not suitable for pickup and transport in a sweeper truck hopper. This and related services are available as added conveniences for customers.
Erosion Control Services
This includes putting up silt fences, rock dams, and rip wrap installation on water drainage areas. Erosion control is required on every jobsite in Texas with over 5 acres of disturbed soil. Texas Xtreme is the only provider of these applications among sweeping contractors in the area.
Parking Lot Striping
TX Xtreme provides quality parking lot striping, which enables customers to utilize a convenient one-stop shop for an even fuller range of related services they may need from a single trusted source.
Xtreme Inspiration
We were fortunate to have George recently share with NAS his whirlwind story of diving into an unfamiliar industry to compete in the high-stakes arena of Texas highway construction services. He talked about the learning curve and the staggering growth rate that kicked in after he switched from a few Bobcats with sweeper attachments on front to standard sweeper trucks.
We asked George what inspired him to get into the difficult and expensive business of powersweeping: The biggest influence on my decision to make a change was that I was gone all the time. Every time I came back, I drove through Dallas to get home. I always saw all these big cranes and construction trucks. So, I went home one day and told my wife, “We’re getting into the construction business.“ I said, “We’ll get into powerwashing.”
But, I talked with a contractor about powerwashing, and he said what he really needed was sweeping. So, we started out with another brand of sweeper trucks, but those couldn’t hold up to what we were doing. We had also been using Bobcats. Bobcat backed me on it, which is kind of what ODRA is doing now. We still use 3 Bobcats with sweepers on them.
The ODRA Factor
We grew as big as possible with the Bobcats. We’ve had the three right now since 2016. Then, I got to work with the biggest road builder and developer in the area, and I bought the biggest machine Bobcat makes.
But, the contractor told me, “We prefer sweeper trucks, because you can take those on the roadways to do work for us.” So, I brought on an ODRA MT4. Just 30 days later, I added a second ODRA, and 2 weeks after that, another one. We plan to add more ODRAs again next month.
I ran into Jason of ODRA, and he was very inspiring. Then I met Sean, the ODRA service guy who goes around the country. Sean and Jason have both really helped us a lot. Sean helps train customers’ mechanics and make sure everything is running well. He has shown our mechanic the proper operating procedures for the sweeper trucks, so that training can be shared across our whole company.
50% Growth in One Year!
We have been able to add an onsite mechanic to our team. He also runs a sweeper truck as needed. The person who sells their machines has provided a lot of support for us from ODRA. Since adding the sweeper trucks, we now do more work for Mario Sinacola & Sons Excavating, in Dallas. They’re a very large company.
We just picked up another contract with SEMA Construction, Inc., another very big road building company. We also have all our general contractors, like Crossland Construction, Balfour Beaty US, Raymond Construction (from Utah), and major projects like Costco, Micron Tech, and others. They love the sweeper trucks and what we’re doing.
This year we started using the sweeper trucks, and just this year we’ve grown by about 50%. We always provided good service with the Bobcats, but the sweeper trucks have been game changers. They deliver the versatility we need to handle everything the contractors need and want from a service of our kind.
Of course, success depends on quality, and on doing what you say you’re going to do, and on jumping when they call. If somebody calls for our help at their construction site, and we don’t have someone to cover it at that hour, or an employee needs a day off, etc., I will go do it.
The Texas Xtreme Team
We have 3 regular drivers on our sweeping crew, other workers who powerwash, and a striping crew. Some are in-house, and others are subs. We have 5 guys on our dedicated in-house striping crew, Our powerwashers, we get as we need them. For example, during flood washing, we’ll run with 4 to 5 guys on that crew.
Operators wash and grease the sweeper trucks every day. Our mechanic keeps the vehicles in good repair. He also sometimes drives a sweeper, and he does training. Eventually, our mechanic will probably step up and handle the equipment side 100%. My wife, Autumn, runs the office. She ensures requests are met from a lot of the general contractors, and she does all the paperwork. I work on marketing and do a lot of customer visits, among other things.
I go to job sites to keep my face familiar to everybody. My guys are out confirming that people like the service they’re getting. We’re on the phone doing that all day. Then, the emergency calls come, and I get on the phone and get someone on the way to help. And, I do selling, and whatever else needs to be done.
Running a construction services company requires teamwork, trust, and the ability to solve problems together. We each bring different strengths to the business, but we share the same goal — to take excellent care of our customers. Naturally, there are always challenges, but we are proud of what we have built together.
Texas Xtreme Quality Management
Our level of responsiveness and attention to detail set TX Xtreme apart. Construction schedules can change quickly, so customers need contractors who communicate and adapt. We make every effort to be available, flexible, and dependable. We also offer multiple commercial services, which allows our customers to work with one trusted company for several project needs. That simplifies communications for them and helps keep their projects moving more seamlessly.
Safety and quality go hand in hand. We are fully insured and OSHA compliant, and we take our responsibilities on every job site very seriously. Our goal is to complete each project safely, efficiently, and to a standard that reflects well on everyone involved.
Certifications: Autumn noted in a later communication: We are proud to be DBE, HUB, and MBE certified. These certifications have helped create opportunities for TX Xtreme, but our performance is what continues to earn the work. We want customers to choose us because we are qualified, responsive, and capable — and then keep calling us because we deliver.
NAS On TX Xtreme Quality Management System
It’s worth taking a close look at George Brown’s casual mention of his constant habit of going to job sites to keep his face familiar to everybody and having his guys out in the field confirming that customers are happy with the service his company is providing. Further, when he says “we’re on the phone doing that all day,” it does not paint a picture of a small, time-permitting, quality assurance program.
It’s very rare to hear powersweeping business owners talk that way. There are exceptionally high-quality providers throughout the country. Most of the very best are intensely committed to managing service quality. They do daily, or at least frequent, performance spot checks. They use external cameras, sometimes even with routinely transmitted photos. Some have supervisors, or even dedicated quality checkers, following up with nightly inspections after routes are run.
Some do some amount of all of the above. And some focus fully on strident quality initiatives designed to prevent QC issues upfront. They may rely entirely on the occasional complaint calls as their prompts to communicate directly with customers about service satisfaction.
In any case, the most direct measure of service quality, and, arguably, the most meaningful, is timely tracking of customer assessments through their feedback. That means the most effective way to ensure quality is to maintain a flow of communications that capture information about any potential fluctuations in performance quality and the customer experience.
TX Xtreme Internal Culture
Over its decade of operations, TX Xtreme enterprise has become a trusted service contractor, well known in the DFW area for dependability in answering the phone, showing up when promised, communicating clearly, and getting the job done right.
In a follow-up communication, Autumn once reflected: The company was built through hard work, perseverance, and a willingness to take on challenges. We’ve continued expanding our capabilities while staying focused on the values that helped us grow: honesty, reliability, quality work, and strong customer relationships.
She added: Relationships are everything in this business. We don’t look at a project as a one-time transaction. We want to earn the next call and become a long-term resource for our customers. Our reputation has been built one project and one relationship at a time. We understand that trust comes from consistently doing what we say we are going to do.
We’re proud of how far the company has come, but we’ve never forgotten that every opportunity must be earned. Whether we’re handling a sweeping project, preparing a commercial property, or completing final cleanup, we treat the customer’s project as if our own name is on the finished result — because it is.
Texas Xtreme Future Plans
George continues: I can see us growing in the foreseeable future to about 10 sweeper trucks for our area here, maybe more. And, at some point, we’re going to Austin and San Antonio. Each of those cities will take about 10 sweeper trucks.
We also have a demolition and excavating service. We own excavators, and we hire out demo equipment. We have one crew of two guys for that. For excavation, we have a foreman, and we usually just bring on operators as needed.
Using the non-CDL trucks comes with the benefit of giving more people opportunities to get started in this kind of work and potentially be hired in the future when we need workers.
George emphasized how important the sweeper trucks have been in the growth of Texas Xtreme. ODRA has been the biggest part of the equation in terms of the company’s transition to that advanced equipment. So, it certainly follows that, based on its stunning rate of progress to-date, as Texas Xtreme continues to expand and build its fleet, ODRA can likely be expected to continue supporting the company with dependable rental equipment, sales, and responsive service.
In a later communication, Autumn added: We want to continue growing strategically throughout DFW, North Texas, and Oklahoma while maintaining the quality and personal service our customers expect. We are always looking for opportunities to expand our relationships, strengthen our capabilities, and become an even more valuable partner to commercial contractors and property managers.
Business Benefits of Getting Away
George talked about the importance of a balanced life: I’m 57. We worked for 10 years without vacations. We just started taking time off in August of this year. We recently went to Ouray, Colorado, and we went to the Bahamas for a week not long ago. Next week we’ll go to Boston, and in a few months we’ll go to New York for a week.
We are blessed to have a team that we know can ensure that the jobs are completed to our standards. It actually helps the business for us to get away. When we’re out, it gives the employees opportunities to develop their leadership skills, and we think it’s important for business owners to enjoy time away and to recharge. (That is a key point for the many operators in the industry who do not think they can take time away at the risk of quality and/or volume.)
Technologies at TX Xtreme
We use digital time sheets. And we have Quickbooks, which is tied to the time sheets. That system also tracks the driver. So, the system is GPS enabled, providing accuracy of time tracking and validation of service in timeframes.
Advice for Industry Newcomers from George Brown, Texas Xtreme, Dallas–Ft Worth
My advice is: Don’t worry about the profits, worry about the quality and the profits will come. Build your business on hard work, dependable service, strong relationships, and pride in doing the job correctly.
Autumn added: One of the greatest lessons we’ve learned is that growth does not happen overnight. You have to stay consistent, keep learning, maintain your equipment, build relationships, and continue showing up — even when things are difficult.
We’ve also learned that your reputation is one of your most valuable assets. Equipment can be replaced, but trust has to be earned and protected. Success is not simply adding more work. It is building a respected company, creating lasting customer relationships, providing dependable service, and being proud of the name we have built. We are proud when a customer calls us again or recommends TX Xtreme to someone else. That tells us we earned their trust.
NAS on ODRA
ODRA consistently generates very high customer satisfaction reports from powersweeping business owners we talk with throughout the country throughout the year. From startups to leading regional operators, the manufacturer has built a reputation as an industry leader in product quality, and has become the preferred supplier of durable, versatile, user-friendly sweeper trucks. It’s notable that operators who buy an ODRA or two are typically very enthusiastic about their plans to build a fleet through the brand.
NAS On Texas Xtreme Leadership
Perhaps never has a bumper sticker advice blurb appeared to encapsulate so well the philosophy of an owner of a great skyrocketing business:
Don’t worry about profits. Just worry about quality, and profits will come.
Texas Xtreme’s leadership is a legit industry icon for just letting quality speak for itself, focusing on customer satisfaction, and assuming the people you serve are smart enough to figure out that what you bring makes you worth growing with in a long-term business relationship.
For information about Texas Xtreme, Dallas-Ft.Worth, you can call (620) 899-3830. For information about ODRA Road Sweepers, you can call (855) 801-3405, or visit https://odrasweeper.com/.