Our Story

It started in 2000 in Asheville, North Carolina, with summer work in land surveying alongside my great-uncle, Charles William Smith. There wasn’t anything glamorous about it—just early mornings, hand tools, and learning how to read the ground for what it really was. That work taught me to slow down, pay attention, and respect the land before anything is ever built on it.

Back home in Spartanburg, I spent my afternoons in my father’s office at the City, learning how plans were drawn by hand. No computers, no shortcuts—just stencils, ink, and repetition until every line meant something. That’s where I first learned that construction isn’t just about building—it’s about responsibility.

After college, I worked my way into the civil construction world under people who didn’t hand out opportunities lightly. At PGDI in Spartanburg under the late Todd Crawford, I didn’t start in an office. I started in the field, and when I finally made it inside, there was no talk of software or shortcuts. Just markups, highlighting every detail, and learning how to truly read a set of plans from start to finish.

Later, at Hyatt Pipeline in North Carolina under Rob Hyatt, I got real field responsibility—utility work that demanded precision, not theory. In Wilkesboro, we installed miles of water, sewer, and storm infrastructure, tied in nearly 200 services, and coordinated regional utility connections. It was real work, done with small crews, long days, and no room for error.

In 2014, after finishing that chapter in Wilkesboro, I founded CWS Civil Group. It didn’t start with scale or structure—it started with belief. Just a small operation built around field experience, reputation, and the hope that steady work would turn into something lasting.

There was never any real backing behind it. No loans, no investors, and no safety net to fall back on. Just a name that had to mean something in the field, a few leased machines when they were available, and work that had to be earned one job at a time.

When something went wrong or a job got tight, there was never much room for options. You worked through it, leaned on the people beside you, and kept the job moving forward without taking shortcuts. That was just how things were done.

That foundation eventually became the reason for UTILX—a focused extension of that same philosophy, built specifically around utility infrastructure, subdivision development, pump stations, and system upgrades. Not a different mindset, just a sharper tool for a more specific kind of work.

Along the way, I went on to attend LSU to pursue an engineering degree, not to change direction, but to strengthen what was already being built in the field.

What we are today was never built on leverage or shortcuts. It was built slowly, with earned trust, steady work, and the belief that if you do things the right way long enough, the work speaks for itself.