History
In the mid 1980's, 2 brothers, Mark and Brad Tafel from the Midwest, put together a different style of excavating company.
They offered exceptional skill with "state of the art" earthmoving equipment at a fixed rate never allowing Unions, Holidays or weekends to drive up the cost.
This cost savings to their clients proved extremely fruitful allowing the company to double its size year after year by completing jobs under budget and way ahead of schedule.
Opportunities presented themselves through word of mouth time and time again allowing their company to take on larger projects and start traveling to southern Hurricane stricken Gulf States. This phase of work brought on new challenges and turned the company into a self sufficient entity. They created their own mobile command center with communication, fuel, food, water, power and housing which allowed them to stay on scene week after week. Additionally, the alliances created with FEMA, the US Army Corp.of Engineers and some of the most prominent General Contractors of that day set a new bar of excellence for the company.
In 2009, a Corporate decision was made to start a new company, formerly Tafel Construction Inc., that was able to competitively compete for State and Federal contracts. Top Gun Top Dog Inc. was formed. Our new company had all of the same workings as before, but now achieved a Texas state comptroller HUB (Historically Underutilized Business) and a Federal WOSB (Woman Owned Small Business) certification as a minority contractor. These certifications along with our motto of "SAS" (Safety, Accuracy and Speed) has allowed our company to be second to none in the field of excavating excellence. Our earth working talents lead our company to becoming a premier lake and pond builder.
From Hurricane Andrew and Opal to Harvey and Michael, Top Gun Top Dog was there moving millions of yards of debris, helping those who truly were in need and creating friendships every step of the journey.
Safety, Accuracy and Speed proven.
Recently in August of 2019, Top Gun Top Dog Inc. was awarded a project with the State of Texas, TPWD (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department) for erosion repairs of State Park, Lake Ray Roberts, Isle Du' Bois unit. This project included the removal of hundreds of trees with root ball extraction, excavation of 10,000 cubic yards of earth existing on steep 45-90 degree shoreline slopes, placement of 11,000 tons of 24" Rip Rap aggregate (500 semi loads) with filter fabric and subbase stone. Our company mobilized equipment to the State Park September 23rd, 2019 to be completed by February 2021 or approximately 530 days later.
In 77 days, on December 8th, 2019 the job was complete.
Final Inspection occurred a week later with full demobilization.
Top Gun Top Dog Inc. just set a new record for completion time on contracts over $1 million for TPWD!
During the fall of 2021, Top Gun Top Dog was contracted to build a 7 acre lake, 20' deep in North Texas to be completed before Thanksgiving less than 30 days away. With strict 12 hour work days, 7 days a week, Top Gun Top Dog demobilized all heavy equipment completing the lake in 28 days.
Most recently, Top Gun Top Dog was requested and given an incredible opportunity to cut in a weir, remove 50 acres of trees, and cut and fill 300,000 cubic yards of sand. This project was in the delta of Arkansas, between the White and Arkansas Rivers. Our general contractor, Barnard, a highly reputed firm out of Montana, wanted the large quantity moved in a short window of time before high water would flow down from the north. Top Gun Top Dog agreed to move 6,000 cubic yards of material each day, 6 days a week for 2 months. Meeting their request, completion occurred October 27, 2023, with bonds released and final payouts made. It was a true privilege and pleasure to work with a company committed to safety, accuracy, and speed.
For nearly 40 years our company has been incident free.
Top Gun Top Dog prides themselves with Earthwork Excellence and look forward to moving earth with you.
Sincerely,
Sharon Lawson,
President.
