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The productivity with the Topcon system has been a real benefit, along with the modifications Thomas has made to the box blade. "I took the Gannon box off of it and it has a kind of screed on it like a paving machine," he explains. "When I go to do rock, it contains all of the material. I don't have windrows. I make one pass and I am done."

The results are impressive. "I have done almost 90,000 sq. ft. a day finish grading with a tractor," says Thomas. "A good blade man is supposed to do about 70,000 sq. ft."

Not having to wait for a grade checker accounts for much of the productivity gain. "If you have a super-aggressive grade setter, it would be about a wash, but those are real hard to find," says Thomas. "Then you have the overhead of a grade setter. You are paying overtime." That isn't including the cost of lathe and materials.

Roughing it in the old way also means working around stakes. "You have no stakes in the way anymore," says Thomas. This speeds up the grading process.

In addition to subcontracting for larger contractors, Shane Thomas Construction also tackles its own projects. "When I do my own jobs, I have a guy who makes all of my maps," says Thomas. "I don't have time to do that." He admits that the technology is as good as the person creating the maps. "But as far as the system, it has never let me down."