Ric-Man International, Inc. handles heavy civil and design-build projects to improve South Florida infrastructure

Richard Mancini emigrated from Italy to the suburbs of Detroit in 1965 and founded a construction business, Ric-Man Construction. In 1982, that company’s success encouraged the Mancini family to open a second entity, Ric-Man International (Int’l), based in Pompano Beach, Fla. Today, fourth-generation family member Michael Jankowski is President of Ric-Man Int’l and has helped establish the company as one of the leading heavy civil contractors in South Florida.

“We’ll take on anything in the heavy-civil industry from roadwork, pipelines, tunnels to roadway beautification and parks,” stated Jankowski. “We specialize in large diameter water, sewer, drainage, utilities and road-building infrastructure as well; however, there’s no job too big or too small for us.”

Projects range in size from $30,000 to $30 million. Many of the firm’s jobs are for regular customers.

“Clients will ask for us to be a part of a specific job because of our past relationships,” said General Manager Andres Diaz. “We take a lot of pride in the work we do.”

The 80-plus employee organization completes projects throughout Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties. In the last five years, Ric-Man Int’l has added construction management to its capabilities and received an award for its Miracle Mile project in Coral Gables, Fla.

“Because we often operate in a city environment, some of what we do disrupts people’s day-to-day lives,” acknowledged Diaz. “The majority of our work won’t be seen except when somebody turns on a faucet or flushes a toilet. It can be difficult work, but we know what we’re doing is important.”

For Jankowski, creating a family-oriented environment is a key part of the company’s success through the last four decades.

“We have several employees who have been here up to 30 years,” he shared. “After I graduated from college, I started working in the field and made my way up through every level of the business. Our employees know that there is nothing I haven’t done, and we value everything they do.”

Improving Florida’s infrastructure

Recently, the State of Florida’s Ocean Outfall Legislation Program was introduced with the goal of eliminating routine ocean discharges from sewer treatment facilities by 2021. The project will increase availability of reclaimed water for potential reuse, reduce sanitary sewer overflows, improve capacity for managing peak wet-weather flows, reduce nutrient concentrations and upgrade system resiliency. Several months ago, Ric-Man Int’l began installing the infrastructure that will redistribute water away from outflows for reuse across the Broward County area.

“The project we’re currently working on will connect reclaimed water from the Broward County treatment facility to Palm Beach County,” explained Diaz. “The high demand for water on golf courses in Palm Beach County means the county has to import water from other areas. This new project will allow the Palm Beach golf courses to use reclaimed water from Broward County and reduce the impact on the environment.”

Two separate contracts, one for $3 million and the other for $25 million, were funded to connect the counties. With its heavy civil expertise, Ric-Man Int’l secured both contracts and is able to handle the jobs as one larger project.

“In the course of two years, we will install 50,000 linear feet of pipe,” said Jankowski. “One of the largest challenges with this project is running the pipe underneath major roadways and through busy intersections. On any given weekend, we will shut down a major intersection to install pipe quickly and safely while minimizing disruption to the regular traffic flow.”

Throughout its history, Ric-Man Int’l has completed dozens of design-build projects. Currently, it’s in the early stages of a force main design-build project for Miami-Dade County.

“We’re always trying to expand our capabilities, which is why we’ve started to pursue a lot of design-build projects,” said Diaz. “We’re installing a force main to replace some decaying infrastructure. One of the biggest challenges will be shutting down an intersection that connects two major highways and two popular shopping malls.”

Outside of major roadway projects, Ric-Man Int’l takes on more aesthetic jobs, including neighborhood beautification.

“We’re wrapping up an improvement project for Broward County,” noted Jankowski. “We took out everything between property lines and replaced it with new deep-gravity sewer and water mains. Now, we’re completing the beautification part with new sidewalks, trees and landscaping.”

Reliable service and equipment

When completing major projects, Ric-Man Int’l relies on its equipment to perform efficiently without breaking down. That’s why Jankowski turns to Linder Industrial Machinery and Sales Rep Randy Dominguez for his company’s equipment and service needs.

“In the last year we bought a D39 dozer and two WA320 loaders, in addition to three excavators ranging from a PC88 to a PC490,” offered Jankowski. “Through the years we’ve been demoing, purchasing and tracking the performance of Komatsu equipment and have become very accustomed to the limited maintenance costs and high productivity it provides.”

“The implementation of technology in the machines has been excellent,” added Diaz. “We’ve had issues with competitive equipment not functioning properly. Komatsu has it figured out with efficiency and very minimal downtime.”

Customer service plays an important role in the firm’s relationship with Linder.

“We pay close attention to the details. From a service standpoint, Linder does that as well,” said Diaz. “Their Komatsu Care program has been fantastic. It’s a huge benefit that Linder will handle our regular servicing needs correctly, so we don’t have to schedule appointments.”

Looking ahead

Ric-Man Int’l looks to continue growing and taking on larger and more diverse projects.

“We have a lot of good work on the books and plan to keep bidding projects where we feel we can be successful,” said Jankowski. “We want to strategically place our big jobs so that we aren’t spread too thin and can focus on what we specialize in while adding jobs that may be outside of our comfort zone. We’re always seeking new challenges and ways to grow.”