Two East Texas Builders Launch Their Own Civil Construction Firm

Zane Adams and Jeremy Dickerson spent years building other people’s companies. In late 2025, they launched their own: ZJ Industries, a civil construction firm in Lufkin, Texas, that has lined up six contracts across East Texas in its first year.

“We’ve both made a lot of money for a lot of people,” Adams recalled telling Dickerson. “How about we try to make some money for ourselves for once?”

The company does earthwork and infrastructure development, including planning, clearing, grubbing, smoothing, paving, and water and sewer lines. The same crew often handles all of it on the same job.

From Colleagues to Business Partners

Dickerson was an estimator at a heavy civil construction company in East Texas when Adams arrived as CEO. Adams promoted him to chief operating officer, and the two spent long nights working through projects and bids together.

“We invested in each other,” Adams said. “That mutual investment earned us each other’s respect, and it turned us from colleagues into trusted friends.”

At ZJ Industries, they kept the split that worked before. Adams handles relationships, lead generation and financial management. Dickerson runs bidding and site management.

One Crew, Two Scopes of Work

Their pitch is simple. Instead of hiring separate excavation and utility contractors, a client hires one crew that does both.

“If you have one team that can do both, gain efficiencies, stay cost competitive, and give the client one point of responsibility if something goes wrong, that’s a win for everybody,” Adams said.

Clients are buying it. Less than a year in, ZJ Industries has six contracts underway.

Paying for Materials Before the Checks Arrive

Civil construction runs on cash up front. Equipment, crews and materials all get paid for before a job invoices, and suppliers often give newer firms tougher terms than established ones. Some won’t ship until a company proves it can pay. Adams said that gap can cap how much work a young company can safely take on.

So Adams and Dickerson went looking for a bridge to carry them while their financials caught up with their workload. UBank in Lufkin and the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at Angelina College connected them with the Lending Team at Communities Unlimited (CU).

Drawing on Credit Job by Job

In May, CU’s Lending Team closed a working capital loan with ZJ Industries, supported through an investment from the T.L.L. Temple Foundation. The owners draw on it project by project to buy materials, then pay it down as jobs are invoiced.

“It becomes kind of a warm blanket for us,” Adams said. “If that situation comes up, we can say, ‘Here’s our project. We’re getting paid in three weeks. We just need help covering the materials so we can be successful.’”

Adams also uses the credit line to shop suppliers for the best price instead of taking whatever terms are offered. He said that keeps ZJ Industries’ bids competitive and protects its margins.

Bidding Bigger

The credit line also adds to the company’s bonding capacity, which sets how large a project ZJ Industries can bid on. Without bonding, bigger contracts are out of reach no matter how good the crew is. Adams said the added capacity widens the range of jobs the company can go after.

“It gives us breathing room to be successful and do what we do without those roadblocks standing in front of us,” he said.

The owners’ next goal is to keep their crews working and build the payment record that will lead suppliers to extend credit on their own.