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From One Scrap of Metal...
D.H. Griffin Creates a Demolition Legacy
![The family-owned D.H. Griffin Companies is one of the largest demolition companies in the world.](storyassets/carolinas/cover_stories/F16_CS_From-One-Scrap-of-Metal/F16_NC_CS_Interior1_530x370.png)
The family-owned D.H. Griffin Companies is one of the largest demolition companies in the world.
![David Griffin Jr. and his crew helped remove 1.7 million tons of debris over nine months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.](storyassets/carolinas/cover_stories/F16_CS_From-One-Scrap-of-Metal/F16_NC_CS_Interior2_530x370.png)
David Griffin Jr. and his crew helped remove 1.7 million tons of debris over nine months after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
When a 19-year-old David H. Griffin Sr. coordinated the demolition of an old church building in his hometown of Greensboro, N.C., he probably wasn’t thinking about the legacy he was starting to build for himself and his family.
Griffin, the son of sharecroppers, says, “I was newly married and needed a job. I had a truck and a sledgehammer, so this seemed like a good place to start.”
After the church job, Griffin bought a city business license for five dollars and founded D.H. Griffin Wrecking Co. Inc. with his new wife, Marylene. The couple then bid on a downtown apartment complex demolition job. Griffin loaded the salvaged materials by hand, piece-by-piece, and then used some of the salvaged parts to help construct his family’s first house. He even salvaged some of the piping to make clothes lines (which he later turned into a side business) and sold them to people in the community from the back of his truck.
Today, he’s the patriarch of family-owned D.H. Griffin Companies (DHG), a vertically integrated group of companies that provides contract demolition, environmental and other construction services with annual revenue of more than $400 million and over 1,000 employees in offices throughout the South and Mid-Atlantic states. One of the largest companies of its kind in the world, DHG has participated in multiple high-profile projects—including cleanup of the World Trade Center/Ground Zero after the September 11 attacks.
Built on Family and Resourcefulness
Since those early days in 1959, Griffin has expanded his company, adding services and locations to build on its core demolition and scrap metal services. And, perhaps most important in Griffin’s mind, is the fact that his son and daughters became an integral part of the company’s operations in their early 20s. His son David Jr. is now President of D.H. Griffin Wrecking, his daughter, Melody, is Vice President, and his other daughter, Benita, is Secretary and Treasurer.
The business is currently comprised of six independently owned companies that provide services to the public and private sectors.
For example, in 1985, Griffin established the Demolition & Asbestos Removal Inc. (DARI) division to provide environmental abatement support for D.H. Griffin Wrecking’s demolition projects. In 1995, the family started D.H. Griffin Construction Company, a full-service general contracting and construction management firm, as well as D.H. Griffin of Texas Inc., a Houston-based branch that provides demolition and dismantling services.
Between 2004 and 2007, the Griffin family added a Used Equipment Sales division, formed D. H. Griffin Infrastructure, LLC, a turnkey site development company, and D.H. Griffin Contracting, Inc., offering industrial equipment installation, relocation and removal. Griffin says, “Every new company builds on our core expertise—demolition.”
For instance, in 2015, the DARI group and DHG worked together to perform the asbestos abatement and removal as well as demolition of Florida Power & Light Co.’s Port Everglades power plant in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. The original 1960s-era plant consisted of four generating units, two nominal 200-megawatt units and two nominal 400-megawatt units. Crews utilized both conventional and implosive demolition techniques and recycled over 98 percent of the facility property.
While recycling has been a big part of DHG’s philosophy since first turning old pipes into clotheslines, it’s become a business imperative in recent years—one that the company takes very seriously. Several years ago, DHG imploded the 11-story Winkler Hall at Appalachian State University and then crushed 96 percent of the debris to reuse as gravel on a green space for students, diverting a total of 7,057 tons of material from the landfill. In fact, the company’s scrap yard in Greensboro—together with affiliated scrap yards in three other states—produce a combined 300,000 tons of recycled ferrous steel per year.
In its 57 years of operation, DHG has demolished over 25,000 structures that range from professional sports stadiums and multi-story buildings in major metropolitan business areas to airports and shopping malls. It has taken down structures of varying scopes and scales, including:
• Multiple structures for NASA, Cape Canaveral, Fla.
• Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, Atlanta, Ga.
• Fieldcrest Cannon Plant No. 1 textile mill, Kannapolis, N.C.
• Fast Fix 8 – 1-40 Bridge Replacement
Currently, the DHG companies are working on more than 100 projects in 10 states.
“I’m proud of the work we did on this project, helping the city take the first step in recovery.” David Griffin Jr.
The 9/11 Attacks, and the Community
To this day, DHG’s signature project is the World Trade Center/Ground Zero cleanup—an effort that wouldn’t have happened without David Jr.’s initiative to help the city recover from its devastation.
Two days after 9/11, David Jr. visited the Ground Zero site to see what his company could do to help. His efforts resulted in DHG being chosen by the New York City Dept. of Design and Construction to serve as the lead demolition consultant on the cleanup effort. The project required the removal of over 17 million square feet of office retail space equaling 1.7 million tons of debris—a vastly complicated challenge for numerous reasons. The project was completed nine months earlier than anticipated with a cost reduction of $400 million.
“I’m proud of the work we did on this project, helping the city take the first step in recovery,” David Jr. says.
The Griffin family is also deeply involved in the Greensboro community and is particularly proud of sponsoring its annual D.H. Griffin Golf Classic in Greensboro, which has taken place every fall since 1996. The Golf Classics have helped to raise over $2 million for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In addition, each spring the company sponsors the Jamestown Civitan—Marylene F. Griffin Memorial Golf Classic in Jamestown, N.C., in memory of family matriarch Marylene, an avid golfer, who passed away in 2012.
Looking back at how his father’s company has grown and evolved, David Jr. says he’s blessed to work alongside some of the best in the industry. With his children already following his footsteps, David is excited to shape the upcoming generation of leaders building the DHG demolition legacy.