Courtesy / Lakeside Concrete Cutting
Lakeside provided precision cutting services for the selective removal of concrete floor slabs to create trenches a Brunswick job.
September 13, 2021
Newport concrete cutting firm plans expansion with Cumberland deal
Courtesy / Lakeside Concrete Cutting
Lakeside Concrete Cutting & Abatement is planning to nearly double its southern Maine facility with the construction of a new plant in Cumberland. Here, an employee cuts a concrete core.
A concrete cutting and abatement firm established in Newport in the late 1970s is planning an expansion with the construction of a 15,000-square-foot plant in Cumberland.
“Our new facility will make operations more efficient for both our field and office staff,” said Ryan Peters, president of Lakeside Concrete Cutting & Abatement. “Our materials will be more organized, more vehicles can be moved in out of the weather, and our training center will be spacious and updated with the latest technology.”
Lakeside Concrete Cutting & Abatement bought Lot 3, at a subdivision called Captain’s Landing on U.S. Route 1, from Beacon Properties LLC for $225,000.
Chris Paszyc of the Boulos Co. and Mark Malone of Malone Commercial Brokers brokered the transaction.
Lot 3 is a 2.55-acre parcel with 369 feet of frontage on Route 1 that was marketed as a development opportunity.
Cutting through concrete
Lakeside was founded in Newport by Earle Peters in the late 1970s as an electrical business, according to the company’s website. By 1990, Peters saw the need for a specialty concrete removal contactor in the area.
President Ryan Peters is Earle Peters' youngest son. He started working in the family business while in high school and earned a bachelor’s in construction management technology from the University of Maine. He first worked in the construction industry as an engineer and project manager, then began taking over the family business in 2012. Ryan became president and sole owner in 2015 when Earle retired.
Today, the company serves the entire state. Services include concrete cutting, which means sawing, drilling and removing concrete use specialized precision equipment that can result in perfectly smooth plumb-and-level openings. For example, the techniques are used to cut door and windows through concrete walls, to lower a foundation elevation and remove a wall in part or whole.
Other services include asbestos and lead abatement, mold remediation, demolition, dumpster disposal and environmental hazard surveys.
An example of a typical job includes asbestos abatement, selective demolition and concrete cutting at Dana Hall on Bates College’s campus in Lewiston, said Ryan Peters.
Two locations
Courtesy / Lakeside Concrete Cutting
Ryan Peters.
Lakeside’s headquarters is at 12 Railroad St. in Newport. A year ago, the company bought another company called Abatement Professionals and has since then been leasing the latter’s former headquarters at 590 County Road in Westbrook as an additional location.
But the company needed a more suitable and larger location to serve southern Maine, said Peters.
“We are looking to moving out of our Westbrook location into a more suitable building,” he said. “We started looking for an existing building or land in the greater Portland area in late 2020.”
The Cumberland property was attractive because of its location north of Portland, while also being close to Portland, he said.
“We also love how close it is to exit 10 on 295,” he added.
Courtesy / Lakeside Concrete Cutting
The plan for the new Cumberland facility includes a larger training room and a garage and vehicle lift for its box trucks.
The plan is to build a 15,000-square-foot building with 12 offices, a training center, and space for vehicle and material storage.
That’s nearly double the Westbrook facility’s 8,000 square feet.
The goal is to perform earthworks this winter, start pouring concrete by next March and move in by the end of next spring.
“The Newport office will remain in full operation when the Westbrook office relocates to Cumberland,” Peters said.
Lakeside services renovation projects across the state from its two locations. It has 35 employees reporting in Westbrook and 31 reporting in Newport.
“We’re constantly recruiting,” he added.
In fact, five more people recently joined the roster.
Training center
A highlight of the new facility will be its training center.
“That’s one thing I like to highlight about the new building,” he said. “Right now, we have a training room that can seat 10 people.”
That number was reduced to six during the past year, due to safety precautions.
The company also has a trainer on staff who teaches asbestos abatement and refresher classes. Lakeside allows people from other companies to train with it, too.
The new training center will be bigger, is expected to be able to seat at least 20 people and will include audio-visual aids such as a large projector screen.
The new plant will allow trucks to be parked inside, to make it easier to load and unload them out of the weather. That’s also expected to save time and make it possible for crews to get on the road more quickly.
The company bought the parcel outright. Investment in the build-out is estimated at $3 million, with financing through the U.S. Small Business Administration’s 504 program. The 504 program provides long-term, below-market, fixed-rate loans with lower down payments than conventional loans for certain commercial purposes.
Peters credited Eastern Maine Development Corp. in Bangor for helping him get set up with the SBA.
The expansion of the business is due to a couple of factors.
“The construction economy is strong in Maine right now,” he said.
Plus the purchase of Abatement Professionals added over a dozen employees to Lakeside and has since resulted in further growth.
“Together we’re stronger,” he said.
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