Our Friend, Mentor and Beloved Leader

Bill Grubb

Some 25 years ago, Bill Grubb was in the market for a few acres of farmland. He came upon 20 acres or so of rolling countryside just east of Richmond.

The land captivated him.

The day after he made it his – and before it even had a road – he dreamed of growing it. Maybe he could purchase the adjoining properties. Maybe he could build a home there. Maybe he could build a lake or two.

“I don’t know if he ever dreamed it would be what it is today,” said Skeeter Collins, who joined Grubb for an early scouting trip of the farmland and witnessed Millstone Farm’s incredible growth to nearly 2,000 acres.

The same may be said for the business Grubb built over nearly 40 years.

Grubb, who turned his family’s small crane-rental company, W.O. Grubb Crane Rental, into one of the nation’s largest providers of bare and operated crane rental services, passed away Nov. 19, 2024, at the age of 72 after a long illness.

When he purchased the business from his father, Willie Grubb, in 1985, the company owned half a dozen cranes. Today, W.O. Grubb Crane Rental is one of the top 10 crane companies in all North America in terms of fleet size, boasting more than 400 cranes that it rents for projects of all sizes and shapes throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.

“In my mind, he’s a legend in the industry,” said Dave Hull, North American General Manager of Manitowoc Cranes. “And we just lost a legend. I feel for the whole W.O. Grubb Crane Rental team because I know what he meant to them.”

Collins, a Major Accounts Manager for North American sales for Link-Belt Cranes and a close friend of Grubb’s for more than 40 years, added: “It’s a real loss in the industry, he was very well respected in our industry…I don’t know of anybody in the history or in the industry today that has had as much growth and impact.”

Grubb grew up in the business.

Willie Grubb started W.O. Grubb Steel Erection in 1962 when Bill was about 10 years old. The early company built a reputation not only for providing high-quality steel-erection services and equipment, but also splendid customer service. Growth in the 1970s and early 1980s could be attributed to the beginning and then expansion of its crane-rental division. A monumental milestone was being selected to erect the RJ Reynolds plant in Winston-Salem, N.C., in 1983, a project that demanded about 70 percent of the company’s resources.

Health issues required Willie Grubb to hand off day-to-day responsibilities to Bill Grubb.

“Forty years ago, he was out there pulling the levers himself, operating the cranes themselves,” Collins recalled, adding that Bill Grubb was hands-on with and knowledgeable about every part of the business.

“Maybe more than anything, he was a builder,” said Alan Barnhart, CEO of Barnhart Crane.

Barnhart, like Grubb, was involved in his family’s steel erection business. Barnhart, like Grubb, took over the family business in the late 1980s. “Very friendly competitors” at times, Barnhart enjoyed a strong friendship with Grubb for more than 10 years and visited Grubb at his farm several times.

Whether it was his farm or his business, Barnhart said, “He just loved to create.” The last time they visited with each other, Grubb shared his hope to build a new facility in Richmond to bring all three of his local facilities – and his employees – together.

“That was a kind of had a twinkle in his eye at this point,” Barnhart said. “He was not as involved in the day-to-day operation. What made him tick was continuing to create.”

Even as the company continued to offer steel-erection and rigging services, crane rental became a focal point of W.O. Grubb and fueled its growth in the decades after Grubb took over the business.

W.O. Grubb Crane Rental, according to Collins, was becoming known for having terrific equipment and the best insurance and safety records. His employees were known to be both extremely knowledgeable and professional. The company’s customer service – from those in the office to those on site – led to plenty of repeat clients and referrals.

“That was the driving force, not the money, not the number of cranes,” Collins said. “He was forced to grow his business. If a customer had a need, he wanted to be able to provide it.”

Hull met Grubb about 20 years ago when he was on the finance side of Manitowoc Cranes. W.O. Grubb Crane Rental was in big growth mode at the time. Hull remembered that Grubb began investing very heavily in his fleet and envisioned becoming more prominent beyond Virginia’s borders, stretching into the Mid-Atlantic.

“I think his underlying philosophy stayed the same throughout taking care of his customers and employees,” Hull said. “The company always felt like it had a had a very family type environment. That came through from all the employees. Although he was involved in the day-to-day business, he gave more and more authority to those who had grown in the organization.”

Collins added, “He was an incredible man to be able to manage his business and rely on his employees to do the job and not overmanage them. He was very hands-on, but at the same time, he trusted and valued his employees.”

The recipe was successful, to say the least.

Today, W.O. Grubb Crane Rental employs more than 400 in 12 branches stretching from Wilmington, NC., to Baltimore, MD. In addition to crane rental and rigging, the company also assists with machinery moving, specialized hauling, engineered lift planning and project management.

“They have a great reputation of quality, of sound business principles,” Barnhart said. “A lot of companies in our industry grow way too fast and get in trouble. They always seemed very solid. Their fleet was always well maintained. They seemed like folks who did what they said they would do. I think their reputation is as good as anyone in the industry.”

The same may be said for Grubb.

Soft-spoken, yet a man whose messages were heard loud and clear, Grubb was known to just pick up the phone to deal with issues directly. He was unique in that he mastered mixing business with pleasure, forging deep, meaningful friendships with those he met along the way.

“I’d love you to come see me,” he told Barnhart, inviting him out to the farm. “Bill was my best friend,” said Collins, who witnessed the growth of a farm and a business. “We had a very deep relationship and still do today,” Hull said.

“We are a very small industry and there are a lot of egos in the industry,” Hull said. “Big personalities. And really the thing I liked about Bill was that he wasn’t the big personality. He was a person who would sit down and talk about what the issues are. He was a Southern gentleman, and I love him for it.”

Love. Best friend. Deep relationship.

Quite a legacy.