Crafton, Tull & Associates

Engineering Firm Maintains Marketplace Focus

In 1963, engineers Bob Crafton and Lemuel Tull left their jobs with the Arkansas Highway and Transportation Department and headed to northwest Arkansas.

“Beaver Dam was under construction, and it was generating a lot of activity. We knew there would be lots of opportunities for civil engineers,” says Crafton. Tull retired in 1996.

Taking their personal savings, Crafton and Tull arrived in Rogers on Nov. 20, 1963. “We only knew a couple of people in town, but we found places to stay,” Crafton says. “Two days later, President John F. Kennedy was shot. It was a dark day in our lives.”

The pair overcame their ominous beginning to developed one of the largest engineering and architectural firms in the state, with 130 employees, including nine architects and 32 engineers.

The firm has steadily grown since its founding. In 1982 it merged with an architectural firm and doubled in size over the next five years. Growth in the past six years has been fueled by acquisitions. The company has posted an annual revenue growth rate averaging 24 percent for each of the past three years.

Nearly all of the company’s engineers are civil engineers as the company focuses on its niche in the marketplace, Crafton says. The company’s strengths, he says, are in highway and bridge work, drainage projects, public works facilities, land development projects, industrial and commercial architecture, schools and survey projects.

There’s no individual model that Crafton follows to guide the company. “We sell service,” he says. “We treat customers right and shoot for the repeat customers.”

Internally, he tries to maintain a family atmosphere and has built a strong reputation with high ethical standards.

“We been fortunate over the years to keep people,” Crafton says.

With new highway construction set to begin, the company anticipates continued growth.