In the Press.

Legacy's Roland Orgeron Jr. featured in Construction Executive CE Magazine
Sept/Oct 2024 Issue

Since Roland Orgeron, Jr. and business partner Blake Couch founded Legacy Industries in 2016, the company has been part of the response to every major hurricane that has hit the continental U.S. including Hurricane Harvey in the Houston area, Hurricane Ian in southwest Florida, Hurricane Florence on the North Carolina coast and others. In plenty of cases, though, he doesn’t need to arrange for anyone to travel anywhere.

Based in New Orleans, much of Orgeron, Jr.’s work has involved cleaning up major storms in Louisiana and helping clients in the area prepare for the next disaster that will inevitably arrive on shore. 

“We do a lot of consulting to identify vulnerabilities, and we offer action plans for companies based on potential storm scenarios,” Orgeron, Jr. told Construction Executive.

Some of those clients include large oil and gas companies with operations along the Mississippi River that cannot afford to be shut down for any extended period of time. “Before Hurricane Ida hit, we pre-positioned equipment inside some facilities, and we had guys responding the day after the storm to clear the area and assess the damage,” Orgeron, Jr. said. 

During Ida’s immediate response, the company’s work involved more than keeping the business location up and running. “We have a home stabilization contract with one oil and gas company designed to make sure their employees can get back to work as comfortably and quickly as possible,” Orgeron, Jr. said. “After Ida, we gutted homes with water damage, tarped roofs and provided immediate assistance care packages including temporary power as part of our stabilization package. We’re seeing other companies outside the energy sector ask for those same services to make sure they can maintain their workforce.”

A sister company of Legacy Industries — Legacy Environmental, which specializes in oil and gas maintenance and industrial cleaning services — includes 50 full-time experienced disaster response professionals, but when the hurricane hits that close to home, it can pose challenges in terms of finding enough workers for the job. 

“Even in the best of times, it’s a struggle right now with labor,” Orgeron, Jr. said, “so when a storm hits, we’ll bring in people from all over the Southeast. We have relationships with different companies we can rely on to find the right personnel and resources. After Hurricane Ida, we set up a 40-person camp in our parking lot with power that gave workers from Florida, Arkansas and Alabama a temporary home.”

While the nature of hurricane season means that Legacy Environmental’s workflow can be unpredictable, another related company — Legacy Construction — has a clear outline of what’s ahead. Orgeron, Jr. says that side of the business is primarily focused on long-term recovery projects. There’s a “natural handoff” between Legacy Environmental’s 60- to 90-day immediate clean-up period and Legacy Construction’s work in big-picture rebuilding. Since its founding, the company has been involved in repair and new construction work on more than 4,500 residential properties. 

The definition of long-term can be very long. Affected homeowners need to complete applications for government grant money and other assistance, and there is some red tape to clear to get the process moving forward. Currently, the company is working on more than 100 homes that were impacted by Hurricanes Laura, Ida, Delta and Zeta — all of which occurred between 2020 and 2021 — as part of a federally-sponsored plan called Restore Louisiana. 

In other cases, the recovery process can take a generation due to the natural challenges of rebuilding a ravaged community: The company is currently building 20 doubles, 40 units on lots acquired after the devastation of Hurricane Katrina via a partnership with SBP, a non-profit organization based in New Orleans that works on recovery operations throughout the Gulf Coast. This is phase 2 of that project, as 30 doubles, 60 units were completed in 2021

“Every storm is different,” Orgeron, Jr. said. “They each come with different logistical difficulties, and we just work to make sure that we do all we can to strengthen our resources and solidify our partnerships before they arrive.”

READ FULL ARTICLE in September - October 2024 Issue
Author - David McMillin
source - www.constructionexec.com

Recent response efforts by Legacy Team Members and Partners:

  • Hurricane Francine
    -     8 vac trucks moved over 1,500,000 gallons of water from various locations throughout New Orleans
    - Deployed over 150 individual asset kits as per our stabilization programs 
    - Provided temp power to multiple clients during and after the storm

  • Hurricane Helene
    - Provided personnel to assist in setting up logistics staging areas in Jacksonville
    - Provided vac trucks to remove and dispose of contaminated waters from swimming pools and elevator shafts
    - Provided restoration services to 58 residential properties that sustained flood damage

  • Hurricane Milton
    - Safely evacuated a staff of 58 people within 36 hours of landfall and redeployed personnel 6 hours after landfall.
    - Provided personnel to assist in setting up logistics staging areas in Tampa and Fort Meyers
    - Provided 28 vac trucks to assist in drainage efforts and base camp operations
    - Provided personnel to provide wrap around services to 3 base camps
    - Provided combo trucks and personnel to remove compacted sand from 15 swimming pools on Gasparilla Island