W.T. Stevens Construction, a Black woman-owned construction company in Flint, Michigan, was recently awarded a multimillion-dollar service contract to replace more than 18,000 corroded lead water pipes across the city.
Blackbusiness.org reported that W.T. Stevens was one of four companies contracted under a court order to complete the project.
The construction firm was founded in the 1990s by the late W.T. Stevens. Following his death in 2002, his daughter Rhonda Grayer, took over as the company’s vice president while her husband, retired professional basketball player Jeff Grayer, serves as the project manager.
“This is home for me and my family and I wasn’t going to sit back and do nothing as a person or as a businessman,” said Mr. Grayer. He added, “The is the biggest project our company has ever done and as a result of the water line contract our gross revenues have increased by about 70 percent.”
Mr. Grayer told TNJ.com that the “target is to replace all 18,000 lead corroded residential pipes by December 2019.” He projects that WTS will have replaced 6,000 contaminated water lines in Flint by year’s end. So far, he says roughly 800 have been replaced.
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