Our History
Neuco is proud to have an operating history of more than 50 years.
1972
Coming from a long line of entrepreneurs, founder Edward Bond Jr. ventured outside his family’s very successful construction business to establish New England Utility Constructors in April of 1972. Neuco started off as a rental company, renting out crew trucks, compactors, and other small equipment to construction companies.
1976
Armed with industry expertise, and with equipment in hand, Ed Bond propelled Neuco forward in 1976. As local utility companies were looking to outsource their work, Neuco was well positioned to make the transition to utility construction. Neuco’s first work in this new market was providing construction and maintenance services for Essex County Gas. Bond rented a small section of his family’s office suite in Everett, MA, to run Neuco’s early operations.
1980
One of the company’s first milestones was in 1980 after being awarded a project for Energy North in New Hampshire. This project expanded Neuco’s footprint beyond the Boston area and helped to solidify Neuco’s reputation for safety, quality, and service. It also provided the initial roadmap of how to grow in the Northeast market.
1994
Dave Newsham, a seasoned gas distribution professional, was hired as operations manager. Newsham’s experience provided insight to customer needs, and he leveraged his broad industry expertise in each department at Neuco. Taking advantage of the high unemployment rate in Neuco’s area, he also seized the opportunity to recruit and develop a skilled workforce. This helped to enhance an already talented team who excelled in utility construction and understood how to secure work for a successful future. Most importantly, Newsham inspired a culture of safety, putting nothing above employees returning home safely from work every day.
2001
Neuco focuses on safety training to prepare staff for a new federal law for Operator Qualification, or OQ, that required Neuco to train employees in 28 tasks and pass 17 tests to continue work in the gas industry. Neuco was an industry leader in developing many of the safety and training programs that still exist today.
2005
The practice of seamlessly moving crews from one customer to another without compromising safety, service, quality, or production gave Neuco an advantage in versatility and adaptability that resulted in the award of several large projects. Neuco’s structure enabled the company to win a 7-year, 60-mile replacement project in Lewiston, ME. This project led Neuco to invest significantly in its northern operations and has resulted in continuous work for over 20 years.
2011
Neuco was awarded the largest natural gas pipe replacement project in the Northeast: a 14-year, $60 million contract to replace more than 100 miles of pipeline in the Portland, ME area.
2017
Gas distribution networks in New England were among the largest and oldest in the United States, dating back to the 1800s. Federal and state regulatory actions prompted the region’s local distribution utilities to implement long-term programs to replace aging and substandard infrastructure. This potential for growth prompted Edward Bond, Jr. to make Neuco part of Centuri Group in 2017.
2022
For five decades, Neuco has been providing turnkey underground utility construction solutions to customers throughout New England. Neuco takes great pride in working on the essential systems that deliver power to homes and businesses, and in the customer relationships built on decades of experience and trust. Neuco has always and will always remain loyal to those founding principles of quality, safety, and providing for employees because that is the Neuco way.
