About Us: Key Management

Derrick I. Hodson - President
Derrick is the CEO, and principal stockholder of Desert Plumbing & Heating Company, Inc. He is the third generation in his family to head the company. Grandfather, Ivan Larkin, and father, Ray Hodson, co-founded the company in 1977. Derrick served in an apprenticeship to his grandfather who trained him in estimating and general management. Within 12 years, Derrick ascended to the position of President and after purchasing 100 percent of the company stock, became the sole stockholder in the company.

Derrick's leadership and vision lead the company to its present day status of 250+ employees. He developed a growth plan for the company, enabling it to grow from a residential and tenant improvement contracting firm to a commercial plumbing/mechanical design contracting firm involved in the design and installation of multimillion dollar projects.

Because of Derrick's high standards of workmanship, a great deal of Desert Plumbing & Heating Company, Inc. work is negotiated design/build.

Alex L. Hodson - Vice President Pre-Construction and Engineering Services

Alex joined Desert Plumbing & Heating Company, Inc. in 1978. Within the first five years, Alex had advanced from journeyman, foreman, and general foreman to field superintendent. He then moved into project management where he quickly mastered the tasks of planning construction methods and procedures for projects such as hotels, schools, hospitals, and commercial buildings. While coordinating the supply of labor and materials, his interpretation of plans and supervision of construction sites allowed him to continue his interaction with the general contractors to make sure standards of plumbing performance, quality, cost schedules and safety were maintained.

Alex, as senior project manager, has excelled with the management of direct site project managers. He continued to consult with architects, engineers and other technical workers to make sure that design intentions were met. Such projects as; the design of the life support systems for over a million and a half gallons of salt water for 14 exhibits, high pressure fire effects and micro breweries showed some of the diversity that he has managed.

Alex's "hands-on" approach to work ensures that he is directly involved in every step of the process of pre-construction and field coordination from coordinating a project team and maintaining the direction of the team during all stages of the pre-construction period, to developing a project start package to hand off to operations, including all information required for a complete understanding of the project. His contributions to facilitate design and constructability reviews at every stage allows for proactively resolving potential collisions before they occur.

Alex's expert pre-construction planning and field coordination are key success factors for today's complex construction projects. Addressing potential issues as early as possible saves time and money during construction and helps minimize interruptions.

Susan M. Provost - Chief Operating Officer

Susan has been with Desert Plumbing & Heating Company, Inc. since 1997 and has over 25 years' experience in Accounting and Finance. She is an IRS Certified Enrolled Agent, and she has obtained degrees in Business Administration, Finance, and Accounting from the University of Central Texas and Central Texas College.

S. André Burnthon - Operations Manager
André Burnthon has been involved with plumbing and mechanical business for 30+ years. He has been a mechanical contracting business owner for 10 years. Additionally, he has managed the branch offices of plumbing/mechanical companies and served as a Construction Manager for several years. He has consulted and provided expertise and training for several of the major plumbing and mechanical businesses in the western US for over 8 years. André has 2.5 years of college, in construction management, electronics and general education.

André reviews and manages the contracts, scope, costs, changes orders, and schedules with the Field Operations Manager and Project Managers. He reviews and provides guidance and assistance to the Project Managers, in preparing monthly Cost to Completes, manpower and material forecasting, and all other Project Manager duties. He introduces management systems and provides training for the Project Managing teams. André foresees risk issues and provides and implements solutions. He supervises operations in coordination with Accounting, Purchasing and Field Operations. He reviews and tracks Project Managers' progress and profitability with the Field Operations Manager, and ensures the clients are getting the value, service, and professionalism expected of Desert Plumbing & Heating Company, Inc.  

James W. Stratton - Field Operations Manager
Jim has been with Desert Plumbing & Heating Company, Inc. since 1995. He has over 30 years of experience in the plumbing and piping industry working his way up from Journeyman to our Field Operations Manager.

As Field Operations Manager, Jim oversees and coordinates field construction services ensuring that services are completed accurately, on time and in conformance with county standards. Working directly with our Operations Manger, he supervises project management staff, participates in the selection of new personnel, facilitates training, assigns work, evaluates performance, responds to grievances, and changes and recommends personnel actions. He oversees and coordinates field construction activities, monitors adherence to construction drawings, specifications and budgeted costs; schedules and conducts construction meetings in order to plan and guide projects, and provides construction project quality control.

Ed Burkhardt - Chief Estimator
Ed has been with Desert Plumbing & Heating Company, Inc. since 1999. He has over 25 years' experience in the plumbing and piping industry serving in many different job functions as Plumber, Project Manager, and Estimator. He obtained his Master Plumbers license in 1986 and holds various certifications for Project Management Training and Estimating.

While managing the estimating department, he performs plumbing, piping, fire effects, pool and aquatic estimates and writes proposals for conceptual budgets, competitive bids, negotiated and design-build projects.