2023 Arkansas Small Business Person of the Year

Sean Beavers, Member

Graylee Construction and Demolition, LLC

Graylee Construction and Demolition was founded in 2016 by Sean Beavers. Sean has an extensive resume in heavy civil construction management and has supervised projects ranging from 2M-35M throughout his career prior to founding Graylee. Sean's passion is construction, and he loves the process of creating something meaningful for the communities he works in. However, when working for other firms he felt he could be making a larger impact. 

While completing a large project for an international firm, Sean and his crews were working extremely long hours 7 days a week. At this point, Sean felt that the conditions that he and his team members were working under were unfair, and that employees deserved better. That was when he founded Graylee Construction and Demolition; to not only build projects that mattered, but to build a company that treats their employees fairly and enriches their lives. 

There have been many challenges over the last 6 years, and the resources and assistance that the SBA has provided have been crucial. Graylee has been a member of the 8(a) Business Development program since 2020, which has helped the firm flourish in the federal contracting field. Additionally, the Emerging Leaders Program was a wonderful tool that helped refine Graylee's business management capabilities. 

Like most small businesses Graylee had humble beginnings, with a few employees and smaller heavy-civil projects. Each year, Graylee has grown and has tackled larger and larger projects – including starting and completing a $1.71 million project in 2021.