Our Story

 The history of Vaughn Contractors begins with Howard Vaughn going to work for Anderson-Gregory in 1950 as a lowboy driver hauling equipment between jobs.  Anderson-Gregory was widening Hwy 70 through Howard’s hometown of Bruceton, Tennessee.  From there Howard advanced to superintendent building projects in many towns across Tennessee, moving his wife Rachel and sons Gary and Steve with each new job.  After completing Interstate 40 from the Tennessee River to Dickson in the mid 1960’s, Howard decided to stay in Waverly and partnered with Bill Holland to form Vaughn & Holland Grading and Paving.  In 1971, Howard and Bill separated their company with Bill forming Holland Contractors focused on paving.  Howard formed Vaughn Contractors with his sons Gary and Steve to focus on earthwork.  

 Howard, Gary and Steve grew Vaughn Contractors from small grading projects like the local drive-in theatre in Waverly, into a heavy/highway grading company building roads, airports, dams, building sites and more.  Along the way Gary’s son, Heath, and son-in-law, Kevin Little; and Steve’s son, Chad, joined the company.  In 2002, Gary and Steve assumed ownership and continued to develop Vaughn Contractors into a regional grading and drainage company with the ability to compete on a wide range of large civil projects.  In 2015, Vaughn Contractors began transitioning to the third generation with Heath and Kevin becoming a part of company ownership. 

 We are blessed with an unbroken legacy of building projects and gaining experience that has spanned over 60 years.  We are proud to retain a core group of long-time employees that reaches back to the construction of Interstate 40.  Looking forward, we continue to learn with each project completed, and just as important, we are teaching these skills to the next generation.  Over the last 10 years, we have teamed with Ford Construction to build three sections of I-69 in Union City, the next new Interstate through Tennessee.  Vaughn Contractors is always interested in new projects where our experience, employees and equipment can continue to ‘Shape the Earth’.