Partners × James Madison University
Empowering growth
across JMU's campus
For more than 20 years, Partners Excavating has delivered the site work, utilities, concrete, and paving behind JMU's campus, working alongside the university and its general contractors to solve the seen and unseen problems.
Athletics sponsor
Complex problems,
solved from bottom to top
As the site work, utilities, concrete, and paving contractor, delivered alongside JMU and its general contractors, we handle the civil scope that every campus project is built on.
Our reputation is built on solving complex, large-scale, and often invisible problems, and we succeed when clients need us most. On a working campus that means the storm system beneath a quad, the utility tie-in under a historic walkway, and the rock that has to come out before anything goes up. We solve the seen and the unseen.
For 20+ years we've coordinated our work on active JMU campuses, around students, faculty, academic calendars, and pedestrian traffic, in close teamwork with the university and the general contractor. And we do exactly what we say we're going to do, even when it's at our own expense.
Over 50+ years we've earned our clients' trust by helping them reach their goals. Our part of the job is done right from bottom to top, and JMU keeps bringing us back.
Every JMU project in one place
No project is too large or too small. Over the last 50+ years, Partners has provided services for small to large commercial projects. Our resources and experience are guaranteed to meet your needs.
Flagship Carrier Library
Managed complex underground utilities, installed a large stormwater retention system, and completed extensive concrete work, all while carefully preserving the historic bluestone steps and coordinating daily with multiple contractors.
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Bioscience Building & Physics and Chemistry Building
Site work for two of JMU's major academic science facilities, the Bioscience Building and the Physics and Chemistry Building, on the university's east campus.
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Health and Behavioral Studies Building
Site work for the Health and Behavioral Studies Building, one of the largest academic facilities on JMU's campus.
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D-Hall
Site work for D-Hall, JMU's landmark dining facility, on a busy central-campus site surrounded by active pedestrian traffic.
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College of Business Addition & Renovation
Complete site work, utilities, paving, and concrete, plus demolition support, on a tight, technical site next to Newman Lake, keeping pedestrian and auto traffic flowing safely. (2018-2020)
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Land-Bridge & Paul Jennings Hall
A 35,000-cubic-yard earth bridge over Driver Drive, plus site work for Paul Jennings Hall. The work raised grade up to 50 ft, relocated utilities, and installed large storm culverts, completed on schedule. (2019)
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Sentara Park Athletic Facilities
A rocky, hilly 85-acre field turned into multiple athletic fields with a massive underground storm-detention system. Partners crushed rock on site and paved the track to NCAA specs, on schedule. (2010)
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Forbes Center & Underground Pedestrian Tunnel
Rock blasting, new utility installation and tie-ins, plus 800 ft of 96-inch pipe for an underground detention system with three crane-set bio-filter systems. (2008-2010)
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Potomac Hall
High-quality sitework for one of JMU's newest residence halls, with careful coordination and planning in strong collaboration with the university and the general contractor.
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Phillips Hall
Demolition of the old dining hall and site work for the new Phillips Hall, a half-acre site in the middle of campus, kept open to foot and vehicle traffic throughout, and completed safely and on schedule.
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Athletic Performance Center
Site work for JMU's Athletic Performance Center, one of the newest additions to the university's athletics complex in Harrisonburg.
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Veterans Memorial Park
Site preparation and site work for Veterans Memorial Park, a dedicated memorial space on the JMU campus in Harrisonburg.
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JMU Arboretum
Site work, concrete, and paving for the grounds of the JMU Arboretum, one of Partners' most recent projects on campus.
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The Carrier Library
Historic above, complex below
At JMU's Carrier Library, Partners managed complex underground utilities and installed a large stormwater retention system, then completed extensive concrete work, all while carefully preserving the historic bluestone steps and coordinating daily with multiple contractors on an active campus. Watch how the work came together.
View project page We Build at JMU. Now We're Helping Students Get There.
The Partners Excavating Company BRCC and JMU Bridge Program Scholarship Endowment
We've been building in this valley for over 50 years, and most of the people on our crews grew up here. We gave $100,000 to the James Madison University Foundation to endow a scholarship for students transferring from Blue Ridge Community College to JMU.
The transfer is where money stops a lot of students who have already proven they can do the work. This covers part of that gap. And because the gift is endowed, it gets invested and pays out every year, permanently. One student a year, indefinitely.
Fast Facts
- $100,000 Endowed gift to the James Madison University Foundation, invested permanently.
- One Student Per Year Renewable as long as the student still meets the criteria.
- Who Qualifies Students who came through the BRCC/JMU Direct Connect Program and have financial need, as determined by JMU's Office of Financial Aid and Scholarships.
Built for the realities of an active campus
Work around an active campus
Daily coordination around students, faculty, academic calendars, and pedestrian traffic, with safe, planned re-routing that keeps campus moving.
Controlled blasting & rock
Securing safe blasting areas near businesses, roads, and foot traffic, then crushing and processing rock on site into the stone the project needs.
Underground & stormwater systems
Large-scale detention and retention. 96-inch pipe, crane-set bio-filters, and stormwater systems that solve the problems no one ever sees.
One coordinated civil partner
Site work, utilities, concrete, and paving self-performed under one roof, troubleshooting engineering and plan design alongside JMU and the general contractor.
JMU campus work, answered
Partners Excavating has delivered the site work, utilities, concrete, and paving on many James Madison University projects for 20+ years, including Carrier Library, Potomac Hall, the Forbes Center and Underground Pedestrian Tunnel, Sentara Park, the College of Business, and Phillips Hall.
Partners managed complex underground utilities, installed a large stormwater retention system, completed extensive concrete work, and carefully preserved the historic bluestone steps, coordinating daily with multiple contractors on an active campus.
Across multiple projects from 2004 to the present, a 20+ year working relationship spanning site work, utilities, concrete, and paving.
Partners is the site work and civil contractor, self-performing site work, utilities, concrete, and paving under one roof, working alongside JMU and the project's general contractor rather than as the building GC.
Through careful daily coordination, safe pedestrian and traffic re-routing, and phased work planned around the academic calendar to keep the campus safe and moving.
Yes. At the Forbes Center we installed 800 ft of 96-inch pipe with three crane-set bio-filter systems, and at Sentara Park we built a massive underground storm-detention system.
