History

Makins Concrete & Metheny Concrete Products

The foundations for Metheny Concrete Products, Inc. were laid by a man named Charles Makins, owner and president of Makins Sand and Gravel Company. Originally in the lumber industry, Makins began operating in Oklahoma City in 1907. Makins’ entrepreneurial spirit led him to become the first ready mix concrete supplier in Oklahoma County around the late 1930’s.

In 1953, a civil engineer by the name of Hugh Smith was hired by Makins to help him start an asphalt producing and paving company. Mr. Makins unexpectedly died in 1956, and Mr. Smith took over management of the ready mix operations that was later to become Makins Concrete Company in 1961. Smith became President of Makins Concrete Company in 1974 and ran the business until it closed in March of 1987.

In 1972, Smith’s youngest daughter, Connie, while attending her first year at Oklahoma State University met a young man by the name of Rick Metheny. Four years later, upon acquiring degrees from the school of business, they married. After working for nearly five years in the savings and loan business, tasks including construction lending and credit underwriting, Rick went to work for Mr. Smith and the Makins Concrete Company in 1980.

While working for the Makins company, Rick got a taste of the industry by working in the credit and collections department. After seven years of learning the concrete business while working for Mr. Smith, Rick became the operations manager for Makins Concrete Company. During the height of the recession that hit the construction industry in Oklahoma City, on March 16, 1987, Metheny Concrete Products, Inc. was formed and opened for business.

Rick and his wife, Connie, a certified public accountant, began Metheny Concrete with 25 employees, a fleet of twelve mixer trucks and two concrete plants. They endured the tough times of the late 1980’s and early 1990’s by “being faithful in the little things”. This scriptural motto continues today; and as of 2008, they now run seventy-five mixers, ten hauling trucks, six concrete plants and one portable plant, along with a newly acquired precast operation.

Metheny Concrete Products, Inc. has been blessed to have the same General Manager, Randy Dunn, and General Superintendent, Steve Defibaugh, since its inception. This consistency of leadership has helped develop a strong management team that has stuck together through the bad times as well as the good and has been involved in pouring over 4 million cubic yards of concrete in the Greater Oklahoma City Metropolitan Area.

In the late 1960’s Makins Concrete was involved in the construction of the Interstate 40 project in Oklahoma City, known as the Crosstown Expressway. Today, Metheny Concrete Products, Inc. is involved in the first three phases of the new Interstate 40 relocation project that will replace the existing highway.

Over the past 22 years, Metheny Concrete Products, Inc. has been involved in many notable projects, from the AT&T Bricktown Ballpark to eight Wal-Mart Supercenters as well as multiple Home Depots and Super Target Stores. They also have worked for numerous paving contractors in residential and commercial developments, city streets, and state and federal highway projects.

Now with a staff of nearly 130 employees, Metheny Concrete Products, Inc. prides itself in a workforce that gets results the right way. Encouraging them to faithfully carry out their duties always in an ethical manner to the best of their God-given abilities, Metheny Concrete believes in the value of honesty, loyalty and investing in relationships through its business practices.

Our customer base has grown and now includes some of the best general contractors, concrete contractors, paving contractors and homebuilders in the Greater Oklahoma City Area. We are very proud to be a part of the growing Oklahoma City market and feel blessed to be included in a vibrant and exciting future for Oklahoma. Today, Metheny Concrete Products, Inc. prides itself in producing the highest quality concrete materials in the market and believes firmly in the idea that doing things the right way is far more important than any other way.