History
In 1950, M L “Speedy” Gregory (pictured above) started the second excavation company that had ever been in the State of Texas. Gregory Excavating was located in Dallas, TX and had a hand in building many of Dallas's landmarks. Three generations, and several decades later, focus shifted from excavation to utilities and then solely to the meter installation market. Gregory Excavating was replaced with RG3 Utilities to better reflect the service the company provided. RG3 became one of the first companies in the United States to travel around the country and only provide meter installation services.
When the industry began shifting from manual read meters to automated meter reading systems, RG3 Utilities found a niche. As meter installation became more technical, RG3 embraced the new technology as a specialty. Understanding that data was now the most important part of an install, RG3 wrote the industry's first mass installation software designed to move large amounts of information from handhelds in the field to servers without crashing. The installation process became streamlined with checks and balances and data integrity was dramatically improved over handwritten records that the rest of the industry used at that time.
At the turn of the century, RG3 was one of the only national meter installation contractors in the US which afforded us the opportunity to install every meter and automated meter reading system available for sale in North America. Before automated meter reading systems were common, our job had been to install the product chosen by the utility to the manufactures specifications. The new products were more complicated than manual read meters though, and many projects started to link our payment with the operation of the automated meter reading product we were tasked to install. We found that some technologies worked better than others which helped us get paid for the services we provided. While we preferred to install those meter systems, we couldn't help but notice that every technology had weaknesses along with their strengths. One meter system read well but had subgrade meter reading software. Another had an impressive data log but wouldn't read under 1/2" of water. We saw clearly that there was room to improve which led to RG3's acquisition of Infinity Metering.
RG3 became two independent sister companies. RG3 Meter Company (RG3) manufactures water meters and automated meter reading systems and RG3 Utilities, which was later called Meter Install Group (MIG), continues to install meter systems and networks. Having the rare opportunity of seeing the business from both sides of the transaction has been integral to RG3. Being able to work with now competitor engineers and varied utilities to make their meter systems function properly gave our company a deep appreciation for the field perspective that has been the driving force in our engineering as a manufacturer. Because we experienced difficulty getting answers for our utility customers while working with other manufacturers, our customer service is the best in the industry. RG3 innovation has come from firsthand knowledge of all technologies available, in conjunction with, listening to our customers and creating products with features that solve real problems and add real value to their operations. It has also comes from respecting our competitors and appreciating what they are doing well.
Though the influence of our legacy companies will always remain a strong part of our culture, RG3’s principals have been in place for over 25 years. Most of the senior management have decades of experience and have lent that valuable knowledge to RG3 for the past 10 years or more. While many companies experienced employee losses during the recent pandemic, the RG3 family remained together without a single layoff. It is true to say that RG3 is a family owned company, but it is most accurate to say that RG3 is a company of families that deeply appreciate the opportunity to serve our customers.