Michael Martin Jr. isn’t in a hurry to build big. He’s focusing on building right. From his base in Portland, Oregon, Martin is methodically shaping a company designed for longevity that’sgrounded in efficiency, professionalism and a clear-eyed approach to growth.
Martin’s company, Angelo Underground, founded in 2022, delivers hydroexcavation services, utility trenching and excavation for commercial projects, residential developments and municipal clients throughout Portland and the surrounding region. While still young, Angelo Underground is already operating with the ambition — and discipline — of a much larger firm. The company is carving out a name for itself in the greater Portland area and taking on bigger jobs specializing in utility construction services for electric, gas and water infrastructure.
Raised around heavy equipment and job sites, Martin’s path into excavation was almost inevitable. His father owns a demolition and mass excavation company, and Martin gravitated toward the machines early on. He entered the industry as a laborer and steadily worked his way through the ranks — pipe layer, foreman, superintendent — gaining more than a decade of experience across excavation, foundations, trenching, demolition and debris removal.
Before Angelo Underground, Martin founded and co-owned Trench Pro, a Sacramento, California, based firm specializing in trenching and backfilling for residential and light commercial utilities. When he decided to return to Oregon, he dissolved the business, loaded up his equipment and started fresh in his hometown.
“I loved playing in the dirt,” Martin says. “So it was just a natural fit.”
A Ring-O-Matic 850 VX Vacuum Excavator is Angelo Underground’s go-to hydrovac equipment for soft dig applications.
Best of all worlds
Martin says he went with the 850 VX for several reasons.
First, what Angelo Underground needed was the capability to minimize ground disturbance while efficiently breaking up soil and removing debris. Martin wanted the best of all worlds: the ability to navigate tight spaces, providing versatility and accessibility as well as a nondestructive method of finding utilities without putting a shovel or excavator in the ground.
The 850 VX trailer unit has two 250-gallon tanks for freshwater capacity, an 800-gallon spoils tank and a water pump delivering up to 4,000 psi. A 1,000 cfm or a 600 cfm blower option allows contractors to choose the airflow best suited for their jobs.
Angelo Underground owner Michael Martin Jr. with the company’s Ring-O-Matic 850 VX Vacuum Excavator.
The compact trailer unit was designed to support extended work. It includes standard reverse flow for clearing hoses and is built for leveraging specialized attachments like pothole tools for utility exposure, slot trenching and spoils management, meeting various construction and municipal needs.
“I tried one out on a demo and they just work really well,” Martin says, noting the 850 VX’s pressure rating was more in line with Angelo Underground’s needs than other competitive models.
Excavating with precision
Martin detailed a recent job for an electrical contractor involving precision excavation work in a sensitive, active government facility as part of planned upgrades to Multnomah County infrastructure. Careful coordination was required in a congested utility zone.
The Angelo Underground crew installed trenches 3 feet to 6 feet deep for roughly 100 feet of new conduit runs, sequencing excavation, backfill and surface restoration around the electrical contractor’s installation schedule and ongoing county operations.
Angelo Underground leveraged its precision daylighting capabilities with the 850 VX, safely exposing live lines prior to any bucket work. The 850 VX additionally helped reduce waste as the crew opened slots for a concrete contractor tasked with installing about a half-dozen posts on generator pad foundations that would pass strict municipal inspection.
“Instead of excavating down 3 or 4 feet for these six or seven metal bollard posts, what we were able to do is just hydrovac a perfect circle,” Martin says. “When the concrete sub came, we just kept it in a nice circle. That was actually our first time doing something like that. Not only was it clean and efficient but also saved a couple extra yards of concrete when blowing these holes open.”
Healthy profit margin
According to Martin, in 2025 the company posted just shy of $1.3 million in revenue and is estimating between $1.2 million and $1.5 million for this year. He says he’d like to get consistent with a 25% to 30% profit margin before stepping harder on the gas.
And efficient tools like the Ring-O-Matic 850 VX help achieve those profit margin goals.
