Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/536721
July 2015 | EquipmentWorld.com 78 contractor of the year | continued him a newfound ambition to go along with that unshakeable work ethic. "I was just so ready to tackle something and be the best I could be at something," he says. His new vision for the company required a change not only to the markets it served but to the culture as well. Supreme Metro would need to change from the inside out. Seeing the whole picture Ciavarro started his first business while he was still in high school. In fact, he was so young that his parents actually had to drive him out to the houses he would service. The experience forged in him an atten- tion to detail and affinity for custom- er service and being his own boss. "I love challenge. I love high expectations. One of the things that really fulfills me is trying to make everybody happy. You can say you can't make everybody happy, but I really like to try," he says. As soon as he graduated, he took a $500 loan from his father Joseph to start a seal coating business in 1988 that evolved into Supreme. In 1994, the company graduated from smaller seal coating jobs to residential concrete and pavement installation. Ten years later, after his return from military service, the company jumped heavily into the homeowner/condominium owner association market. He calls it the toughest industry to be in due to the amount of eyes judging the work, but says the attention to de- tail he learned in the Army perfectly prepared him to operate in that environment. "I feel like it was a graduated step from working for independent home owners. The HOAs and COAs want the work to look like their dining room table," he says. "I felt that I was well-groomed with customer service and attention to detail, which the Army only emphasized. There are so many layers to this market, from the scheduling and the logis- tics, to the execution." The move and Ciavarro's renewed focus transformed the company from one that was barely hanging on when he returned from service to one that now employs 42 people and pulls in more than $10 million each year. Today, the company of- fers milling and paving, concrete, asphalt and concrete maintenance and drainage services. The company operates primar- ily on referrals. "We may not be the fastest, but when it comes to attention to detail we can't be beat," Ciavarro says. In fact, heightened attention in general is a big reason Supreme gets all those referrals, Ciavarro says. Supreme focuses on not only meet- ing its clients' expectations, but also working closely with them to ensure they're seeing the whole picture. "I think the biggest thing that From L to R, Patti Ventura, Supreme's VP of Finance, Ciavarro and Todd Bigelow, the company's VP of Operations.