Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/816123
May 2017 | EquipmentWorld.com 20 T hings were getting better for Roy Chipley. After a successful but demand- ing career with Lockheed Martin began hurting his marriage, Chipley realized that changes must be made. His wife, Sian, led him back to church where he had given his life over to Jesus Christ. The couple renewed their wedding vows and were get- ting ready to build a house, "starting afresh with restored pur- pose," Chipley says. But in the middle of his life's reconstruc- tion, Chipley had a troubling realiza- tion. Just as he had grown distant from his wife, he had also grown apart from his and Sain's home- town of Florence, South Carolina. Cape Canaveral was some 450 miles away, and the distance had also driven a wedge between Chipley and his family. That turmoil struck 22 years ago and might seem like ancient history. But it eventually led him over the next two de- cades to transform what his father, Roy Jr., started in 1960 as a paving company into a successful and highly respected full-service site contracting business now named Chipley Company. That wasn't always the plan. Chipley left his small hometown at 17 with no intentions to return. By 1995, his father was in his late 60s, and with no one to pass the business along to, he paired the business down drastically. The idea of what his father had worked so hard to create vanishing weighed heavily on Chipley. So he went to Sian with a crazy idea: He wanted to change gears, and walk away from a job that had allowed him to work on the Space Shuttle program and then launch mili- tary satellites for the Defense Department. He wanted to head home to Florence and save the family business. The move would mean an 85-percent pay cut and com- pletely uprooting the lives of his wife and two children and leaving those in Florida they considered close friends and family. "I just told Sian we were the only ones that were going to be able to take my dad's company on," Chipley recalls. "We would be writing new chapters in a brand new blank book of our life." 'You're the brains' It wasn't as easy as just going home, however. Chipley first had to convince contractor of the year | by Wayne Grayson | WayneGrayson@randallreilly.com Building a life and legacy are 2017 Contractor of the Year Roy Chipley's biggest projects Roy Chipley, Chipley Company City, State: Florence, South Carolina Year Started: 1960 Number of employees: 42 Annual revenue: $8.5 million Markets served: Full-service self- performing site contractor, including earthwork, water, sewer, fire systems (vaults, hydrants, etc.), all storm drainage, erosion control mea - sures, concrete work, grading and paving. Also seal coating and painting.