Equipment World Digital Magazine
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/885126
EquipmentWorld.com | October 2017 45 A sphalt paving may be the dirtiest job in construction. Raymond de Vre's solution – and one of the reasons he's been so successful in the business of asphalt paving – is that he keeps it clean. In the Lake Tahoe area, where de Vre' runs Blacktop Paving, multi- million dollar homes are the norm. De Vre' keeps these clients happy and reaps referrals from them by keeping his equipment and his jobsites spotless. Trucks? Blacktop Paving's signature color is white, the better to show his crews' attention to detail. "When we roll up to a jobsite, people are impressed at what our company looks like," says de Vre'. "The guys park in an orderly fashion. They have all their safety gear on. They put out any cones necessary, and then they start downloading equipment. It's choreographed, like a show." That ability to take one of construction's dirtiest jobs and turn it into a precision performance has enabled de Vre' to go from a laborer after high school to the owner of a $5 million company. Pay raise It was an insultingly small pay raise that first put the idea in de Vre's head that he should start his own business. Forty-five years ago, he moved from New York to Lake Tahoe, in large part to enjoy the skiing in the California Sierras. He started working for a landscaping contractor and then an excavating contractor, all the while watching, learning and figuring out how to do jobs better and faster. After six years of this, he decided to go it alone. He didn't have much money. A friend co-signed his first loan, and a sympathetic equipment dealer gave him a roller, paver and tack pot – all used, on consignment. "He gave me two years to pay it off," says de Vre'. "I paid it off in seven months." As fate would have it, the Tahoe area's economy slumped just about the time de Vre' started Blacktop Paving. "I looked at myself and said, 'I can't let this fail because I just committed to all this equipment,'" he says. The solution was a double dose of hustle. "I went door to door. I would tell people I was doing a job down the street, and if I could do their driveway and the one down the street the same day, I could make them a good deal. It was one of my busiest seasons, and it worked out very well." That next season, the house-to- house marketing didn't stop. "I went out and developed relationships with people in the community, and that just started snowballing," de Vre' says. As the economy improved, the contractor of the year | by Tom Jackson | TJackson@randallreilly.com Keeping it clean in a dirty business Raymond de Vre' Raymond de Vre', Blacktop Paving City, State: Homewood, California Year Started: 1972 Number of employees: 16 Annual revenue: $3 million to $5 million Markets served: Asphalt paving, parking lots, driveways, municipal, tennis court grading and excavating