During a breakfast conversation with his wife’s family, David McGee explained his plan to start his own paving business. Little did he know, his wife’s grandfather, Mr. Willis, would decide to invest in his dream and provide the initial $5,000 loan to begin building Piedmont Paving in 1991.
“With the investment from my wife’s grandfather, I bought a little dump truck, shovels, rakes, lutes and rented a roller,” said David. “I made some business cards and began knocking on doors in April. Once I started completing projects, I began paying back the loan Mr. Willis provided, $100 per month.”
David started off completing small patch jobs in Winston-Salem and Greensboro, North Carolina. Back then, these cities were much smaller than they are today. He continued to grow and started to include maintenance services like sealcoating, crack sealing and striping. In 1996, there was a new construction market boom, and David saw the opportunity to expand again by building rapport with the local commercial general contractors.
“When we started bidding with general contractors, I had no clue how to perform a takeoff on the plans,” said David. “Teaching myself, I would go home at night to complete takeoffs and send proposals.The next thing I know, I started receiving contracts in the mail. It seemed that the harder I worked, the luckier I got.”
Service and employee expansion continued for the company. In 2002, Mark Rountree was hired as the lead estimator and project manager.
In 2004, David and Mark opened a new division of the company, Piedmont Paving Concrete LLC. The expansion would not stop there; in 2014, the company purchased land to open Piedmont Recycling. The recycling yard has allowed crushed concrete and asphalt to be provided to the public.
“The recycling division has been a big feather in our cap,” said David. “We are able to sell the crushed material as another form of revenue for our company, and it also allows us to reach a broader base of customers.”
Piedmont Paving places customer service as a top priority and attention to detail, honesty and integrity are all traits have been instilled in all employees.
“When we say we are going to do something, we know what that entails to get the job done,” said David. “I was on the jobsite operating the paver for twenty-five years. I was able to see firsthand the product that we were delivering, and I think customers really appreciated that.”
Communication with customers and support for employees are important to David. Now, the next generation of his family are joining the company. David’s sons are supervising the paving crews, and his daughters are managing the office. David’s brother-in-law is the lead estimator and project manager.
“I think we have an excellent team, from the office all the way to the shovel man,” said David. “Everyone is dependable, hard-working and trustworthy. They really care about their job and the quality of the final product. We pride ourselves on providing a family-style work environment, and I am always aware that without good employees, a company will never succeed.”
“Here we are thirty-one years later. We started with a dump truck and a few tools, and now we have forty employees, an asphalt division, a concrete division, a maintenance division and a recycling division. I guess the harder you work, the luckier you really do become.”
