ForConstructionPros.com

Running a full-service paving and pavement maintenance company is a far cry from farming, but 20 years on the job proves that Brent Weiss knew what he was doing when he started Asphalt-Associates Inc. in 1987.

"I was a farm kid all my life, but in 1986 I got work on a paving crew, and after a while I decided this was something I could build a business on," Weiss says.

This year the 28-person Asphalt-Associates celebrates its 20th anniversary, working throughout a 20-mile radius of its new 15,000-sq.-ft. facility in Roberts, WI.

Starting with a box paver and paving 200 driveways its first year, Asphalt-Associates grew slowly until 1999 when Weiss decided the market needed a full-service pavement maintenance business. So he bought cracksealing equipment, pavement repair equipment, and a 1,500-gallon sealcoating spray rig - a big rig for a beginning sealcoater - and he was rewarded for his leap of faith.

In 1999 they generated 45% of sales from residential work and 55% from commercial work. "But we found that the residential market could only take us so far. So to get the growth where we wanted it to be we had to pursue the commercial market more," Weiss says. Within two years the numbers were 80% commercial and 20% residential.