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Any good business is all about building relationships," says Mark Ruston, third-generation president of Ruston Paving. "If you're not customer focused, if they see you and your work as a commodity, then there's no reason to select you over your competitor. We try to understand our customers and try to give them what they want within what we're equipped to do. If they need anything related to asphalt paving, we can take care of it."

That's the essence of Ruston Paving's approach to its steadily expanding marketplace, and it's an essence that underlies the way the business runs and the approach the company takes. From the people who represent the contractor in the field to its better-than 90% employee retention rate, Ruston Paving has made its name by keeping its customers at the forefront of its efforts.

Started in 1943 in Syracuse by Mike Ruston, Mark Ruston's grandfather, Ruston Paving focuses on paving and repair work on commercial and industrial properties. Mike Ruston founded the company on residential paving and repair work, but the focus on commercial work evolved during the second generation when Mark's father, Larry, assumed control. By the 1990s almost all work was for commercial customers.

The company expanded to Rochester, NY, in the early 1990s, and when Mark pursued his MBA degree at the University of North Carolina he guided growth into the South, initially bidding work and scheduling New York crews to work two-week stints in North Carolina.

In 1999 Ruston Paving set up shop in the Raleigh/Durham/Chapel Hill area referred to as The Triangle, which has a high concentration of business-to-business industry and a lot of commercial parking areas. Soon after that Ruston used its Syracuse-to-Rochester expansion plan and expanded from The Triangle into the Triad Area of Winston-Salem/Greensboro/High Point.