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And while he doesn't pursue much work as a subcontractor he says North Suburban Asphalt generates as much as 25% of its sales by subcontracting work, usually paving and larger concrete work, to other contractors.

"Could we do it? Yes. But why? Our sealing crew is so efficient at what it does that it's cheaper and more cost-effective to do it this way," Harris says. "It's more manageable and more profitable for me to do it this way, and I can get it done at a very high level of quality."

Right equipment on each job
But it's the equipment North Suburban owns, and the crew's ability to operate it, that enables North Suburban Asphalt to produce as effectively as it does.

"If you have the equipment it's easy to get the work to keep it busy," he says. So he has the equipment including: one large dump truck, a 550 dump truck, Wacker rollers, a 200-gal. Cimline cracksealing melter/applicator, a 200-gal. SealMaster melter/applicator, two 1500-gal. sealcoating rigs, two 1000-gal. sealcoating rigs (both with spray bar and hand wand), one 550-gal. sealcoating buggy, two 8000-gal. bulk storage sealer tanks, four routers, two walk-behind concrete saws, six custom-made banding carts, and three 300-gal. squeegee buggies. He says that every year he replaces a truck and adds a piece of equipment, and every year he buys new blowers.

Whether he has one big job ahead of him or several smaller jobs, Harris makes sure he doesn't run out of anything at the jobsite. On every sealcoating job his crew takes a minimum of one spray tank and one squeegee machine. "Even on just a 50,000-sq.-ft. job we still bring the 1,500-gal. tank and a squeegee machine," he says. "The 550-gal. machine rarely goes out because we can do most jobs more efficiently with other equipment."