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Working within a 50-mile radius of Lebanon "so there's always someplace else to go if we're rained out," Triangle Asphalt does roughly 75 paving jobs each year over the 170 or so revenue-generating days available to it in this part of the country. Steve says distance has become a factor, or at least a consideration, as the price of fuel has increased, but the goal is still to be able to work as far away as 50 miles. He says that in 2008 Triangle on occasion turned down a bid depending on where the plant was in relation to the job and depending on which other contractors might be bidding it. "The hauling costs often dictate how far away we can pave," Steve says. "With margins so tight we can't pave profitably if we have to haul too far."

He says the contractor spends a lot of time bidding and estimating commercial work with a success rate of 20%, adding that Triangle Asphalt has a lot of repeat customers on the commercial end. "Do we get every job we bid with them? No, but we often get last look from repeat customers," he says. "It works the same way with some of our competitors but that's okay."

Experience = quality
Steve Day says it's the company's experience and devotion to job quality that has enabled the firm to be successful, and he sees the two as very closely related.

"Triangle Asphalt specializes in two things: stone placement and grading for the base, and asphalt paving," he says. Steve does the subgrade work and pushes the stone himself, and brother John handles all the paving. "We can place stone pretty quickly, mainly because I've put in 30 years doing it and I know how to do it." And the impact is that Triangle Asphalt's aggregate placement cost is below that of the competition - because Steve Day is doing it. "I often get asked, 'Why don't you get someone to put the stone in for you?' Well, that's our edge. And besides, I love it," he says. "The only way I'll warranty work is if we do the stone and the subgrade on the job."

And the reason for that?

"We're perfectionists, both John and I," Steve says. "That is passed down through the crews and the entire organization."