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'Concrete by the acre'
Bottorff started the company in 1982, performing residential concrete foundations on a square footage basis for a local ready mix producer. Over the years, Bottorff Construction "dabbled" in commercial work but remained a primarily residential concrete contractor. Ten years ago the company made a major change. "In 1999 we bought a Somero Laser Screed, and that really propelled us into the flatwork market," Bottorff says.

Jerry Ernzen, VP of operations at Bottorff Construction, explains how the purchase of the Laser Screed changed the company. "That equipment gave us the ability to pour in volume," he says. "It allowed us to move from pouring 10,000-square-foot floors to those 50,000-square-foot projects."

Ernzen says Bottorff best described the business's transformation that year at the company holiday party when he said, "This has been a great year for us - we went from pouring concrete by the square foot to pouring concrete by the acre."

Bottorff Construction's current line-up of services puts the company in a position to take on jobs of any size. The company began offering curb and gutter in 1995, sitework and laser grading in 2000, and concrete placement in 2008. Currently, 75 percent of its sales stem from its flatwork package.

"Something unique we do with our flatwork package is we have people in the office who are ACI certified to test our own floors. We provide the GCs with a copy of the test so they understand the floor flatness," Bottorff explains. He says this practice has been very valuable in recent years as GCs began asking for flatter floors.