When you ask Chris Tammany, president of Petra Paving, how his company grew from a lean, part-time operation into a respected, high-performing pavement maintenance and paving business, he doesn’t talk about luck. He doesn’t talk about timing. He doesn’t even talk about ambition.
He talks about work.
He talks about fear of failure.
And above all, he talks about family.
Small Beginnings: A Work Ethic Born on the Farm
Like many leaders in the pavement industry, Tammany didn’t learn his craft from a business textbook—he learned it by doing. At 18 years old, Tammany was very familiar with running chainsaws and bulldozers and everything else. He knew he had found something he was good at.
“I was very comfortable with the construction end of things,” he recalls. “I’d grown up around it my whole life—running all the equipment on the farm and everything else. It was just something I knew.”
Tammany started working in the forestry industry, but with a wife and kids at home, Tammany knew he needed to find something that would make him more money.
“In 1989 this guy I knew had purchased a bunch of seal coating equipment, and he flopped miserably,” Tammany says. “He was telling me about it and that he didn’t know what he was going to do with the equipment and I told him “I'll buy it.” Two weeks later, I sealcoated my in-laws' driveway for nothing and the rest you can say is history.”
Tammany worked at night doing odd jobs sealcoating and striping with his own equipment and worked for a company called Petra Paving during the day.
“It was a career that was good for me,” he says. “The harder I worked, the better I could do.”
In 1991, the owner of Petra Paving decided to sell the business to Tammany.
“At the time, I had literally just built a house,” Tammany said. “I came home and I said to my wife, ‘we need to go to the bank and get a mortgage.’ She just looked at me like I was crazy, and I told her I wanted to jump on this opportunity.”
That simple, blue-collar faith to seize an opportunity laid the foundation for Petra Paving: if you showed up, worked hard, and refused to quit, the results would follow.
But the early years weren’t easy.
Overcoming Challenges: The Moment Everything Almost Collapsed
Every successful contractor can point to a moment where the company could have gone one of two ways. For Petra Paving, that moment came early—and almost ended everything.
In the beginning, Petra tried to do it all.
“When I took over, we were doing just residential paving, just driveways that first two years,” Tammany said. “I tried to do sealcoating as well, but I got so overwhelmed with the paving end of things that we got out of seal coating because I was trying to make the paving end of things work. It was a little bit more than I think I had anticipated”
In the winter of 1999, Tammany decided he wanted to add a dirt crew to the mix. That decision came with a new set of challenges.
“We bought a bunch more equipment, put on a second crew to do dirt work only, and we split up the paved crew and the dirt crew. So we had two crews doing that. Unfortunately, I was just about ready to file bankruptcy because I added all this extra overhead and everything else. I realized that at the end of the first year with two crews, we were almost $70,000 shy of paying the hot top company.”
So Tammany went to his national pavement show, searching not for inspiration—but for answers.
“That’s why I’m so passionate about the PAVE/X show,” he says. “If it wasn’t for the show, I wouldn’t be here. I remember telling Brad Humphrey, ‘I came here to find the secret to the business—or go home and file bankruptcy.’”
Brad’s response changed everything:
“He goes, ‘I think you’re salvageable.’ And that’s when we got to work with what we learned.”
With new systems, new financial discipline, and a clearer understanding of pricing and job costing, Petra started climbing back.
“Sheer determination and grit got me here,” Tammany reflects. “I’m scared to death of failure. The thought of failing horrifies me.”
That fear, channeled into discipline, became a weapon rather than a weakness.
Recovery and Growth: From Residential Roots to a Regional Force
As Tammany implemented changes from his time with his peers at national events and tightened operations, Petra Paving pulled out of the red.
“We were back pretty flush and the financial strain was gone,” he says. “So we spent the next couple years streamlining and getting out of strictly residential work. We started building ourselves into more commercial and municipal jobs.”
With stronger margins, better systems, and a growing reputation for reliability, Petra found its footing. But their growth wasn’t just about scale—it was about raising standards. Tammany is unapologetic about the company’s image and professionalism.
“I won’t put a piece of equipment out in front of the public if it’s not painted and lettered and identical to everything else we own,” he says. “We’re pretty good about keeping stuff clean and decent looking. We invest a lot in that.”
That pride carries into scheduling, an area where Petra is famously intense.
“We’re very particular about our calendar,” Chris admits. “If we give someone a date once, it’s happening on that date. People joke that once it goes on Petra’s calendar, that’s it—no moving. People notice and appreciate that.”
The result? A reputation built on showing up exactly when promised and delivering what they say they will.
Family: The Heart of Petra Paving
As the company grew, the Tammany family became central to Petra’s success. Tammany credits his sons, his key team members, and the tight-knit culture that formed around them.
“We don’t know when to give up,” he says. “And we’ve always had good people in key positions—trustworthy people. That makes it easier for myself and my sons to go out and do our jobs. It helps tremendously.”
Trust, consistency, and accountability run deep in the company—mirroring the values Tammany learned decades earlier.
And when he’s asked what he believes is the number-one factor behind Petra’s long-term success, his answer is simple:
“Know your numbers inside and out,” he says. “I’m blown away by guys five times our size who don’t do job costing and don’t know their numbers. That’s the key to success—along with surrounding yourself with people you can trust.”
Petra Paving’s story isn’t about explosive growth or a flashy overnight success. In fact, the company employs just 18 full time workers operating on four crews. The story however is about a leader whose fear of failure drove him to excellence. And it’s about a family—both blood and chosen—that built a company on consistency, accountability, and grit.
From humble beginnings to regional respect, from lean weekends to municipal contracts, Petra Paving embodies what it means to be a Contractor of the Year: A company built on character, strengthened through adversity, and dedicated to the people who make the work possible.
