Ohio Paving Business a Good Neighbor to Community

It's a sentiment carried throughout the company: to give back. Many of the employees of Advanced Asphalt Paving volunteer for a variety of organizations, whether it's coaching sports teams, donating time and money to community nonprofits, collecting toys for children at the holidays or teaching neighborhood kids about the construction industry and heavy equipment. This breadth of community support, the dedication throughout the company and endless efforts the company puts in to make a difference is why Advanced Asphalt Paving has earned the Pavement Maintenance Good Neighbor Award for 2024. 

Jeff Martin started Advanced Asphalt Paving in 1992 in Cleveland, Ohio. His son, Dave Martin, bought the company in 2017, taking over the family business. The company's 31 employees are valued team members and when the company does well, everyone benefits. 

"We do have a very close-knit group of guys, so everyone's passionate about it," Dave Martin said. "A lot of my guys have kids, so everyone kind of buys into the same mentality. We understand we're better off than a lot of people out there. So if we can buy a toy or two, or donate some food, or volunteer or something, everyone kind of buys into that goal. It's not just one person going out and buying 100 toys and saying, 'We did it as a company.' Everyone really does buy into it."

Advanced Asphalt Paving offers full-service, commercial concrete and asphalt paving services, including commercial asphalt paving, concrete paving, parking lot paving, asphalt repair and more. Martin said the company is known for its high quality and professionalism on the job, due to its longtime employees. 

"About 80% of our work is repeat customer work. We don't really try and get one job, make the most money, and then move on and never talk to a customer again," Martin said. "Our best customers are the ones that want to be educated about what their project is and make sure we're recommending the best scope and they're getting the best value for that project, whether that's they only have $100 to spend this year, what's the best way of spending that money, or they want to do it right once and never touch it again." 

Those customers are looking for more from a paving company, including service, quality and a polished presence. 

"We always say, '99 times out of 100, we're not going to be the cheapest,' and our customers are okay with that," he said. "Most of our customers are okay with that because they want quality. They want the right decision making. They want nice equipment when we show up, and professional employees and a great finished product. They're not just looking to save a dollar and spray paint a parking lot black. Those are the customers that we try to look for, and I think that's kind of the proof of why so much of our business is repeat business, because we've established those relationships, and we charge fairly for a product. I'm not trying to get rich off of one job. It's doing what's right for the customer, and that way, they're our customer for as long as they have parking lots."   

Advanced Asphalt Paving engages in charitable activities, including sponsoring local sports teams, supporting organizations like Breakthrough T1D, Believe in Dreams, and Beat the Streets, and participating in holiday toy drives. Their low employee turnover is attributed to a family-like work environment and genuine care for their employees, which extends to community involvement.

"We don't really have turnover, and when the company does well, I want everyone to do well, my employees included, and that translates into things outside of the company," Martin said. "When we're doing well, if we can help the community, whether it's sponsoring kids sports teams, or having a couple kids come out and play on construction equipment for a fundraiser, or donating to charitable causes — whether it's something that we're passionate about or our customers are passionate about — it just all fits in line with our company's philosophy. We are a family business. We try to take care of our own, and by extension, whether it's the community, a customer, a cause that we're passionate about, we like to take care of our own."

Breakthrough T1D (formerly JDRF) is a Type 1 diabetes research and advocacy organization, which Advanced Asphalt Paving became involved with when building a relationship with a customer who is involved with the group because their child has T1D. Believe in Dreams is an Ohio-based nonprofit that grants dreams for children who have faced traumatic, non-medical events such as domestic violence and provides access to enriching opportunities, much in the same way Make-A-Wish grants requests. Beat the Streets encourages youth development in underserved communities by through the instruction of quality wrestling programs.

Partnering with Believe in Dreams, Advanced Asphalt Paving has hosted young adults from the community at the business, introducing them to the construction industry and showing them the equipment used in paving. 

"A couple of those kids came by to play on equipment, and we were actually doing a project right across the street from our office," Martin said. "So we came by, gave them a tour of the facility, gave them some uniforms and shirts, backpacks, and a certificate."

One of the participants was named a crew member for the day and was able to sit on the equipment.

"I kind of partnered him up with each one of my guys, whether it was a roller guy, paver operator, a guy on the backhoe, trackhoe, or milling machines, and really just being safe about it, but giving them a chance to get up on some equipment," Martin said. "Basically, in my opinion, that's every little kid's dream, to play on real construction equipment."