Thank God for June! Now we have had busy days with plants asking for trucks and no extras available! In Waterloo, the Wal-Mart Supercenter started the 2nd week and has used over 2,600 cubic yards on the interior floor. Exterior work has started and will continue until August. We are supplying two different school projects in Waterloo, funded by the 1% sales tax. UNI Maucker Union still has two more phases to finish. It doesn’t have a great deal of concrete left, but it is detailed concrete, colored, and job specific that challenges us. The last half of July will find us starting the 1st Baptist Church in Cedar Falls, using ICF’s (ECO Block) to the rafters (over 30 ft. tall walls). Something else has started to happen, we’ve been doing more residential poured walls in Waterloo and Cedar Falls.

LaPorte City has been busy lately with Colonial Manor, an assisted living/nursing home. Darrel has had other work happening at the Eastern Iowa Co-op with a bin, Spence Fertilizer, and Compressed Air.

Jesup has had a few paving jobs to work through in town. Some have been completed and Al still has a few to go. Their industrial park has seen some expansion with new buildings and we may see some street expansion there in the near future. Al also has started on a new school with a general manager from the Des Moines area (Ed Lamb). It will have tilt-up panels in a great deal of the walls. It’s floors are bid the end of July-early August.

Independence has seen several streets paved this year. For the most part, contractors have been in town at different times, which has really helped Bruce to spread out the business. Work is also underway at the airport, with patching, new T-buildings for aircraft, and new taxiways to the buildings. Blin Development has undertaken a large project along the Highway 20 corridor for both business and residential. The business end has used concrete for paving but the residential is just curb and gutter. We’ve been working with the Blin people to promote ICF homes close to the highway to cut down on noise infiltration.

Oelwein has had a slower year this year, after a good year with the new high school addition. We tried to get a large hog confinement near Westgate, but came up on the short end. Danny will start working on street paving by August and has worked on a condominium project in town. Once the paving project starts, it looks like he will also have a bridge near Hazelton and some culverts near Fairbank to start on. The Fairbank pool has been bid twice and it appears that we will have the whole package.

Readlyn has not had a lot this year either. Dale has been helping where he’s needed. He’s waiting on a large hog unit just north of town to happen, probably in August or September. South of town, he has a county bridge and there are a few other county projects he’ll be supplying.

Denver has not been busy either. Scott has had a few basements right in town and some street work. It looks like his summer could finish well if we get another hog confinement. We seem to be getting more work in the Denver Hills area and will be starting a good ICF project to the rafters with Folkerts.

A change we’ve seen this year has been the increase in customers bringing us work. We’ve seen it in the past, but this year has seen a strong improvement in customer-related business that they, by themselves, have given us. Larson, Webb, Klever, Christone, Huff, Folkerts, Seehase, Fettkether, Tschiggfrie, K Const., Kite, Suckow, just to name a few, have all done that with us. It’s not always the price that brings them back. Sure, they expect a competitive number to help them get the job, but it’s the personal connections all of us make with them and their employees every time we make a delivery or call. Working together, solving problems- sometimes before they happen, and sharing responsibility makes these customers loyal.