"Our primary business has always been asphalt paving," commented Century Paving Vice President Robert Jarvis, "we concentrate on serving the Los Angeles basin, parts of Orange County and out as far as Riverside and San Bernardino.

"Throughout the past 30 years, my dad Ray has bought out other partners and is currently the sole owner. He plans to retire in October, so we brought on some new partners that recently left Imperial Paving and now work with us-Eddie Imperial, Sr. and Eddie Imperial, Jr.

"Basically, the four of us are running the major operations of Century Paving's business," Jarvis revealed. "Eddie Jr. started in January and Eddie Sr. in February and the partnership became effective in April of this year.

"Our mission hasn't changed," Jarvis, emphasized, "we still provide our customers with good asphalt paving at competitive prices. We have always strived to maintain good contacts and relationships with our customers and that goal hasn't changed. Over the years, Century Paving has been able to provide our customers with good solutions to paving problems. "A really big part of our work," Jarvis continued, "has been to determine what our customers are engaged in and what type of asphalt repairs they need or what type of long-term maintenance we can provide at their facilities.

"Some customers may just have small parking lots for their employees," Jarvis states, "and we help them maintain and manage their existing lots to secure additional spaces. Some of our other customers have big truck yards and are involved in moving a lot of heavy equipment so the type of surfacing they will need is much more extensive.

"We also do a lot of business with school districts," he explained. "And primarily over the past few years, we've been heavily involved in BB bond and Measure K bond projects through the Los Angeles Unified School District. We've been rebuilding the schools that were originally paved way back in the late 1960s and 1970s, and even some in the 1950s. Our job has been to tear out those entire asphalt surfaces and playgrounds and reconstruct them."

Jarvis indicated that while Century Paving does do some new paving projects "it's a very small portion of our overall business. We're kind of the workhorses. We're into ripping it out and putting it back as opposed to coming into a virgin site and paving. Our primary focus is on reconstruction of existing asphalt facilities.

Century Paving runs New Holland (Ford) skip loaders. "We have a New Holland motor grader, " Jarvis noted, "that is one of the few they actually have out here on the west coast and we also run some CAT equipment. We also have a fleet of Dynapac compaction equipment but rent our pavers from various suppliers."

Several of Century Paving's non-union employees have been with the firm for a decade or more and there are several who have left and come back. "Our employees know that if they leave us on good terms because the grass is greener somewhere else," Jarvis said, "they can always come back. We try to make our dedicated employees part of the process and explain the issues we have out there like safety and the importance of maintaining a good, clean work site.

"Our guys have good working relationships with each other," he added, "which helps to create a good working environment. We stay away from office politics. We don't allow employees to dictate whom they will work with and whom they won't work with on the jobsites. The employees trust our leadership and experience to guide how the crews are arranged and managed for each particular job. At the same time, we give them as much information as we can and try to provide as much insight as possible as to things we have to deal with in the office that they don't have to deal with. We also give them the freedom to offer suggestions and make the employees part of the projects process. This enables the employees and management to work on the projects together and provides our customers with the best possible finished product."

Jarvis explained that Century Paving has become more involved in APA recently because "probably the biggest challenge to us and all other companies is the cost of worker's compensation insurance. The APA has really taken a strong approach to researching the issue, collecting information, having speakers come in and talk about what's important to us as business owners. It's been really good for us because it allows us to see how others are handling the issue and dealing with increased costs."

Robert Jarvis is proud of the fact he's been in the asphalt paving business his entire life. "As a kid growing up, I watched my dad do paving jobs and later as a teenager worked with him in the summers. Then after I graduated from college I came into the office and learned the background of the industryŠlearning how to manage a project and to control the money. Now I bid the projects, visit the sites to assure quality control and make sure our sub-contractors get paid right on time.

"What we're hoping to do with the realignment," Jarvis explained, "by bringing new members in, is to grow our business as far as the volume of business we're able to put out. We've always had the equipment to do more work. It's just being able to secure more projects and other types of work.

"What our new partners bring to the table, by coming from another company, is different types of work like maintenance. It allows us to diversify a little bit more and do a broader range of projects. We'll have crews that will strictly handle maintenance and others that will handle the bigger projects and fill in the gaps in between.

"It's a big change," Jarvis said, "and so far it's been going really well. We're seeing increased sales already on a variety of different kinds of projects. They both have a wealth of contacts and customers who have enjoyed working with them in the past.

"The salesmen have always been the point of contact for our customers," Jarvis stated. "They can call their salesperson and find out what the status of the job is and can provide them with answers. Some companies have salespeople who walk away once the project starts, but our sales staff and production crews work closely together to maintain good customer relations from start to finish on a project and we know where a project is at any given time."

Century Paving, Inc., founded in 1974 in the Norwalk area, has been headquartered in La Mirada since 1981 and provides work for public and private agencies and companies. Century Paving is located at 14630 East Firestone Boulevard in La Mirada. For more information visit www.paveit.com or call 1-800-PAVE-IT.