The Road To Success Is Paved
Ten years ago, a newly established business didn’t have trucks, employees, or even a paver, which seems like it would be pretty important if that new business is a paving company.
“But we did have determination and experience. Although there was a lot of learning along the way,” said Tara Cheney while laughing, recalling how her company, Vermont Roadworks, first got started.
Today Vermont Roadworks is equipment rich and has jobs scheduled as all over Vermont and New Hampshire.
“Oh my gosh, we are so busy. We will probably be scheduling into the fall. And, we are about to do our biggest job ever, a parking lot for one of the nation’s largest retailer,” said Cheney.
It started like so many businesses. While she was working as a nurse and a Program Manager, Tara’s husband Fred was working for a paving company and was working long hours.
“Eventually I said to him, if you are going to work all these crazy hours, why don’t we start our own business,” said Cheney.
Although they had little to no equipment, the first year was very busy. Tara was assisting Fred out of a makeshift office in a spare bedroom in their house.
“First year, we were busy. When I saw the numbers for the end of the year, I knew this was my new career and mine was on hold,” she said.
Today, Tara primarily runs all aspects of the business in the office while Fred estimates and oversees all the projects and employees in the field.
“He runs everything out there and I run everything in here. We have to work very closely to make things go smoothly and negotiate a lot along the way. Everything is so time sensitive in this industry." she said.
Vermont Roadworks normally has anywhere between 10 to 20 employees. Like many small businesses during this period, they are having difficulty finding employees. They are always looking for CDL drivers, equipment operators and laborers. They work with the state and advertise using social media but even have handwritten “help wanted” signs taped to the windows of their business.
In addition to Tara and Fred, throughout the years, it’s been a true family operation and they still employ many family members today. The company is still growing; earlier this year Vermont Roadworks acquired Tri-State Asphalt Services which is a line striping, crack sealing and seal coating division. They are also planning to purchase more equipment.
“The dream is to purchase an asphalt recycler and we may do that this year. It’s like having a mini asphalt plant. With an asphalt recycler we can do potholes locally in the wintertime and sell small quantities of asphalt to local towns, which could be a game changer for us here in Vermont,” she said.
An asphalt recycler seems to be in line with their “green” beliefs. Vermont Roadworks uses infrared machines for pothole repair. This reheats asphalt and adds recycled asphalt to create a stronger permanent bond, working much better than the traditional pothole fill, tamp and go method. They also clean all of their equipment with recycled vegetable oil.
Along the way the two restructured the company where Tara owns 51% of the company and Fred owns 49% of the company. The considerable business growth has led to Vermont Roadworks being named the Small Business Administration’s 2022 Vermont Woman-Owned Business of the Year.
Tara is elated to win the award for the business but said she could not have done any of this without her husband Fred’s experience and knowledge, along with their hard-working employees.