By Erin Kelly-Allshouse
Graniterock’s company roots lie deep in the history of California’s Central coast.
Founded February 14, 1900, it is proud of its rich history, growth and development in the last century. A privately held company, Graniterock has been inspired by the core values originally established by Arthur Roberts Wilson.
With vision, inspiration and unique stewardship, his grandson Bruce Wilson Woolpert used these values to build a successful and highly-respected company that has endured within the San Francisco and Monterey Bay region.
Graniterock’s construction division quickly became one of California’s premier heavy engineering contractors in the 1990’s. New concrete, sand and recycling operations added to the Graniterock family. But perhaps most significant was their fresh focus on meeting customer needs by providing precise, fast and flexible service.
Attention to personal development and the empowerment of Graniterock people also improved quality and customer assistance. Graniterock has been recognized for its many accomplishments with awards for excellence in management and business practices, with the Malcolm Baldridge National Quality Award, the nation’s highest honor for business excellence.
Fortune Magazine placed Graniterock on its annual list as being one of the country’s 100 Best Places to Work. With a commitment to community service always a company priority, it was expressed in new ways, such as “Pops and Rocks” Independence Day concerts to benefit the United Way, and support of excellence in education in Santa Cruz County public schools.
Just shy of 1000 employees, one of the company’s new additions to the Graniterock family is Aptos based employee Jake Clark, an estimator and project manager for custom jobs who adds color to everything he does. Spearheading for Santa Cruz, his goal is to create more jobs locally and keep it within the community.
“I’m here to really get us back in the Santa Cruz areas,” Clark said. “We range from servicing the homeowner to the contractor to the HOA. We are small enough to have friends but big enough to take care of them.”
Clark has worked in the construction industry for 10 years, but can also be found coaching Santa Cruz Pop Warner football, Aptos little league baseball, or acting as head coach for St. Abraham’s basketball team. He has been active in coaching for 15 years. He and his wife are the parents of four kids; a 19-year-old, a set of 10-year-old twins and a 3-year-old.
“All of our workers believe in the family owned business core values and we want to continue to give back to the community,” Clark said. “This is the reason why we do so many meaningful events that are life changing for little kids. We also work with contractors and agency owners every day to create that special new attractive look for a building, parking lot, pool or landscape. We have brought many ideas to life by supporting the construction industry with materials that create form and function and we want to bring the customers ideas to life and share our expertise with them.”
Some of the many products Graniterock is known for include: company ready mix concrete, aggregates, asphalt & emulsions, building materials, green products, natural stone, seal coating and slurry. The company does everything from large corporate projects to small projects for homeowners. They not only work with contractors but do driveways and pathways, seal coating and slurry and paving and grading.
Graniterock also offers a number of green, sustainable, recycled and environmentally acceptable products to its customers. Its green products include Pervious Concrete, Perco-Crete, High-Fly Ash Content Concrete, Interlocking Pavers, Recycled Baserock, aggregates like sand, rock and gravel, parking bumpers, Turfstone, ECO-Block, and erosion control.
Whether you need aggregate, ready-mix concrete, hot mix asphalt or building materials for a new building site or your next home improvement project, get to know Graniterock.
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Upcoming Graniterock Sponsored Community Events
2019 River Run YMCA
Saturday, August 24
The River Run 2019 is a unique experience that takes you meandering through a working sand and gravel quarry. Participants can choose a 1-mile Family Fun Run or 5K walk/run.
The events take you inside the Southside Sand and Gravel Quarry to see the working quarry site, the banks of the San Benito River, specialized equipment that processes the rock and natural surroundings.
The River Run benefits the YMCA of San Benito and begins with the 5k race at 7:45 a.m. Family Fun Run follows at 8:00 a.m. at 5632 Airline Highway, Hollister, CA 95023. Join after the races for a Health Expo and Quarry Open House.
Rock and Run / Open House
A.R. Wilson Quarry • October 13, 2019
Rock and Run is a unique experience that awaits you as you meander through a 119-year-old, environmentally responsible, operational hard rock quarry. This is a 10K Run or 5K Walk/Run.
See the working quarry face, the ancient granite deposit, the massive equipment that processes it, and the natural surroundings, as you take the challenge of the Rock and Run with an Open House immediately following.
This event will benefit Aromas School K-8th grades.
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For more information, visit https://www.graniterock.com/news_events/events
