After a few years hiatus, the McClement family is back in the paving business.
Doug and Jacqueline McClement, and their children Logan, Sebastian and Brie, have bought back the family business, Souris Valley Paving, after having sold it to a large multinational company in 2012.
They fired up again on Nov. 29 with a new name, GenCo Asphalt Inc. There was a pile of stickers with the new logo in Doug McClement鈥檚 office on Dec. 11, waiting to be applied to the equipment in the shop. When it was time to cut the ribbon, the trucks in the shop had their fresh stickers, ready for a fresh start.
鈥淚t feels really good,鈥� Doug said on that day, the day before their ribbon cutting.
The transaction is the restoration of a family business that is now four generations deep, and thus the name is a tribute to the fact it鈥檚 a generational company. When the ribbon was cut, the youngest McClement, Eila, was on the lap of the eldest, Rosalia, with the babies present perhaps making a fifth generation for down the road.
鈥淢y grandparents, Cameron and Mabel, were farmers north of the existing airport. They hauled hay, sand and gravel,鈥� Doug said. His father, Vernon, started hauling those commodities at a young age. He was also running a loader into his 90s.
The company, then known as McClement Services, got into excavating work in the 50s and 60s, as well as patching and paving. This eventually included sand, gravel, crushing and hauling.
By the early 1970s, the company, which now included Vernon鈥檚 wife Rosalia, brought the first asphalt plant to Estevan. Vernon passed away in January 2019 at the age of 95, while Rosalita is a resident of Creighton Lodge. The company donated $10,000 each to Creighton Lodge and St. Joseph鈥檚 Hospital long-term care during their ribbon cutting 小蓝视频.
Doug grew up in the business, and in 1994, he and Jacqueline took it over and renamed it Souris Valley Paving. The company expanded over the years, and would run crews as high as 25-30.
Things got quite hectic by 2012, and at the time, the children were not interested in taking over the business.
鈥淲e sold the assets to a multinational company, Colas,鈥� Doug said. 鈥淲e stayed with the company and managed for four years, and then stepped down, and out of management.鈥�
They retained several real estate properties.
Jacqueline founded LUX Nail Art Studio in 2015. Semi-retired, Doug spent a lot of time on the golf course and obtaining his private pilot licence. He says semi-retired quite literally, as, he noted, 鈥淚 bought a semi.鈥�
He did some side work through a small venture, Genesis Construction. Sebastian had a small patching and paving business which will soon be folding into GenCo.
Then in early 2019, Souris Valley Paving was shut down.
鈥淭hey shut down the Estevan division in April 2019 and offered to let us buy it back, and we did,鈥� Doug said.
The plant stayed running until November, but they weren鈥檛 doing the paving.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 do much oilfield at all, but the oilfield brings hotels, supply companies and wear and tear on the streets,鈥� he said, noting how the business sees spinoffs from the oilpatch.
It鈥檚 a very soft market. It鈥檚 not like the old days. But they are looking at expansion at some point in the new year, but he鈥檚 not saying where just yet.
To this point, Souris Valley Paving had serviced areas as distant as Kenosee Lake, Redvers, Weyburn and Carlyle, and all points in between. All of that came from the Estevan plant. A load of asphalt can be on a truck for about two or so hours, and they鈥檙e experienced at getting their timings right.
鈥淲e depend on our quality. We had hundreds of collective years experience added up,鈥� Doug said.
鈥淲e do a lot of quality control. We have our own asphalt and gravel lab on site,鈥� he said.
The oil derivative, properly known as 鈥渁sphalt cement,鈥� comes out of the Moose Jaw Refinery.
The fleet includes pavers ranging from a small one meant for pathways to large units. There are rollers, water trucks, dump trucks and semis. But whoever you talked to at the grand opening, they always seemed to mention the shovel and rake.
Which is all well and good, as Doug said,
鈥淭he PGA called and said they didn鈥檛 want me.鈥�
Looking back, he said they definitely would not have sold, but at the time, there was a lot of stress during those busy times. Selling acted as something of a relief valve. And now the three children want to run it. Logan is superintendent, Sebastian is project manager and Brie is foreman and operator.
鈥淚 want to thank everyone for 小蓝视频 patient with us. We鈥檝e had a warm welcome. I want to thank my wife for doing all the behind-the-scenes work,鈥� he concluded.
