More than 25 years ago, former Graniterock CEO Bruce Woolpert introduced the idea of “Recognition Day” to Graniterock People. He brought the core of the idea from his experience as a manager at Hewlett-Packard, where legendary leaders Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard visited each HP Division once-a-year for a day-long “Division Review” to evaluate business performance.  Bruce modified the concept at Graniterock, and it became a key part of our Company Culture.
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Doug Sanders literally grew up with Graniterock concrete. His dad Larry, now retired, was a loyal Graniterock customer during his career as one of the largest concrete contractors in Santa Cruz County. Doug learned his trade next to his father, playing in sand piles on construction sites as a youngster. “Dad was always 100% Graniterock, I grew up with Graniterock and I can’t imagine getting my concrete anywhere else,” says Doug. “I’ve known these people all my life and they are like my family.”
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At Graniterock, one of our core values is to continuously work to make ourselves better. During seven years with the Company, Donita Granado has embraced that value, challenging herself to learn, grow and develop as a member of the Graniterock Team. First with Building Materials Sales in Cupertino and Redwood City, then as Inside Sales support for Road Materials Account Managers in San Jose, Redwood City and South San Francisco, and now as a part of Graniterock’s Sales Associates Program, Donita has worked to better understand the Company and its products, with the goal of providing the best service possible to Graniterock customers.
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How does your business manage customer feedback? Your feedback could arrive in a letter, a phone call, a face-to-face meeting, or a formal customer satisfaction survey. Most organizations focus nearly all their time and energy on what didn’t go well. If your goal is to be the best at earning a customer’s business every day, you’ll work to attack problem areas and correct them. You may think that by eliminating any negatives, your customers will want to continue to do business with you. Actually, this approach is far from complete.
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Continuous improvement and respect for people articulate the vision and goals of James Sommerville, Inc. (JSI). JSI performs grading, paving and underground construction projects throughout the Monterey, Santa Cruz, San Benito and Southern Santa Clara County areas, with a focus on quality and safety. Company founder Jimmy Sommerville has developed these core values over a lifetime in the construction business.
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Few who know Graniterock’s Dr. Paul Lessard would imagine that he faced learning challenges in childhood. “I had to repeat third grade because I was unable to read,” recalls Paul, and “I never really felt ‘smart’ during grammar or high school.” It wasn’t until after he graduated from Palma High School in Salinas and entered UC Davis that Paul realized, “Getting good grades was mostly a matter of working very hard.” He suddenly found himself getting A’s in all his classes. “I did an internship in physical chemistry and got to play with lasers and a lot of complicated electronics to measure chemical reactions. I was hooked. I graduated with an Environmental Toxicology major, and ended up completing my PhD in Physical Chemistry.”
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Graniterock CFO Steve Snodgrass contributes another  article excerpted from the 1956 Engineering News-Record which shows how “the more things change the more they remain the same.”
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Greg Scopazzi and Phil Wilkinson
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People like Terri Brazil are what makes Graniterock truly a “family business.”  Terri brings the feeling of family to the Construction Division’s Custom Work department, based in Watsonville, where she works as Contract Administrator, and since joining Graniterock in 1999, she has brought three nephews on board with the Company. Greg Brazil and John Taylor both work with the Construction Division, and Jake Brazil ran Graniterock Builders before starting his own business, Brazil Construction, with the goal of becoming the number one customer at Graniterock’s Design Center in Cupertino.
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As a General Contractor, did you know that under California law you can be held responsible to pay the wages of unpaid employees of an unlicensed subcontractor? According to California Labor Code section 2750.5, as a general contractor you could be considered the employer of the people who work for your subcontractor, and thus held liable to pay their proper wages. 
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