“My dad was a flatwork crew superintendent for a local concrete construction company, and when I graduated from San Diego State I went to work for him. I played football in college and was not much of a student,” said Dan. “After less than a year, I knew I wanted to do a better job than the company I was with, so I started my own business.” It was 1978, and Dan started out doing any little job he could find. Soon his dad joined him and became his full time mentor. “He tutored me and was my best friend,” said Dan, fondly remembering his father, who passed away at age 94. “I was a ‘get it perfect’ guy and I wanted to do well. I learned everything from others, taking the best ideas from people I worked with to put into my bag of tricks.” In 1999, Rick Harder and Terry Gallagher joined Dan as full partners to form Solid Concrete Service, Inc. “I trust them both like brothers,” said Dan, who credits Rick and Terry for “the capability to pull off a structure like this. We each bring a different type of expertise to the partnership.”  
Read More

Graniterock People have supported Pajaro Valley Shelter Services (PVSS) in many ways since its formation. Over the past twenty years, Graniterock People have volunteered their time and treasure as fundraisers and Board Members to aid the effort. So when Andrew O’Such, Account Manager for Enterprise Fleet Management, approached the Company a few months ago in search of a charitable organization for an Enterprise Holdings Foundation grant it was natural to think of PVSS. Pajaro Valley Shelter Services helps women, children, and families end the causes and cycles of homelessness - one family at a time.  Andrew O’Such of Enterprise Fleet Management delivers a donation check for Pajaro Valley Shelter Services to Ken Schipper and Rose Ann Woolpert of Graniterock
Read More

Despite slow construction spending in the first half of this year, commercial property occupancy prices and rates actually accelerated during the period. Since these are the primary indicators driving nonresidential construction capital expenditures, advisors believe this sector is in the early stages of recovery. Although commercial construction spending is up only 2% year to date, vacancy rates are low and average prices have increased. Office and lodging construction are other indicators of construction spending, and their recovery remains strong. Steady employment growth has been a key to these improvements.
Read More

Edited from: Grainger.com
Read More

The Graniterock Information Services team has noticed a recent increase in the problem of spam and phishing emails and phone calls which attempt to steal user information. A Graniterock Team Member recently reported a caller claiming to be from “Microsoft”. The caller told our Team Member his computer had been hacked, but for a fee of $99 Microsoft tech support would remotely repair the computer. This computer was purchased through our Company’s home computer purchase program, so before doing anything he wisely asked us for advice.
Read More

Supplies of oil have been surging this year, and U.S. drivers, who have been switching to more fuel-efficient cars, are using less gasoline.That would seem to be the right economic combination to push down prices at the pump, but gasoline prices have remained stubbornly high this summer. 
Read More

Watsonville’s Historic Railroad Depot is one of the few depots still remaining of the many built by the Southern Pacific Railroad during California’s glory days of train travel. The structure itself has been almost unchanged since it was built in 1895, and is a wonderful reminder of the rich history of train travel in our region. Trains and rail transport have been a part of Graniterock history since 1876, when a deposit of granite rock was first discovered by railroad surveyors as they prepared to lay track along the Pajaro River Gap between Watsonville and San Juan Bautista. Since then, narrow and standard gauge steam locomotives, diesel engines and fleets of rail cars have helped to transport crushed granite rock within the A.R. Wilson Quarry and beyond to construction sites throughout California. 
Read More

Reported in the Salinas Californian June 13, 2013   
Read More

The County of Santa Clara released the results of a study on Thursday showing the overall health of residents from Gilroy up to Palo Alto. The report is being used to create a new Health Element of the Santa Clara County General Plan. “This report helps us better understand some of the health challenges our residents face, and gives us the tools to make improvements through the planning process,” said Supervisor Joe Simitian. 
Read More

From T. Rowe Price Insights, by Alan Levenson, T. Rowe Price Chief Economist: With recent data showing the U.S. economy continuing to expand at a moderate pace, domestic stock markets trading near record highs, and some Fed officials publicly worrying that low interest rates could destabilize markets, many investors are increasingly attuned to signs that the central bank is preparing to temper its easy-money policies.
Read More