Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 7, 1994 TAG: 9404070187
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: S-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KAREN L. DAVIS SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
"I used to have just one truck, and we had to borrow a roller for every job," said Joe Woods, owner and founder of Woods Asphalt Paving.
His wife, Lenora, sometimes shoveled asphalt by hand alongside him. She also took calls and handled the paperwork. And for the first two or three years, they ran the business out of their home.
Woods' first piece of equipment was an old dump truck that had been through a flood. He paid $700 for it, and "every time we hauled a good load of asphalt in it, I'd have to spend half a day fixing it."
Initially, Woods gained his on-the-job-training and paving experience working with Buchanan Paving Company for about three years.
"I worked for him about half a day, then worked for myself the other half," Woods said.
Eventually, he began his own business as Woods Paving Company, and later changed the name to Woods Brothers when his brother, Warren, joined as partner. That partnership dissolved in 1989, but Warren Woods still works for his brother in the present-day Woods Asphalt Paving office on Center Avenue.
Today, nearly 25 years after he started, Woods employs about a dozen seasonal workers and has about $200,000 invested in equipment, including nine or 10 trucks, a roller, a grader and an asphalt paver. He bought most of his equipment used, as he could afford it, and most of it is paid for.
One mistake many new companies make, he said, is buying new equipment to start out and taking on too much overhead. "They have to charge more to pay their bills and still make something on the job," he said.
A paver alone costs about $38,000, he said. Woods tries to buy a new one, and a new roller, about every three years, because those two particular pieces of equipment receive excessive wear and tear on the job.
Most of his jobs consist of paving or resurfacing residential driveways and commercial parking lots. He competes with more than 30 other paving companies listed in the telephone directory.
"The big guys make their own mix, and we can't compete with them because they can make it cheaper than we can buy it from them. They do the big jobs, like state highway work, and we do the smaller residential jobs," Woods said.
He depends on his Yellow Pages ad, word-of-mouth referrals and the signs on his trucks to get work.
"When we go into a neighborhood to do one or two jobs, we sometimes get 10 or 15 more, just from people looking out their windows and seeing our number on the truck," Woods said.
"If you do good, neat driveways for a reasonable price, word gets around," he said. "People want straight lines. And you have to be careful not to mess up the sidewalks or the side of the house."
He averages about two driveways a day, but sometimes one job can take all day, or longer, depending on the square yardage involved. One of his largest jobs was a golf course that took six days to pave the cart tracks and parking lot.
"You have to grade the dirt, put weed killer down to get the wire grass out of it, lay the base stone [gravel] and roll all of that, then apply 2 1/2 inches of asphalt," Woods said. "You roll that to compact it down to 2 inches, and it should be a smooth finish."
The asphalt is about 375 degrees when it's put down. The outdoor temperature needs to be at least 32 degrees and rising, Woods said, or the mix cools off too quickly and gives a rough finish. For that reason, the work is mostly seasonal. During the colder months, Woods repairs and reconditions his equipment.
Besides paving, Woods also seals and recaps asphalt finishes. He recommends sealing a new driveway 90 days to a year after paving to prevent gas and oil from gradually dissolving and cracking the asphalt. The spray-on liquid sealer also gives an old, gray driveway a new, black finish. If the pavement is badly cracked, Woods recommends recapping it with about 1 1/2 inches of asphalt.
Woods offers his clients a free, written estimate, based on square yardage, a written contract and a one-year guarantee.
When he started, Woods said, "Estimating was the hardest part to learn." If a job ends up costing more than the original estimate, the business has to absorb the loss.
Sometimes, Lenora goes with him to do an estimate. She still handles the payroll, but she turned most of the bookkeeping over to an accountant long ago.
"We've been near rock bottom a couple of times, but we've always managed to bounce back. Today, you need about $100,000 to start a business. When I started, I probably had about $40," he joked.
Woods Asphalt Paving is at 2542 Centre Ave. Call 344-9293 (day) or 265-1917 (night).
by CNB