I have had the opportunity to work for some of the premier excavating/contracting companies in my career. Marentette Bros. in the seventies and early eighties was the forerunner of the mega companies that we are familiar with today. MBL was one of the first vertically integrated contracting companies locally. A quarry, gravel pits, ready mix concrete, asphalt and a marine contracting division just to name a few made up the MBL family of companies. An in-house sign shop was a major operation in it's own right. After passing on an opportunity to go out of the country to work on an airport paving project, I found myself at another legendary family run operation. In the early eighties and into the mid nineties, Smith Bros. Excavating was a major component of the Windsor and Essex county construction landscape. Dick Smith ran the operation from behind the radio mic in the office on Morton Industrial Drive. I drove a dump truck, ran a myriad of clunky old bulldozers and eventually moved into a supervisory capacity. One of the first jobs as an operator/foreman was looking after a job which involved supplying and stockpiling one million cubic yards of clay cover material for the regional landfill. Once the obligations of that contract were met I hung up my Cat key and moved into a more industrial setting that mostly involved interior concrete demolition and machine foundation work. This gave me an opportunity to develop contacts and relationships with many local, regional and international general contracting companies. Many of the friendships and relationships developed during that time can still be found in my telephone directory today. There are even sons of some the people I worked with over the years who are now people I work with regularly on projects. After Smith Bros. folded up I knocked around at a couple of minor contractors until I landed At DANRUSS in July of 2001. Working for a professionally managed contracting company for 20 years has been great.