Finding Ways to Do-it-Yourself
In some industries, for some businesses, one thing seems to lead to another. It just makes sense, for example, when a landclearing operation decides to market and profit from green waste rather than spend money disposing of it. And that’s exactly how one company in Indiana took what began as a 15-year-old’s firewood business and turned it into 17 companies with combined annual sales of more than $20 million.
Dan Cristiani, of Clarksville, Indiana, started down the road to becoming a major player in the recycling and excavation markets when he was just a teenage farm boy from rural Inidiana. His family instilled the belief that it’s important to recycle natural resources. So, when a power line company came to town and leveled scores of trees, he began chopping up the downed trees and selling the lumber as firewood from the back of a 1965 Chevy pick-up truck.
When Cristiani turned 16, he used some of his earnings to buy a 1952 GMC dump truck for $250. Soon after, he bought a tractor with a grader on the back and started grading yards and doing seeding work. Then he began excavating and moving dirt. Next he started doing landclearing. Then, following his environmental roots, he purchased grinders to process the waste, and began selling mulch, topsoil and compost.
“One thing always led to another,” he says.
Cristiani’s specific recipe for success is this: Start with a landclearing and site preparation business. Add a few sites that process and sell compost, topsoil and mulch, as well as offer other landscaping supplies. Start your own trucking company and haul truckloads of excavated dirt to the state fairgrounds for various events. Then create a rental store from where you can rent occasionally needed equipment — and make a profit on the equipment (renting to others) the rest of the year. Use that same trucking company to transport rental equipment to customers’ job sites. Finally, throw in farming and land development businesses on the side. And secure a snow removal contract with United Parcel Service (UPS). Looking back, Cristiani admits that he was simply always trying to find ways to increase efficiencies, save a little money … and make a little money.
Jay Burr, the Vermeer dealer in Clarksville, Indiana, has sold several pieces of equipment to Cristiani in the past few years. Burr says he never fails to amaze him.
“How that man manages 17 companies and still sleeps is a mystery to me,” Burr says. “But his personality is definitely a factor. He’s got an amazing memory and is very ‘down-to-earth.’”
Wherever there has been an imaginable opportunity to expand his businesses, Cristiani has taken it. Instead of paying another company to haul away green waste and dirt from Dan Cristiani Construction land clearing and site preparation job sites, he does it himself — and processes and sells the materials for profit.
Cristiani uses a Vermeer SC1102A stump cutter to grind stumps. He also owns two Vermeer HG525TX horizontal grinders (on tracks) that he uses to transform green waste, grass and leaves into compost and mulch. He says the grinders are ideal for the type of work he does — processing long, brush materials in areas where machine mobility is key.
Then he sells the materials in bulk, along with topsoil, aggregates, decorative landscaping stones and work apparel through Earth First Inc., a chain of four stores.
“We process topsoil through a screen, grind it and then add compost to it and sell it in bulk locally,” he says. “Today most of our sales are in the Louisville and southern Indiana area. But we also ship about 500,000 bags of mulch annually to Cincinnati and Evansville.”
Any dirt that Cristiani doesn’t sell through Earth First, he delivers to the Kentucky state fairgrounds for horse and cattle shows, tractor pulls and motor crosses — “basically any event that needs dirt,” he says.
Cristiani’s wife, Anne, owns AC Equipment Rental across town — AC as in Anne Cristiani. She started the business six years ago to keep her busy while the kids were in school and her husband was working tirelessly. Today, she owns between 40 and 50 pieces of equipment, including backhoes, excavators, dozers, rollers and graders. In addition, Anne Cristiani owns a Vermeer V2050 walk-behind trencher and a V4150A trencher/plow that Dan Cristiani occasionally rents.
“It’s a great partnership,” Cristiani says. “I rent equipment from her when I need it, and she uses my trucking company, Gotta Go, Inc., to haul her rental equipment to customers’ job sites.”
Gotta Go trucking company owns about 50 dump trucks, flatbeds and dump trailers. Dan Cristiani Construction owns another 100 pieces of excavating equipment.
In addition to owning a $3 million trucking company, a $13 million excavating business, and a $3 million landscaping materials distribution network, Cristiani has been involved in land development and farming for the past 15 years. And he does all of the snow removal for UPS, which is a 40-hour job each snowfall. Altogether, the Cristiani’s employ 128 at Gotta Go, Inc., Earth First, Inc., AC Rentals and Dan Cristiani Construction.
One critical point is that Cristiani gets a lot of his equipment from one dealer — Jay Burr of Vermeer. “When you have as many things going on as I do, it’s important to know that one source is providing as many machines as possible,” he says.
The Cristianis have five kids. Their oldest daughter works in the accounting department at Earth First, Inc. Their oldest son is a foreman at Dan Cristiani Construction. They also have one daughter at Indiana University, a 14-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter.
When does he have time for himself?
“That’s what my wife asks me sometimes,” Cristiani laughs.
Maybe not everyone can let “one thing lead to another” and grow as smoothly as Cristiani has over the years. But, his path does prove that it’s at least possible — and definitely smart — for a landclearing and site preparation operation to be as diverse as his is.
Dan Cristiani, of Clarksville, Indiana, started down the road to becoming a major player in the recycling and excavation markets when he was just a teenage farm boy from rural Inidiana. His family instilled the belief that it’s important to recycle natural resources. So, when a power line company came to town and leveled scores of trees, he began chopping up the downed trees and selling the lumber as firewood from the back of a 1965 Chevy pick-up truck.
When Cristiani turned 16, he used some of his earnings to buy a 1952 GMC dump truck for $250. Soon after, he bought a tractor with a grader on the back and started grading yards and doing seeding work. Then he began excavating and moving dirt. Next he started doing landclearing. Then, following his environmental roots, he purchased grinders to process the waste, and began selling mulch, topsoil and compost.
“One thing always led to another,” he says.
Cristiani’s specific recipe for success is this: Start with a landclearing and site preparation business. Add a few sites that process and sell compost, topsoil and mulch, as well as offer other landscaping supplies. Start your own trucking company and haul truckloads of excavated dirt to the state fairgrounds for various events. Then create a rental store from where you can rent occasionally needed equipment — and make a profit on the equipment (renting to others) the rest of the year. Use that same trucking company to transport rental equipment to customers’ job sites. Finally, throw in farming and land development businesses on the side. And secure a snow removal contract with United Parcel Service (UPS). Looking back, Cristiani admits that he was simply always trying to find ways to increase efficiencies, save a little money … and make a little money.
Jay Burr, the Vermeer dealer in Clarksville, Indiana, has sold several pieces of equipment to Cristiani in the past few years. Burr says he never fails to amaze him.
“How that man manages 17 companies and still sleeps is a mystery to me,” Burr says. “But his personality is definitely a factor. He’s got an amazing memory and is very ‘down-to-earth.’”
Wherever there has been an imaginable opportunity to expand his businesses, Cristiani has taken it. Instead of paying another company to haul away green waste and dirt from Dan Cristiani Construction land clearing and site preparation job sites, he does it himself — and processes and sells the materials for profit.
Cristiani uses a Vermeer SC1102A stump cutter to grind stumps. He also owns two Vermeer HG525TX horizontal grinders (on tracks) that he uses to transform green waste, grass and leaves into compost and mulch. He says the grinders are ideal for the type of work he does — processing long, brush materials in areas where machine mobility is key.
Then he sells the materials in bulk, along with topsoil, aggregates, decorative landscaping stones and work apparel through Earth First Inc., a chain of four stores.
“We process topsoil through a screen, grind it and then add compost to it and sell it in bulk locally,” he says. “Today most of our sales are in the Louisville and southern Indiana area. But we also ship about 500,000 bags of mulch annually to Cincinnati and Evansville.”
Any dirt that Cristiani doesn’t sell through Earth First, he delivers to the Kentucky state fairgrounds for horse and cattle shows, tractor pulls and motor crosses — “basically any event that needs dirt,” he says.
Cristiani’s wife, Anne, owns AC Equipment Rental across town — AC as in Anne Cristiani. She started the business six years ago to keep her busy while the kids were in school and her husband was working tirelessly. Today, she owns between 40 and 50 pieces of equipment, including backhoes, excavators, dozers, rollers and graders. In addition, Anne Cristiani owns a Vermeer V2050 walk-behind trencher and a V4150A trencher/plow that Dan Cristiani occasionally rents.
“It’s a great partnership,” Cristiani says. “I rent equipment from her when I need it, and she uses my trucking company, Gotta Go, Inc., to haul her rental equipment to customers’ job sites.”
Gotta Go trucking company owns about 50 dump trucks, flatbeds and dump trailers. Dan Cristiani Construction owns another 100 pieces of excavating equipment.
In addition to owning a $3 million trucking company, a $13 million excavating business, and a $3 million landscaping materials distribution network, Cristiani has been involved in land development and farming for the past 15 years. And he does all of the snow removal for UPS, which is a 40-hour job each snowfall. Altogether, the Cristiani’s employ 128 at Gotta Go, Inc., Earth First, Inc., AC Rentals and Dan Cristiani Construction.
One critical point is that Cristiani gets a lot of his equipment from one dealer — Jay Burr of Vermeer. “When you have as many things going on as I do, it’s important to know that one source is providing as many machines as possible,” he says.
The Cristianis have five kids. Their oldest daughter works in the accounting department at Earth First, Inc. Their oldest son is a foreman at Dan Cristiani Construction. They also have one daughter at Indiana University, a 14-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter.
When does he have time for himself?
“That’s what my wife asks me sometimes,” Cristiani laughs.
Maybe not everyone can let “one thing lead to another” and grow as smoothly as Cristiani has over the years. But, his path does prove that it’s at least possible — and definitely smart — for a landclearing and site preparation operation to be as diverse as his is.
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