The Alaska Contractor - Summer 2008

“The Sutton job was a big overlay
job that was going over the frost
heaves,” he said.
Part of the highway between Mile
65 to Mile 92 also runs beneath a hill
face prone to rock slides.
“We had rocks coming down off the
hill in front of the paver,” Davis said.
The Sutton project is one of many
Alaska Roadbuilders has done in the
Mat-Su Borough, he said.
Others include upgrading and
paving projects for Hatcher Pass Road,
Deshka Landing, Nancy Lake roads,
Talkeetna, Petersville and Willow.
“We just go everywhere,” Davis said.
Closer to home, Alaska Roadbuilders
did the original paving for the road
rebuild going from Ingraham Creek
to Bertha Creek in 1984 and 1985.
They’ve done paving projects at the
Soldotna and Kenai airports. And a
paving project near Canyon Creek by
the Hope cutoff.
Other airport projects were completed
at the Northway and Gulkana
airports, Davis said.
Near Delta Junction, Alaska Roadbuilders
worked on projects near Clear
Water Creek and Remington-Jack
Warren road.
Asphalt prices soar
Record high oil prices are adding
to the business challenges faced by
Alaska Roadbuilders, Davis said.
At the end of the 2007 construction
season last October, Davis said he paid
$380 for liquid asphalt.
“When we woke up this spring it
was $500,” he said. “By the time we
could get it shipped it was $600.”
Prices climbed to $625 in June and
Davis said he expected them to continue
to increase.
Contracts allow for price changes
for liquid asphalt, but not the increased
costs for freight, which also have risen
on a course parallel to the price of
gasoline, he said.
“It’s something to start talking
about,” Davis said. “We have something
for the cost of liquid asphalt but
we don’t have anything for fuel.”
He said he and other paving companies
are working with Associated
General Contractors of Alaska to see
what can be changed so fuel cost increases
can also be passed on.
“Companies want a hard number,”
Davis said. “But when the price doubles
on you, what are you going to do?”
Business partner Chuck Davis said
AGC helps to bridge the communication
gaps between owners, contractors
and suppliers. He said he’s been involved
with AGC since the early 1980s.
“They’ve always been a great resource,”
Chuck Davis said. “They always
seem to be proactive about concerns.
If I have a concern, AGC is the
best place to voice it.”
New opportunities
Chuck Davis lost half his heart to
Alaska – his Alaskan bride claimed the
other half – when he spent a couple
of summers working here for his uncle
Leonard Davis as a general laborer at
Arctic Asphalt. During the school year
he was studying engineering at a Seattle
university.
“I grew up in Seattle, he said. “I didn’t
know the difference between gravel and
dirt. I was a little naive I guess.”
Back in the summer of 1974, the
first contract he worked on with his
uncle was a series of parking lot paving
projects for Kenai Peninsula Borough
School District schools.
“It was quite an abrupt change
from sitting in the classroom to shoveling
asphalt,” Chuck Davis said.
For 20 years he co-owned Davis
Block Company with his cousins Rusty
Davis and Scott Davis. Eventually the
company was split into two parts and
Chuck Davis sold Davis Concrete to
Quality Asphalt Paving in 2001.
He stayed on for three years after
the sale. But he said what he was really
looking for was a career change.
“I was burned out from being a
supplier,” Chuck Davis said.
That’s about the same time his cousin
Ron offered him the opportunity to
be a partner in Alaska Roadbuilders.
“It was an excellent opportunity to
share the risks and opportunity,” he said.
In his fourth season with Alaska
Roadbuilders, Chuck Davis said he
still hasn’t had a bad day at work.
“I love the day-to-day challenges of
getting a job done,” he said. “A bad day
to me is when someone gets hurt.”
Senior editor Heather A. Resz is an Alaska
writer who lives in the Wasilla area.