Caterpillar - Finning Canada

Northern Alberta oilfieldcontractor prospers byfocusing locallyFox TrotB Y C H R I S T O P H E R S P E N C E RPHOTOGRAPHY BY DUSTIN DELFSFox Creek wasn’t much more than a dot on themap when Victor (Bill) DeCiccio first saw thecommunity in 1967. He was contracted to dosome Cat work in the area for an oil companyand expected to be home in Drayton Valleywithin two weeks.“There were only 50 people,” he remembers. Fox Creek reallywas in the middle of nowhere, a stopping point on the long journeybetween Edmonton and Grande Prairie. There was a gas stationand not much else.By the time DeCiccio’s two-week contract was due to expire,the population of Fox Creek was up to 53. Oil companies weredrilling for black gold under the muskeg, and needed contractorsto build roads. He decided to stay in the newly incorporated village,and was soon joined by his wife Martha and son Neil.Marnevic Construction Ltd. officially came into being on Nov.1, 1968. The name demonstrated that this would be a true familycompany. “Mar” for Martha, “Ne” for Neil and “Vic” for Victor.Along with one employee, DeCiccio operated Caterpillar D4’s inthe local oilfields, building firewalls and fixing washouts.To expand the new business, DeCiccio looked around for agood deal on a grader. He found one at an auction sale in Kelownaand drove it as far as Golden, near the Alberta border, at asteady pace of 25 miles per hour. Taking the slow route saved thecompany money, because then it didn’t have to pay road truckingtaxes to the British Columbia government. At Golden, Billloaded the grader on a lowboy and had it trucked the rest of theway to Fox Creek.The community was growing rapidly and Marnevic keptpace. In 1969, the company built a small shop to handle maintenance.Previously, all repairs were done in the field, with onlyan old parachute to close in the machine. Four years later, sonNeil returned from Edmonton after studying accounting andbusiness administration and took over the office duties fromMartha. Marnevic purchased bigger Cats to supplement the D4sand added scrapers to its growing fleet of equipment. The companyalways tried to acquire new units before existing machinesbecame uneconomical to operate.“The older equipment has to help us make payments on thenew stuff as well,” (Neil) DeCiccio says. He is cautious aboutexpanding, as his priority is to make sure Marnevic’s financesremain in good order. “Part of our philosophy is that we do tryto keep our payments within a reasonable amount. Right now,when the oilfield is very busy, it would be easy to go out andbuy four or five brand new pieces of equipment. But, if we do itthat way, we’re running the risk that, if the oilfield crashes, howdo we come up with the money to make the payments? SinceFinning took over, we’ve talked to several of the salesmen andthey always work with us and with Cat Finance to give us goodrates,” he adds.The DeCiccios understand that providing construction servicesin a resource-based economy can be a risky business. In theearly ‘80s, the combined effects of declining oil prices and theNational Energy Program forced many competitors into receivership.“In the early years, there were always rumours that FoxCreek would be a ghost town by 2000,” Neil DeCiccio says. “Ofcourse, that time has come and we’re still here.”www.finning.ca Summer 2005 • TRACKS & TREADS 39