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and sought a new direction for what had become Fiore & Sons Excavating . “ My father began looking into new ways of working in the construction industry , such as bidding on grading work as a subcontractor to larger general contractors ,” opens Larry ( Butch ) Fiore Jr , President . “ That really took off in the late 70s and into the early 1980s , when Colorado ’ s economy took a deep dive .
“ We still managed to complete our first legacy building project that decade : the basement of the Cash Register Building downtown . Unfortunately , we struggled to sustain financially , and the poor economic climate just ate us up , leaving us almost at the point of liquidation . It was at that point that my parents decided it was time to take over from my grandfather ; they purchased the company from him and enlisted their four boys , Mike , Tony , David , and I , to support the venture .
“ We were just teenagers at the time , and my youngest brother was 11 , but my uncle and cousins got on board too . By the year 2000 , we ’ d grown the company to 79 employees , when my parents transferred the ownership to the brothers , and we ’ ve continued to expand Fiore & Sons ( F & S ) up to a team of nearly 400 , today .”
Expanded operations
Over this period , the company moved from growing ingredients to transporting them , then on to trucking and grading operations working alongside utility installation , asphalt , concrete , and landscape contractors . Shifting from farming to construction required regular interaction with all of these construction disciplines , which revealed clear gaps in the civil construction process .
“ While working with these organizations ,” Butch continues , “ we would learn about the
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