When Albert Cavazos started up TARC Construction, his goal was to have a family business to share with his young sons. Ten years later, Albert and his wife Tamara have met that goal and then some.  They are rightfully proud of a thriving business that now employs thirty people, including a growing segment of their family. “Sons Francisco and Dante work in the sales division, my brother- in-law is fleet manager and keeps our equipment running and my daughter-in- law is starting work Monday,” says Albert, who loves the fun of finding high energy people, bringing them into the business and training them to do things the right way – the TARC way.
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Mary Machado spends every day at work visiting with longtime friends, but it’s all a part of her job on the Building Materials Team at Graniterock’s Watsonville Branch. “We all know each other - I grew up here and know a lot of contractors”, explains Mary. “The kids I went to school with are in business now and I know them all. When they come in, it’s ‘Hi Mary, how’s the family’ – and that’s why I like it here so much.” Mary loves knowing her customers on a first name basis and says when a new customer shows up at the Branch, it’s often because a friend told them, “Go on over and just ask for Mary”.
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Santa Cruz County Historical Railroad Society Celebrates Twenty Years at the Santa Cruz County Fairgrounds
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Things are buzzing at Graniterock. It’s just before the start of a new school year, and our Corporate Office in Watsonville is  filled with the hum of young voices, the sound of smart, motivated kids who are getting a jump start on their education by spending the last week of summer vacation immersed in algebra. Over one hundred middle school students from six different schools are attending the Algebra Academy, a week-long intensive study program taught by faculty and teaching assistants from California State University Monterey Bay (CSUMB) and the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC). During their week of study the kids will take a field trip to the CSUMB campus and will also hear Graniterock Team Members explain how mathematics has shaped their professional careers. At the end of the Academy week parents are invited to join students to celebrate their work with a festive graduation ceremony.
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Five years ago, Terri Eitzen walked into Graniterock’s Cupertino Design Center and fell in love with rock. Since then, her “dream job” as a member of the Design Center’s Inside Sales Team has allowed her to use her creative talents, meet new people every day, and help customers through the sometimes long and difficult process of choosing just the right materials for their home design projects.
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At a recent health forum held at Stanford University, Stanford doctors shared a number of smartphone apps they recommend for help with weight control, exercise and stress reduction. They revealed current research which shows excellent results from these programs when they help people to set individualized goals, get immediate feedback and measure their results. Presenters stressed the importance of picking just one thing to work on at a time because too many efforts at once can lead to discouragement.
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“My dad was a flatwork crew superintendent for a local concrete construction company, and when I graduated from San Diego State I went to work for him. I played football in college and was not much of a student,” said Dan. “After less than a year, I knew I wanted to do a better job than the company I was with, so I started my own business.” It was 1978, and Dan started out doing any little job he could find. Soon his dad joined him and became his full time mentor. “He tutored me and was my best friend,” said Dan, fondly remembering his father, who passed away at age 94. “I was a ‘get it perfect’ guy and I wanted to do well. I learned everything from others, taking the best ideas from people I worked with to put into my bag of tricks.” In 1999, Rick Harder and Terry Gallagher joined Dan as full partners to form Solid Concrete Service, Inc. “I trust them both like brothers,” said Dan, who credits Rick and Terry for “the capability to pull off a structure like this. We each bring a different type of expertise to the partnership.”  
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Graniterock People have supported Pajaro Valley Shelter Services (PVSS) in many ways since its formation. Over the past twenty years, Graniterock People have volunteered their time and treasure as fundraisers and Board Members to aid the effort. So when Andrew O’Such, Account Manager for Enterprise Fleet Management, approached the Company a few months ago in search of a charitable organization for an Enterprise Holdings Foundation grant it was natural to think of PVSS. Pajaro Valley Shelter Services helps women, children, and families end the causes and cycles of homelessness - one family at a time.  Andrew O’Such of Enterprise Fleet Management delivers a donation check for Pajaro Valley Shelter Services to Ken Schipper and Rose Ann Woolpert of Graniterock
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Supplies of oil have been surging this year, and U.S. drivers, who have been switching to more fuel-efficient cars, are using less gasoline.That would seem to be the right economic combination to push down prices at the pump, but gasoline prices have remained stubbornly high this summer. 
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Watsonville’s Historic Railroad Depot is one of the few depots still remaining of the many built by the Southern Pacific Railroad during California’s glory days of train travel. The structure itself has been almost unchanged since it was built in 1895, and is a wonderful reminder of the rich history of train travel in our region. Trains and rail transport have been a part of Graniterock history since 1876, when a deposit of granite rock was first discovered by railroad surveyors as they prepared to lay track along the Pajaro River Gap between Watsonville and San Juan Bautista. Since then, narrow and standard gauge steam locomotives, diesel engines and fleets of rail cars have helped to transport crushed granite rock within the A.R. Wilson Quarry and beyond to construction sites throughout California. 
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