by Peggy Townsend, UC Santa Cruz Newscenter
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By Mary Reed, Construction Equipment Guide
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Life’s journey sometimes leads us to unexpected destinations. For Chris Beatie, who works at Graniterock’s A.R. Wilson Road Materials in Aromas, recent challenges have led to new opportunities to improve his personal well-being and at the same time help others in need.
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75 years ago, in 1938, when heavy rainfall caused flooding along the Pajaro River the Granite Rock Company quarry filled with water three feet deep. Bill Codiga, step-grandson of Ambrose Rossi, recalled his grandmother, stranded in her home there. “She would not come out of her house and they had to take her out in a rowboat.”
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The importance of great relationships is a fundamental, recurring theme for Jim Carroll of Carroll and Strong Builders, Inc. This Watsonville-based company builds high-end, exceptional custom homes in the Monterey Bay Region.  Jim and his partner, Randy Strong, focus their energies on outstanding communication with architects, home owners, suppliers and subcontractors as they create beautifully detailed homes for discriminating clients.
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An important part of the design phase of any construction project is materials selection.  Concrete, steel or wood are typical options for the building frame; for paving applications, the choice is generally either concrete or asphalt. Material choice depends on several factors, including initial cost, life cycle cost and performance for the specific application. Due to the growing interest in sustainable development, engineers and architects are now motivated more than ever to choose sustainable materials.
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For Ryan Fontes, concrete dispatcher for Graniterock in Monterey County, every day on the job brings new and interesting challenges. “There are so many variables with concrete,” explains Ryan. “As we say around here, every delivery has a story. It can be something unexpected that happens in traffic on the way to the job, or something on the job site. Contractors, inspectors, concrete pumpers, finishers – with everyone involved it can be pretty intense at times. But at the end of the day, it’s great to know you’ve achieved your goals.  We’re here to succeed, and everyone is upbeat when we have a good, busy day.” 
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Graniterock’s legal team recently reviewed a case that offers an important reminder to all construction contractors – California law imposes a duty to report jobsite hazards to the project owner or general contractor, even if you did not create the hazard. That reminder comes from the 2009 California Court of Appeal case of Miguel Suarez v. Pacific Northstar Mechanical, Inc. (PNM), which found a construction contractor that knew of a jobsite hazard, but kept quiet about it, could be held liable for injuries sustained by any worker at the jobsite who was later injured by the hazard.
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 I began my professional career without the knowledge, skills and experience I would need to solve every problem on my own.  This meant that I needed to learn the social skill of ALWAYS asking for help. I had to change the way I looked at problem situations from the way I was raised to a new understanding: "ASKING FOR HELP IS A SIGN OF STRENGTH."
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