PROALL CLIENT SHOWCASE: SALEM MOBILE MIX
SERVING THE WILLAMETTE VALLEY SINCE 1995
Delivering high-quality concrete for every job, no matter the size, is tricky. Volumetric concrete mixers make it a lot easier, but don’t take our word for it. Take a look our client Salem Mobile Mix – they’ve gone from strength to strength over the past 20-plus years.
AN AUSPICIOUS START
Lance and Lisa Davis started their Salem, Oregon-based businesses in 1995. Northwest Rock Incorporated came first, followed by Salem Mobile Mix in 1999. For over 20 years, both companies have just kept growing. In the beginning, they were not only thinking about the construction industry. The endeavor started out as a sporty one!
Lance’s dream was to build a competitive waterski course in Salem, Oregon, and train children to waterski on that lake. Those were the initial plans for the exact property that Salem Mobile Mix and Northwest Rock are located on now. As happens so often, life took over, and had other plans. The Davis’s started their business by delivering rock in their local area, offering both crushed and washed products to their customers. Initially, the business served the Willamette Valley only. As word spread and demand rose, they started serving a bigger area. By now, concrete projects have taken the team well beyond Oregon. To date, the furthest distance the team traveled from their home base has been Alaska, no less. A specialty concrete delivery took the team that far north, and this was only one of the occasions when volumetric concrete mixers gave them a distinct advantage.
Both businesses are now firmly established in the rock and concrete business, a testament to Lance and Lisa’s commitment to customer service and desire to continuously meet their customers’ needs.
FINDING THE RIGHT EQUIPMENT FOR STANDOUT PROJECTS
The company did not always use volumetric mixers, but when one of their old trucks was damaged beyond repair in an accident, they checked them out. Lance Davis still remembers the day: “We called Gordy Reimer himself to find out more about Reimer volumetric concrete mixers. Rather than giving us a sales pitch, he sent a plane ticket and said the mixer would sell itself. We jumped on a plane, and the rest is history. Of course, Gordy was right.”
Reimer Mixers is now under new ownership and rebranded in 2013 as ProAll Reimer Mixers, but the commitment to providing the quality equipment and customer support that customers can feel confident about remains the same as the first day Lance contacted Gordy.
From its inception, Salem Mobile Mix prided itself in working closely with its customers no matter what the project was. The Salem team basically became an extension of the customer’s team. Serving the local community meant becoming involved in numerous smaller concrete jobs. Whilst vital to the community, those smaller jobs can be a bit of a headache for traditional concrete delivery. With an onsite concrete production, they are easy to accommodate. For Lance and Lisa Davis, miscalculated orders generally meant customers ordered too little, making it difficult to finish projects on time. “With the mixers, we simply reroute a truck and finish the job then and there”, says Lance. “We have done this for as little as a quarter of a yard to as much as 25 yards of concrete.” This flexibility has saved the day for customers more than once and helped Salem Mobile Mix build a large base of happy clients.
REBUILDING DETROIT, OREGON
Concrete may not be considered a special material, but it has the potential to achieve special goals within construction. One of those is the rebuild of Detroit, Oregon, in which Salem Mobile Mix is involved.
In September 2020, the town of Detroit, Oregon fell victim to a fire of “monumental, catastrophic proportions”, according to the City of Detroit. What started as a result of a lightning strike in August 2020 led to three separate wildfires. By September, they had grown in size due to a heatwave and fanned by easterly winds. The destruction that hit Detroit became known as one of the worst in the history of the state.
Today, Salem Mobile Mix is helping the community by providing concrete to build a new community center and assisting in the reconstruction of City Hall. Detroit may be a town, but it is located in the heart of Santiam Canyon.
Helping with the rebuild of the town means delivering a lot of fresh concrete to a rural area. By using onsite concrete mixers, Salem Mobile Mix trucks are on the scene with the materials ready to be mixed and fresh concrete is available for every project. Lance Davis hopes to be able to do more and really help the citizens of the town throughout the rebuild process.
THE FUTURE OF CONCRETE
The future of concrete is mobile, and volumetric mixers are one of the most versatile options for contractors. Lance and Lisa Davis recently added a fourth ProAll Reimer Mixer to their fleet. This was a first for the company, which has never had more than three mixers in their fleet at any time. It’s a sign of just how well their strategy is working. Lance Davis sees the potential: “Adding another onsite concrete mixer truck means we can serve more customers, bid on larger jobs, and continue to provide the best service possible.” Serving their customers to the best of their ability has been a driving force behind the growth of the family’s two businesses. “My job is to find solutions to our customers’ problems or needs”, says Lance. “Sometimes they are big jobs, other times they are small. But they are all equally important. Meeting, or exceeding our customers’ expectations is what we aim to achieve every single day.”
WHAT’S NEXT?
The addition of the fourth volumetric mixer is obviously exciting, but what happened to the dream of a waterski course and training facility? Life happened – the concrete business has kept the family too busy over the past couple of decades. They do find time to have fun, though. Waterskiing remains very much a passion for the Davis’s and, as Lance puts it: “The time for the waterski course is coming!”
However, businesses grow best when they are the center of attention, and for now, that role belongs to Salem Mobile Mix. In the meantime, the lake on the business’ premises has started doing double-duty as a place for swimming, and it is already large enough to accommodate jet skis. For now, it is only being used by the Davis family and their friends for relaxed gatherings and weekend fun, but its time will come to be a full-on business.
Looking to get in touch with Salem Mobile Mix? You can visit their website here!
