People first, ‘cussing’ last

“No cussing” is a rule you’d expect to find in the halls and classrooms of an elementary school. But at a construction jobsite?

“We have a no-cussing policy here,” said Rob Pickinpaugh, owner of Rosedale Concrete Construction in Bakersfield, California. “We have good people. We do good work. We are in the people business because we want to develop lifelong friendships.”

Curse-word-free construction – it’s just one small, but important, policy that every employee of his 45-person business practices on their jobsites.

After all, a company that can keep four dozen grown-ups from using four-letter words certainly brings an unrivaled attention to detail and professionalism to every job.

Rosedale specializes in concrete, foundation and stamp work. The company also offers masonry for block, track and commercial walls. Between both sides of the business, Pickinpaugh’s crews average six jobs a day.

Over the course of a year, that adds up to more than 1,000 opportunities to satisfy a customer. And it’s that emphasis on people, not just projects, that helps Rosedale stand out.

The owner’s business covers a 150-mile service territory spanning Kern, San Luis and Santa Barbara counties in California – and can’t afford downtime.

So he depends on his fleet of Bobcat S570 skid-steer loaders, T595 compact track loaders and T740 compact track loaders to handle every job.

“I like the challenge every day of going out to different job sites and meeting different people,” said Pickinpaugh. “It might look like a pile of dirt in their backyard, but to me, I help them create a vision.”

Rosedale serves a variety of residential and commercial customers, but there are always a few projects that stand out.

“There was a grandma who had a little four-by-four stoop out her back door,” said Pickinpaugh. “She had been looking at it for 20 years thinking about building a bigger patio. It took me all of five minutes to know how important that poured patio was to her.” Rob added, “To me, that’s the perfect job – seeing the smile on her face when it’s done.”

Pickinpaugh’s spirit of caring for others carries over to his employees, too, said the firm. Over the course of his construction career, he’s seen his fair share of good, hard-working people experience turmoil in their lives.

“I’ve found that if you make the job enjoyable, you spread that joy to others. It makes life a lot easier, and it makes the job fun,” said Pickinpaugh. “If you’re not angry all day long, you go home happy. That is most important to me.”

As for that no-cussing policy – it’s easy to enforce, and adhere to, said Bobcat, when family is involved. Pickinpaugh’s wife, Michelle, is co-owner. His daughter, Kellie, works as the office manager and his son, Kyle, serves as foreman.

It’s that close-knit, family-first approach that’s helped Rosedale succeed. Because as the owner said, “We’re in the people business, not just the money business.”