American Demolition / Concrete Cutting partners, Dick Stewart and John Moore.

Nationally ranked among the top dozen companies of their kind, American is truly a "Can Do" company.

When Dick Steward and John Moore purchased their company in 1979, it was doing about $600,000 annually, with ten or so employees. With some great employees from the original company and hiring many well qualified new employees, the company was well positioned to embark on a growth mode.

Today their company is about 250 employees strong, and they project to gross anywhere between $25 to $27 million in annual sales for 2001.

American Concrete Cutting was established in 1968. They basically started as a two-truck concrete sawing operation. Today they are a General Engineering Company that specializes in demolition and hazardous material abatement (lead and asbestos). They promote their turn-key solutions. Their capabilities range from site clearing to interior strip outs; from seismic renovation to fast-track building demolition.; from rock drilling to epoxy doweling and historic preservation.

Big enough, and versatile enough to do everything in-house, they can offer the client many benefits. One of these is the accelerated smooth process that comes from exercising total control over job-site coordination. And they can provide exceptional bonding capacity. In addition, they maintain standard liability coverage of $10,000,000, with larger amounts available.

American Demolition / Concrete Cutting performs complete demolition on "The City Mall"
to make way for the new "Block of Orange" Mall.

However, they are not so big that they have lost sight of reality. They pride themselves on doing smaller jobs as well. For instance, they will remove a concrete patio, or drill a 2 inch hole. And their general contractorÕs license means that they have the ability to perform all aspects of a job.

When the situation calls for it, American will pour concrete, or do other non-demolition construction work. But their specialty is demolition. This seems to suite their style well. They like the quick turn over; the velocity of demolition work where you can get on and off a job much quicker. Whatever the kind of demolition required, whether drilling a single hole, cutting openings for windows, breaking and removal, American is there with gusto.

Dick Stewart and concrete cutting estimators
Bill Morgan and Karin Stewart.

Needless to say, their ability to perform jobs quickly and efficiently has not come at the expense of quality. Their long-term success is proof of that point. One of their mantras is, "doing the job right is the hallmark of American Demolition/Concrete Cutting."

American Demoliton / Concrete Cutting Fleet
well maintained and ready for the job.

The two partners of American have an interesting history. They have known each other since the fourth grade, attending the same schools in Fullerton. They went on to attend the University of California at Berkeley together, where they were in the same fraternity, and they each graduated as mechanical engineers, John in 1962 and Dick in 1963. They attended graduate business school at USC also, and ended up working for the same demolition construction company. In this well-known company, Dick was the executive Vice President, and John was the Sales Manager. After gaining enough experience from that company, they forged out on their own.

Scott Moore, Manager Contracts Division.

They bring their own aggressive business style to all aspects of their company. When it comes to employees, they strive to hire only the best, pay the best incentives, employ good training, and expect the best from them. They seek individuals who are willing to give a little extra to get a little extra.

Employees are sought with formal educational backgrounds as well as field experience. Their experienced staff includes people who have grown through the crafts. They promote a team spirit so that the customer will get the best product possible, and it will be an enjoyable work experience.

When it comes to equipment, their attitude is similarÑapplication of aggressive standards. They pride themselves on being able to do more sales with less owned equipment than any other demolition contractor in the industry. Owning equipment is not the answer, they claim. When other equipment is needed for a job, they will simply rent.

American operates primarily in California. They have two locations: for southern California they are headquartered in Santa Ana; for northern California it is in Hayward. Interestingly, the northern operation is union, while the southern is non-union. They maintain licenses in Nevada and Arizona as well, and will venture into those areas when the business climate indicates they do so.

American Demolition donates several of their Bobcat skid steers loaders and operators
for the groundbreaking ceremony that included Mandala Dance Works members performing
to celebrate the redevelopment of Balboa Theatre.

If you work hard, it can be supposed that you play hard as well. Dick Stewart exemplifies just that. As a member of a swim team, he has competed in the Trans-Tahoe Swim. In this event there are sixty to seventy teams each year. The course is an eleven-mile trek across the lake, from Sand Harbor to Tahoe City. Each member of the team swims a half hour interval, then follows up with a ten-minute swim. DickÕs team won their division in 1997.

American Demolition/Concrete Cutting is an out-picturing of the fullness of life springing from the effluent personalities of its two foundersÑDick Stewart and John Moore. What more than excellence could one expect from them?

American Demolition manages a fleet of well maintained late model Caterpillar equipment, but prides themselves on being able to do more sales with less owned equipment than any other demolition contractor in the industry.