Day 9 — Aspen, baby!
I awoke early to run all eighteen holes of the Aspen Glen golf course, the links I grew up playing over the summer. My childhood sucked.
But you’re not here for stories from my childhood—you’re here for the dirt. I get it.
At seven, we drove to the Stutsman Gerbaz office… wait. We didn’t drive. We slept in their parking lot thanks to our trusty RV.
At seven, we walked from our lavish accommodations about 100’ to the Stutsman Gerbaz world headquarters.
Since the 60s, Stutsman Gerbaz has served the people of Aspen whether they know it or not. They excavate enormous and complex basements, demolish buildings, repair water mains, and rebuild streetscapes. When it comes to dirt or infrastructure, they’re typically the first call.
I met Shay Stutsman, who today runs the company, years ago through social media and even traveled with him through Switzerland to check out some of the finest contractors in the world. I was there for fun; he was there to study.
And study he did… Shay didn’t win Equipment World’s Contractor of the Year this year by accident—he’s one of the most innovative contractors I know. Heavily inspired by the Europeans, he runs the most advanced fleet of machines I’ve seen in North America. Often working in challenging environments, what traditional contractors may see as a gamble, his investments in the latest and greatest have more than paid off.
The people of Aspen love their quiet, so we waited until 8 AM for his crews to start work downtown. In the alley between Lululemon and Gucci, a Stutsman 315, complete with a tiltrotator, GPS, variable angle boom, and radar bucket (it can identify utilities underground), worked alongside a few ground workers to replace Aspen’s tired electrical infrastructure.
Despite the substantial initial cost of his incredible machines, I asked if he’d ever return to standard excavators. He said absolutely not… After seeing the machine easily navigate the tight alley, I can see why. Not only do the better tools get the job done faster, but they eliminate unnecessary labor. Everyone wins—his customers and people.
Next on the agenda was a residential project. Thanks to lawyers, I can’t go into details, but it’s unfathomable.
To prepare the beautiful land for a new structure, Stutsman crews used their latest and greatest tool—a next-gen Cat 963 track loader.
Most regions don’t utilize track loaders, but they’re incredible in the proper application. Shay LOVES them. Think of a loader, dozer, and excavator in one machine.
And was it customized? Duh. The machine sports Trimble 3D GPS and an array of attachments, ranging from four purpose-built buckets and forks.
Our last stop was to the little town of Basalt, about twenty minutes down the valley from Aspen. Stutsman Gerbaz won the contract to rebuild the entire main street of Basalt from the edge of building to edge of building, including replacing all utilities.
The project is split into two seasons, with phase one in full swing. We checked out another European-inspired machine—a D1 dozer with triple grouser pads—and an underground crew installing a new valve on a live water main. They’d never done it before, so they had quite the audience.
Visiting an incredible company in an incredible place… Life doesn’t get much better.
But it’s only week two of five, and we have much more to go for this week. From one fancy American ski town to the next... Onto Park City.
