Sacramento concrete company expands to Reno-Sparks

$1.7 million plant for Silver Strike Concrete opens in Lockwood

Silver Strike Concrete’s new plant in Lockwood was built on a 4-acre piece of property on Granite Construction's quarry site in Lockwood.

Silver Strike Concrete’s new plant in Lockwood was built on a 4-acre piece of property on Granite Construction's quarry site in Lockwood. Courtesy Photo

By Kaleb Roedel

Tuesday, April 13, 2021


A few years ago, Folsom Ready Mix, a Sacramento-based ready-mix concrete company, began looking into expanding its footprint.

Launched in 1999, the company had grown steadily for two decades as it supplied concrete to contractors and homeowners in the Sacramento and Redding areas.

Last year, amid the coronavirus pandemic, the company narrowed its focus on a nearby market where construction and development — and the demand for concrete — was exploding.

“That Reno-Sparks area is continuing to grow, and the housing market is booming,” Rick Masciovecchio, president of Folsom Ready Mix, told the NNBW. “And a lot of transplants out of the state of California and other states are going into that market. And it’s projected to continue to grow, so we just saw the opportunity to make a move.”

With that, last year, Folsom Ready Mix built a new plant from the ground up on a 4-acre piece of property on Granite Construction’s quarry site in Lockwood, 15 minutes or so east of Reno-Sparks.

In the process, the concrete provider launched its Northern Nevada plant as a separate company, Silver Strike Concrete, a sister business to Folsom Ready Mix. Both entites are owned by Scott Silva.

Silver Strike Concrete says its new Lockwood plant took six months to design, build, install and configure, and is capable of loading more than 150-plus yards of ready-mix concrete per hour.

Silver Strike Concrete says its $1.7 million plant is capable of loading more than 120 yards of ready-mix concrete per hour. Courtesy Photo

 

The plant, which Masciovecchio said was a $1.7 million investment, began batching concrete in mid-December — not exactly the time of year a new concrete business aims for opening in a new market.

“It would have been nice to open in the early fall or springtime, but the timing of constructing and building the plant took a little bit longer,” he said. “Being operational in December was a bit more challenging for us because you’re heading into winter and it’s a heavy wind, rain and snow environment.

“Not much work gets done in the wintertime where you haven’t grown your customer list and trying to book orders.”

To that end, Derek Miller, VP of finance and sales at Folsom Ready Mix/Silver Strike, said it’s “hard to gauge” how busy its Northern Nevada operation will be in the winters ahead.

This spring and summer, however, Silver Strike Concrete expects to be plenty busy.

“Prior to the plant being ready, we were talking to potential customers and it’s looking to be a strong year in that market,” Masciovecchio said. “I think customers are excited to have another ready-mixed company in the area that allows them to be more flexible how they schedule and do work. I think it’s a million-yard (of concrete) a year market, and we’re hoping that continues to stay that way.”

Miller pointed out that Silver Strike also has the advantage of bringing in Folsom Ready Mix to supplement for any large pours in Northern Nevada.

With that in mind, Silver Strike says it’s currently hiring ready-mix drivers for positions with wages depending on experience.

Masciovecchio said the Lockwood plant will have 15-20 employees by the end of the 2021, with plans of adding five to 10 jobs a year over the next couple of years.

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