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How would you like to have a business that in the past 15 years has averaged an 18 percent annual increase in sales? Well, that's just what Robertson Manufacturing in Hyde Park has accomplished.
I enjoyed my visit with Robert and Ben Balls as I listened to their great business success story. Robert's father, Ralph, started the company in 1952. Initially, the business was a septic tank service company that later added a sewer- and drain-cleaning franchise.
Ralph Balls was tragically killed in a trench cave-in accident in 1972, leaving his wife and three sons to run the business. In 1975, his oldest son, Robert, and his wife, Sue, purchased the company. The couple grew Robertson Manufacturing to the point that in 1993, they purchased a small set of manhole producing forms to begin manufacturing concrete sewer and storm drain manholes. As the company continued to grow, they added other concrete products, such as catch boxes, window wells, privacy walls and specialty order products. Bob told me that if it's made of concrete, the company produces it.
The business was originally located on one-and-a-half acres of land just east of the Hyde Park Cemetery. But with such steady growth, the property much too small, so the Balls built a 24,000-square-foot production and office facility just west of Hyde Park. The 24-acre property has allowed for a 15,000-square-foot addition to the building. It features radiant floor heating for efficient curing of concrete and is a clean, modern and beautiful structure.
The company also has a presence in Pocatello, Idaho. Recently, four of Bob's children purchased an existing precast business there. The addition of a new concrete mixer and Hawkeye pipe machine has helped business expand.
This family-owned-and-operated business has projects in Utah, Idaho and Wyoming with deliveries to Nevada and Montana. Brothers Ben and Sam are heavily involved with their dad in growing Robertson Manufacturing.
