A Conversation with Brent Rotschy, president of Rotschy, Inc.

                Last week, Gina and I caught up with Brent Rotschy, the president of Rotschy, Inc.  Brent gave us a tour of their new headquarters building, complete with hand-sawn timbers on the ceiling in one conference room and excavator tracks running up the wall of another.  The design and décor in the building reminds you that Rotschy, Inc. is a local construction company from the project photographs on the wall, in-house fabricated handrails, and the live edge tables in the conference rooms. This business has roots in and continues to thrive within our community. The building sits on twenty industrial acres in Vancouver.  The campus also features a yard for storing equipment and an expansive maintenance shop.

                We set up the meeting with Brent to tour the facility for our upcoming Contractor Connection on November 3^rd, graciously hosted by Rotschy, Inc. in the maintenance shop and sponsored by the Port of Camas-Washougal and the Lincoln Development Group.  We were excited to view the new facility and discuss the details of the upcoming event.  We also got a chance to learn a bit about the family owned Rotschy Inc history and operations.

                Rotschy, Inc. was started in 1988 when Cecil Rotschy (Brent’s Dad) and Brent started a small business building logging roads around Yacolt, WA.  According to Brent, when they started they were “In the business before we knew the business.”  They had no idea that their business would grow to what it is today. They started with logging roads and when the Endangered Species Act and the Spotted Owl shut down timber development, Rotschy pivoted to developing community infrastructure projects.  They are currently very active in developing complex projects – including housing subdivisions, public roads, highways, and bridges.  The company website (www.rotschyinc.com) even mentions that they have developed “reservoirs, treatment plants, fish hatcheries” and more! The Rotschy, Inc. story is truly an amazing story of grit and determination and making sound business decisions at every step along the way. 

                Rotschy, Inc. employs more than 430 people, including about 70 in the Tri-Cities.  They are a family run business – with 4 brothers – Brent, Page, Drew and Cornell - as equal owners in the enterprise and each having their own area of specialization.  Many of their kids are also employees and these family-focused values seem to permeate the business. Walking around the building, I was struck by the fact that every department and workspace was extremely functional and well designed.  Like maintaining their equipment on their big jobs – all are provided with the tools that they need to be successful on their job.  There were no huge corner offices in this building.

                The coolest part of the tour came when we were able to tour the maintenance shop of the campus.  In addition to the soaring bays and lifts needed to accommodate the larger pieces of equipment, Brent showed us where they kept their maintenance parts inventory.  It felt like we were in an auto parts shop, but Brent assured us that they have been able to reduce the investment in parts through consolidating their inventory to one space.  They have the coolest parts storage system (the Shuttle SP 500) that allows them to store individual parts on rotating trays in a parts garage.  You enter the tray number into the computer and the system delivers the tray to you.  It was really cool!

                Thanks for taking some time to chat about business and the challenges that many in their industry face.  Workforce development is an important topic at Rotschy, Inc..  They are always looking for equipment operators for their jobs, and willing to work with people to get the training that they need.  Permitting in the county is also an important topic for the industry along with the supply of aggregate rock.  Rotschy, Inc. has been a supporting member of SWCA since they started – we truly appreciate having them as a member.  Thanks Brent!