Dekeyser Excavating celebrates 50 years

While Dekeyser Excavating may have started somewhat accidentally, the company continues to grow 50 years after its inception. 

Established in 1975, the Colborne, Ontario-based company tackles a variety of projects from single-machine jobs to large commercial site development. 

In June, Dekeyser held a 50th anniversary celebration, with more than 300 people attending, from customers to employees to family and friends. 

“It’s a big day and I enjoyed it very much meeting with some old friends,” said company Founder Ed Dekeyser.

Dekeyser Excavating origin

The company originated on the Dekeyser family farm. Dekeyser started using the farm’s Massey Ferguson loader to make some extra money on the side. Using the small, four-wheel drive loader, Dekeyser would take on jobs for other farmers digging out stumps or rocks or moving fence bottoms. 

“I got to be kind of handy with it. My dad was super with me. He would let me go and moonlight. So, I would take the loader and burn his fuel. He said, ‘Now, don’t worry about the fuel’,” Dekeyser recalled. “Back then, it was probably 25 cents a litre.”

Eventually, he decided to turn his side gig into a full-time career. He made a deal with his father to purchase the loader and Dekeyser Excavating was born. 

“And it just kept growing to what it is today, and it’s changed a lot,” Dekeyser said.  

In its early days, the company expanded into snow removal. 

Dekeyser recalled the January his daughter was born also delivered significant snowfall and his services grew in demand from railroad companies to townships. 

“I just kept growing and growing, and I thought, ‘I can’t do this all myself.’ So, I’d buy another this and another of that,” Dekeyser said. “It wasn’t a game plan, but it worked out pretty good.”

Today, Dekeyser Excavating is steadily growing, and specializes in land clearing, mass topsoil stripping and screening, roadbuilding and utilities. With a team of more than 30 people, Dekeyser Excavating operates a fleet of about 40 machines, including five dump trucks, five rock trucks, nine excavators, four dozers, as well as rollers, backhoes, loaders and skid-steers.  

Throughout the years, Dekeyser’s favourite jobsites have been constructing the shorelines in Northumberland County, from Port Hope to Brighton. 

“The highest one I built was 40 feet high, 40 feet of stone after stone after stone,” Dekeyser said. “And I did one right around Christmas of this year, and it was 12 feet high and 100 feet long. We did it in one day.” 

A family business

Ever since his father lent him the loader to take on jobs, family has always been an important element in Dekeyser Excavating’s success. 

Ed’s son, Mitch, has worked with the company for about 20 years and is now the incoming President. Mitch’s wife Megan is the Office Manager (who took over for Ed’s wife Brenda)and Ed’s daughter Tracy is the Accountant, just to name a few. 

“I have 11 grandkids running around here. They will probably, some of them, be in here too,” Ed Dekeyser said. “So, what is really nice is the beat goes on.”

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His grandson, Garrett, has already joined the company working as an equipment operator. 

“I got asked when I graduated high school, if I had a job yet, and I said no. And here I am,” Garrett said. “I had a good thing to kind of walk into.”

While Mitch Dekeyser began his career in automotive sales, he was drawn back to the family business. 

“I had this itch to come back and kind of do something different with it,” Mitch said. 

Dekeyser Excavating has now shifted its business focus from more private contracts to municipal jobsites. 

“Our main bread and butter is infrastructure and roadbuilding,” Mitch said.

As incoming President, Mitch said he isn’t planning any major shifts in the business model.

“Just gradual growth. I’ve watched a bunch of companies try to grow too fast and it hurts them; they don’t make a profit. Slow and steady wins  the race in my opinion,” he said. 

“You just keep moving forward in the right direction.”

30th Volvo machine

Alongside its 50th anniversary, Dekeyser Excavating also celebrated its 30th Volvo CE machine. 

Shortly after its anniversary celebration, the Dekeyser’s headed to Nors to pick up a ECR355EL excavator. 

“The Volvo ECR355EL can do anything. It’s a Swiss Army knife. Actually, it’s a Swedish army knife,” Mitch Dekeyser said. 

Designed for working in confined areas, the 35-tonne, 241 hp ECR355EL delivers a heavy duty, short swing radius, offering solid stability, a 12,680-kg lifting capacity and a maximum 6.8 metre digging depth. 

Ed explained the ECR355EL will be used on municipal jobsites, as its zero tail swing will help avoid possible collisions with existing infrastructure.  

“There’s always something that you’re going to bump into, a hydro pole or something. And as long as you’ve got your tracks away from that pole, you’re not going to hit it when you swing. You don’t have to worry about it anymore,” Ed said. 

As Dekeyser Excavating moves into its third generation of the family on the job, Ed explained he’s not ready to completely retire from the company. 

“I like to keep busy. I’m not going to sit on the porch and retire. I won’t do that,” Ed said.  “You might see me crawling across the grass, but I still didn’t get to the porch.”