A lot has changed since Morris Shelswell started his excavating and grading company in Oro-Medonte, Ontario in 1946.
Back then, diesel cost 11 cents a gallon, while gas sold for about 18 cents. Shelswell’s first dozer, a 1946 6-ton Oliver-Cletrac Model BD, had a price tag of $7,000.
As Morris Shelswell Excavating & Grading celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, teamwork and a solid work ethic are two constant elements required to ensure success.
“It’s an honour to be in charge of a company that’s lasted this long,” said Morris’ son Craig Shelswell, who now runs the company.
“We keep going and our clientele keeps growing. It’s partly work ethic, but it’s also the employees we have. If you don’t have good employees, you don’t have anything.”
You may also like:
- Brandt named the track build sponsor for the Markham Indy
- Built for demolition: Kobelco’s new SK1300DLC-11
- Powerscreen marks 60 years of mobile processing innovation
Morris Shelswell started the company when he was 25 years old.
“He grew up on a farm just down the road from our shop. He didn’t want to farm anymore, so he went kind of behind his father’s back and sent away for a bulldozer,” Craig said.
His early business was custom work for neighbours who needed basements excavated for homes, roads graded or fence rows buried to expand fields.
As his skills became known throughout the area, his clientele grew to include local contractors and tradesmen who were building homes in the region.
As the business expanded, Morris’ sons Craig and Scott joined the business. Scott recently retired, and Craig’s daughter Kim Shelswell-Wilkie is now the third generation to work in the family business.
In August, the Shelswell family will celebrate eight decades in business with an open house at its Oro-Medonte shop.
Throughout the years, the company has expanded alongside the construction needs of the communities surrounding Oro-Medonte, from Barrie to North Bay and Collingwood to Peterborough.
Today, Morris Shelswell Excavating & Grading’s specialty is site servicing, while its core work includes basement excavation, septic system installation, pond construction and retaining-wall construction. Its residential services also include driveway installation and grading, while its broader capabilities extend to trenching, ditching, lot clearing, site servicing and other earthmoving work.
Septic and wastewater work has become another important component of the business.
“Most of the customers in the early years were small to medium farm owners,” Craig said. “Nowadays, they’re general contractors building high-rises. We do a lot of site servicing, demolition, retaining walls, landscaping and shore walls along lakes.”
More employees have also joined the operation. Today Morris Shelswell Excavating & Grading has a staff of about 50 people.
A growing fleet
As the company enters its eighth decade, Morris Shelswell equipment fleet includes about 50 machines in a variety of sizes, allowing the contractor to match its machinery to the requirements of individual projects.
While the company’s dozers are a mix of John Deere and Komatsu, Craig said all 20 of their excavators are Kobelco machines.
“We’ve had them for years and we’ve had very few problems with them. They’re excellent on fuel. If it’s working for you, you stick with it,” Craig said. “It’s also nice to have all one brand. It’s easier to maintain. You have all the same filters and all the same parts.”
After 80 years, the equipment and scope of work have changed significantly from Morris Shelswell’s original Oliver-Cletrac. However, the company remains rooted in the same type of practical, equipment-driven work on which it was founded: moving earth, preparing sites and building the infrastructure beneath a finished project.
For Craig, the lure of the business is the opportunity to solve different problems.
“There’s a lot of issues that pop up in the course of a 10- or 12-hour day,” Craig said. “There’s always something new — a new challenge every day.”
