Since 1949
He built the crusher himself.
In 1949 Ivan Grant decided that if he was going to sell stone, he ought to be the one making it. He built a crusher, hired three people, and started a company that his great-grandchildren now work for.
Grant family
to today
same river valley
Our story
A duty to keep somebody’s dream alive.
That is genuinely how the family describes it — as an obligation rather than an opportunity.
Ivan Grant invested in a vision and built his own equipment to chase it. What he left behind was not just a business but a standard, and every generation since has been measured against it. That is a heavier inheritance than a balance sheet, and it shows up in how the company spends money: on plant, on training, on safety, on the things that outlast a quarter.
Four generations of Grants have now worked at Cornwall Gravel and Grant Ready Mix. The third generation runs it today. The fourth is already on the payroll, learning the same way everybody here does — by starting at the bottom of the pit.
Along the way it grew from three employees to more than two hundred and thirty, from one quarry to ten, and from a crusher to a company that can build a road from the rock face to the painted line.
Leadership
Third generation running it, fourth already on the job.
Ivan’s grandchildren run the company today, and his great-grandchildren are estimating the work and managing the safety programme. They are in the building, and they answer the phone.
Safety
Over 500,000 hours. No lost-time injury.
The Construction Safety Association and the Ontario Road Builders’ Association gave us their Royalty Milestone Safety Award for it. In early 2020 we added COR™ certification — the national standard for a construction safety management system.
Why we make a point of it
Quarrying and civil construction are among the more dangerous ways to earn a living. Blasting, crushing, deep trenches, live traffic, heavy equipment on uneven ground — the hazards are real and they do not get less real with experience.
A family company feels that differently. The people on our crews are neighbours, and in a lot of cases they are relatives. Half a million consecutive hours without a lost-time injury is not a statistic we keep for tender packages. It is the number that says everybody went home.
What we believe
Every project we handle is about people.
Not tonnes, not cubic metres. The road belongs to a municipality, the driveway belongs to a family, and the watermain belongs to whoever turns on the tap.
Quality
We do our own drilling, crushing, testing and hauling so that quality is something we control rather than something we hope for.
Integrity
A company that has traded under the same family name since 1949 in a region this size cannot afford a reputation it has to explain.
Teamwork
Employees are treated like family, because a great many of them are. People here measure their service in decades.
Innovation
Ivan built his own crusher. We have kept the habit — a computerized batch plant, an in-house lab, and shuttle buggy paving few competitors run.
Workmanship
Knowledgeable employees with years of experience, who take great pride in their workmanship. It is the oldest promise this company makes.
Locality
Eastern Ontario is not a market to us, it is where we live. We drive the roads we build and drink the water through the mains we lay.
Associations & certifications
Who vouches for us.
Six affiliations, and every one of them is checkable. Municipal and provincial tender packages ask for exactly this list — so it belongs somewhere a procurement officer can find it in one click.
Seventy-six years, and still answering the phone.
Whatever you are building, start with a conversation.