When your job site is 100 miles from the nearest equipment dealer and the paving season lasts just seven months, every piece of machinery has to earn its keep. This is the reality for contractors working in rural America, where reliability is not a luxury but a necessity. For companies operating in these conditions, choosing the right pavers can mean the difference between a profitable season and costly downtime. Century Companies Inc., based in Lewistown, Montana, has built its reputation on tackling the most remote and demanding asphalt projects across four states, relying on a fleet that includes Volvo P7110 tracked pavers to get the job done.
Century Companies was founded in 1975 by Jack Morgenstern, who arrived in Lewistown with $5,000 and a backhoe loader. Forty years later, the company has grown from a strictly asphalt paving contractor into a diversified operation offering concrete paving, excavation, underground utilities, heavy civil, and construction management. Under the leadership of President and CEO Tim Robertson, the company has assembled a management team that redefined the organization into a self-managed enterprise capable of handling complex, high-specification projects that other contractors avoid.
The Challenge of Remote Asphalt Paving Operations
Operating in the fourth largest state by area but the third least populated presents unique challenges. Montana’s vast geography means that 95 percent of Century’s projects are located 100 miles or more from Lewistown. Operations extend across Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, and Nevada, requiring a logistical approach that most paving companies would find difficult to sustain.
Geographic and Logistical Hurdles
The sheer distance between projects creates obstacles that shape every equipment decision Century makes:
- Projects are spread across a 300 to 400 mile radius from the main shop
- Crews leave home in April and spend weeks to months away from base
- The company employs a full-time pilot with two aircraft to deliver bids, parts, and personnel
- Jack Morgenstern, Tim Robertson, and VP of Equipment Jeff Patnode are all licensed pilots
- Services and support are remote, making self-reliance critical
The Seven Month Window
Montana’s paving season is compressed into roughly seven months, from April through October. Within this tight window, Century must complete projects from rural airport runways to massive parking lot complexes. As Robertson puts it, the company’s primary shop during the season is under the blue Montana sky. Every hour a paver sits idle while asphalt cools represents material wasted and money lost.
Project Diversity and Complexity
Century’s portfolio includes cold in-place asphalt recycling for Yellowstone National Park highway reconstruction and runway paving for rural regional airports plagued by poor soils and weak aggregates. According to Robertson, there is hardly a local airport east of the Continental Divide in Montana that Century has not paved. This diversity of work demands a fleet of road construction equipment pavers rollers and asphalt machinery that can adapt to different specifications and site conditions.
The Volvo P7110 Paver Selection Process
Century had a long history with Blaw-Knox pavers, a brand association started by founder Jack Morgenstern. The fleet included two Blaw-Knox PF510 pavers, two PF3200 pavers, and a PF410 paver. When the time came to add new machines, the company undertook a rigorous evaluation that led to two Volvo P7110 10-foot tracked pavers.
Employee-Driven Equipment Decisions
One of Century’s most distinctive practices is involving operators and mechanics in major equipment purchases. Before committing to Volvo, the company flew a group of operators, mechanics, and management to Phoenix to demo one of the first Volvo P7110 pavers on the market. According to Aaron Golik, vice president of paving, several team members went to Arizona dead set on a competitor’s paver but returned with a newfound respect for Volvo. The employees who would operate the equipment daily were convinced the Volvo P7110 was the best machine for their needs.
Training and Preparation
Century sent paving personnel back to Phoenix to attend a Volvo Road Institute course covering operator and maintenance training on the 7000 Series pavers. This ensured that when the machines arrived in Montana, crews were ready to work immediately. Century routinely enrolls staff in Road Institute programs and attends annual best practices paving and compaction seminars held at Tri-State Truck and Equipment in Billings.
Financial Considerations and Seasonal Financing
Owning and operating cost played a major role. Century typically buys equipment outright, but for this acquisition the company used a flexible finance program through Volvo Financial Services that schedules payments for seven months on and five months off, aligning with Montana’s construction calendar. As CFO Tracy Golik noted, being a conservative company, Century likes to keep financing to a minimum, but the two-paver purchase was a definite go item. VFS also financed Century’s triple compactor purchase including a Volvo DD70, DD118, and DD25B.
Performance in the Field: The Bakken Oil Region Projects
The Bakken Formation, the largest oil field in physical size in the world, extends from Montana and North Dakota into Canada and meets approximately 10 percent of U.S. oil demand. The region has over 6,000 active oil wells, and the resulting boom has placed enormous pressure on local infrastructure. Towns like Sidney, Montana, just 10 miles from the North Dakota border, struggle to keep pace with demands on roads and public facilities.
Town Pump Truck Stop Project
Town Pump, a major Montana gas station and convenience store chain, contracted Century to build a mega truck stop outside Sidney at the four corners intersection on Montana Highway 16 and 200. This became one of Century’s largest parking lot paving jobs, with 18,000 square feet of asphalt laid in two lifts:
- Base mat: A 3-inch compacted base layer providing structural support
- Top lift: A 2-inch wearing surface for durability and ride quality
Casey Vosen, paving foreman on the project, reported that the Volvo P7110 delivered steady speed controls and easy screed setup. Operators could set the paver speed and continue paving at a consistent pace without fluctuations, a critical advantage when working with hot asphalt that cannot wait.
Lambert Public Schools Athletic Facility
Twenty minutes away in Lambert, population around 400, another Century crew paved a new athletic track and parking lot complex at Lambert Public Schools. This 120-student facility directly benefited from the region’s oil-infused prosperity. Ken Damon, laydown foreman with 22 years of paving experience, praised the Volvo P7110 for its smooth hydraulics and excellent crown control, describing it as a very easy paver to operate.
The Omni 318 Screed Advantage
Century’s Volvo P7110 pavers are equipped with the Omni 318 screed, a design rooted in over 75 years of Blaw-Knox engineering. The front-mounted extension design delivers practical benefits:
- Superior material and width control across all paving applications
- Full operator visibility across the entire width of the screed
- Ability to maintain consistent head of material during operation
- On-the-fly adjustments to paving speed, width, and depth
- High off-screed density with smoothness on every job
Building a Self-Reliant Paving Operation
Century Companies has structured its business model around the reality of remote operations. The company maintains four asphalt paving crews and eight portable hot asphalt plants, allowing it to supply its own operations with mix regardless of location. This vertical integration is essential when the nearest commercial asphalt plant may be hours away.
Fleet Management at Scale
Jeff Patnode manages a fleet of over 500 units. His philosophy is grounded in a simple reality: asphalt is expensive, and if there is any downtime while the paver is down, the material cools and becomes waste. Losing 40 tons of asphalt waiting for a paver repair gets costly fast. Equipment decisions are driven by total owning and operating costs over the full lifespan of the machine, not just the purchase price.
Key Specifications Comparison
| Parameter | Century Operations |
|---|---|
| Service area radius | 300 to 400 miles |
| States served | Montana, North Dakota, Wyoming, Nevada |
| Peak season employees | More than 165 |
| Paving crews | 4 |
| Portable asphalt plants | 8 |
| Total fleet units | Over 500 |
| Paving season | April through October (7 months) |
| Volvo pavers acquired | 2 x P7110 10-foot tracked |
| Financing structure | 7 months on, 5 months off |
The Competitive Landscape
Robertson expects to see fewer transient competitors in the Bakken region as contractors return to their home territories, but the scope of projects is not softening. As Patnode notes, there has been a shift in construction activity in eastern Montana not seen in 40 years. Job specifications continue to get more stringent, and equipment must perform to a higher standard. The Volvo P7110 pavers have allowed Century to be more efficient in meeting specifications while delivering a higher quality product. For road construction equipment asphalt plants pavers rollers and grading machinery to perform in this environment, they must be chosen with care and maintained with discipline.
As Patnode summarized it, the investment in Volvo pavers was driven by the need to deliver the best quality product possible. The company goes where others will not and performs at a higher level of quality than many competitors. For road construction equipment a complete guide to pavers and related machinery, the lesson is clear: involve your operators, invest in training, align financing with your season, and prioritize total cost of ownership. Century Companies has demonstrated that with the right equipment and management philosophy, even the most remote paving projects can be completed to the highest standards. The Volvo P7110 pavers have become a key part of that success, helping the company deliver a quality product across some of the most challenging terrain in North America.