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“We kind of get lost in the shuffle
because we’re not huge (in company
size). A lot of the trends that were set
were set by us.”
Maintenance, Inc. was founded
in 1938 and established its footing
during World War II by repairing the
U.S. military’s runways. That allowed
the company to first experiment with
using additives in order to strengthen
its products. The company expanded
its success into the private sector in the
1950s thanks to a vast distributorship
network built on buying bulk sealer
from Maintenance, Inc., and reselling
it to contractors around the nation. At
the same time, it also became one of
the nation’s foremost experts in tennis
court maintenance thanks to its Rec
Tec surfacing.
By the late 70s, competitors around
the nation began eating away at the
company’s sealer sales. Before long,
though, many of those newcomers
began contacting Maintenance, Inc.
to inquire about using the company’s
proven additives in their own prod-
ucts.
“We always like helping everyone
out,” said Wellman. “There have been
www.callape.com
a lot of times when we’ll have different
suppliers send us their sealer and ask us
to make it better. We’ll take it into the
lab and adjust it with our additives and
try to figure out the best mix design for
them.”
ABLE-minded
While Maintenance, Inc. may be
an octogenarian, it sure hasn’t had
The one and only Able Edger is the biggest
time saver for cutting in your jobs.
Visit maintinc.com to see it in action.
a problem keeping up. As an answer
to increased demand thanks to the
then-burgeoning internet, the compa-
ny set up its online Parts Superstore in
[8]
2017, providing the company world-
wide reach to go along with its already
robust local walk-in traffic. In 2015,
the old-dog supplier decided to pick
up a huge, new trick when it acquired
ABLE Industries, as well-respected
equipment manufacturer geared to-
ward entry-level to intermediate pave-
ment maintenance contractors.
The purchase has allowed Mainte-
nance, Inc. to now service customers
at every stage of the pavement main-
tenance process with well-built equip-
ment that matched its other products
in quality.
“That was really big,” said Wellman.
“That was something we saw that
could help us broaden our horizons in
the future. We could truly be there for
any of our customers’ needs.”
The company also recently expand-
ed its Wooster-based showroom in
order to remain focused on the com-
pany’s original target market: the lo-
cal contractor. It’s fully stocked with
everything a project may need, from
a RynoWorx crack melter to a Little
Wonder blower. Contractors can also
find the entire ABLE line of equip-
ment, from a 300-gallon, hand-crank
1.800.210.5923