Our Heritage: Humble Beginnings in Construction Asphalt
The “J and W” in our name originally stood for Johnson and Wagner, our founders. Dennis Johnson and Jerry Wagner worked as asphalt pavers with McNamara Construction, located in Rosemount, Minnesota.
Denny worked as a grading foreman, and Jerry was a paving foreman. Using their knowledge and experience, they opened up a small operation with just five employees, a tractor, two dump trucks, and a tail paver.
Today: Largest residential paving contractor in the Twin Cities
Since 2010, Shaun has expanded the company from 14 employees to more than 50. He transformed the company into a full-service asphalt contractor by adding complete asphalt paving services including infrared repair and sealcoating. Today, J&W has twelve crews – four prep crews, three paving crews, three repair crews, and two sealcoating crews.
We've diversified from 99 percent new home construction paving to a more balanced mix of revenue streams serving homeowners, HOAs, and homebuilders across the Twin Cities. J&W Asphalt has come a long way from humble roots, growing into the largest residential paving contractor in the Twin Cities.
Learn more about our heritage if you wish, and reach out today to work with the best asphalt team in town!
Building a Reputation for Integrity
J&W Asphalt got its start with mostly driveway replacements for the first two years. In 1978, Jerry and Denny were approached by one of the Twin Cities’ largest local builders, Orrin Thompson Homes where they began installing driveways for their first homebuilder, and they soon built a reputation for quality workmanship in the Twin Cities metro area.
A Time of Expansion
The following year, they built a shop in Belle Plaine, Minnesota. To this day, most of their employees still hail from the Belle Plaine area. In 1982, they were hired by a new builder, Centex Homes, with driveways as their focus. By 1987, our growing company had gone from five employees to five dump trucks and two full crews--a prep crew and a paving crew.
A Changing Company
In 1991, Denny Johnson took over as the sole owner of J&W Asphalt, buying Jerry out. The meaning behind J&W changed from “Johnson & Wagner” to “Johnson & Workers,” emphasizing how much J&W values those who make up our crews. From 1987 to 2003, our team consisted of around 14 to 16 employees.
The Housing Boom
In 2004, we expanded to two paving crews, two prep crews, eight dump trucks, and 26 employees thanks to the booming housing market. At that time, almost 99-percent of our projects involved new construction homes. When the housing market crashed in 2008, we reduced to 14 employees and two crews.
Passing the Torch
In 2010, Denny Johnson retired. Raised in the family business, his son Shaun bought the company, became President and shortened the name to J&W Asphalt. Shaun's been working for J&W Asphalt in one capacity or another since he was 13 years old, so naturally he's brought years of experience from his time as a laborer, roller man, and truck driver on both prep and paving crews. He's also an experienced paver operator and paving foreman, held the career of our Vice President from 2007 to 2009.