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WINTON – Every new business owner begins with a dream of becoming a household name.

Fifty years ago, Bob and Jane Newsome launched Commercial Ready Mix Products with three trucks and six employees (counting themselves). Their original base of operation was on the family farm between Cofield and Winton.

Now, CRMP is highly regarded as a regional leader in offering ready mix concrete and other raw materials used in all types of jobs and applications for commercial, residential, and industrial projects. The company now operates in two states with a workforce of 250 and a fleet of more than 100 vehicles.

CRMP traces its roots to Newsome Sand & Gravel that began in the 1960s. Commercial Ready Mix Products evolved from that business, officially beginning operations on March 24, 1975.

“We got started when we sold sand to a contractor who had a DOT contract,” Bob Newsome recalled. “Eventually, Rose Brothers [a local road paving company] located their asphalt plant back there and we sold them sand.”

Ten years later, Newsome said the company was able to diversify into mixing and selling concrete due to the industrial growth in Hertford County and surrounding counties.

“They [businessmen] came to me and said if you put up a concrete plant, we’ll buy from you,” he said.

One of the best decisions Newsome said he made in the early years of the company was hiring Charles Harrell.

“He had the knowledge about concrete,” Newsome said, noting that Harrell today remains with CRMP, serving as its General Manager.

By 1982, CRMP had grown to the point where they bought out the only other concrete company in Hertford County.

From 1982 forward, CRMP began to open new plants or make acquisitions of other concrete companies.

The company’s growth generated another need, that of maintaining its fleet of vehicles. The majority of that maintenance work, except for repairs that are performed while a vehicle is still under its warranty, are made at the company’s shop located behind CRMP’s corporate office just west of Winton. The company operates two other maintenance shops in Nags Head and Chesapeake, VA.

“All of our rolling stock [vehicle maintenance] is handled within; all of our ready mix plant maintenance is handled within. We have a team that does just maintenance on those plants,” explained Tim Newsome (the son of Bob and Jane), adding there are 14 ready mix plants and two wash plants.

Those wash plants, which prepare the sand prior to it being added to the concrete mixing process, are located at the company’s two sand pits, one each in Bertie (Lewiston-Woodville) and Northampton (Severn) counties. Evan Newsome (Tim’s son and Bob’s and Jane’s grandson) manages both of the sand operations.

That sand is required to meet North Carolina DOT and Virginia DOT standards.

“We’re always looking at growth that makes sense…growth within our footprint or adjacent to our footprint, Bob Newsome stated.

“We saw markets that needed support, or we would have a customer who was doing business in certain areas to tell us if we would set up a plant there, they would purchase concrete from us,” added Tim Newsome. “Then there were instances where a competitor would come to us and say they were ready to sell out. That was another way where CRMP was able to expand.”

From the home office in Winton, the company’s footprint extends east to the Outer Banks, west to South Hill, VA and north to Hampton, VA.

Of the 14 concrete plants, most are stationary, but a few are portable plants.

“We have smaller scale plants, portable plants, that can be disassembled and relocated to a job site,” Tim Newsome explained.

As an example, CRMP will service the contractor building the new Alligator River bridge linking Tyrrell and Dare counties. A portable plant will be set up there.

Other key projects that CRMP has recently serviced include the new bridge spanning Oregon Inlet, the Jug Handle Bridge at Rodanthe, several distribution centers and warehouses, pouring the foundations for windmill projects and electrical power stations, a new bridge spanning the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake, VA, and a marine container terminal in Portsmouth, VA.

The company also supports Nucor of Hertford County by transporting some of the raw materials used in the steel making process.

Currently, CRMP is supplying the concrete for the ongoing work to expand the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. There, working three shifts over the course of one weekend, CRMP established a new Virginia DOT record by pouring 5,500 yards (in excess of 20 million pounds) of concrete.

These are just a small sampling of the big jobs.

“We can pour concrete for something as simple as a driveway or a porch or a patio up to something as large scale as a highway bridge and we take the same level of pride in all of those jobs,” stressed Tim Newsome.

Bob Newsome said the reason why CRMP’s vast customer base keeps coming back is that the company has no time constraints.

“We pour whenever the customer wants us to pour…day, night, weekend or holidays,” he said. “We’ll go anywhere at any time.”

“The willingness to succeed is instilled in all of us,” added Tim Newsome. “The sky is the limit for this company to grow even more as long as we keep applying the same work ethic and maintaining our goal to supply a quality product.”

As for that level of quality, CRMP has a lab at its Suffolk, VA plant where the concrete mix is tested for all of the company’s locations. The lab staff are required to be state certified, as are the plants, the trucks, and the batch loaders.

“We do not receive a state contract until we have sent off those people to class to gain the necessary certifications,” said Tim Newsome.

No matter the position they fill, every CRMP employee serves a critical role in maintaining the company’s commitment to remain a household name.

“Over the years we have been able to hire and keep great employees, many with 20 to 30 or more years here,” stated Jane Newsome. “They are our family. We’ve watched each others kids grow up, graduate from school, and start their own families. These dedicated employees are a big part of our success, today and hopefully beyond.”

For more information about CRMP, call the corporate office at 252-358-5461 or visit their website at www.crmpinc.com.