Contractor Snapshot: Building Trust With Asphalt

When running a business, a huge part of keeping it functioning is having good customer service. If you’re just starting out, keeping customer relations at top of mind is all the more important. Treating your customers well and ensuring constant communication can become key foundational qualities of your company.

To succeed in customer-based industries, it is invaluable to keep strong core values and never allow the lines of communication to close. For Arkansas Asphalt Solutions, that is exactly what they did.

Unexpected Industry

Taylor Autrey, co-owner and operations manager at Arkansas Asphalt Solutions, did not always see himself in the asphaltt maintenance industry. In fact, he stumbled upon it along with his business partner, Jake Easley – co-owner and sales manager at Arkansas Asphalt Solutions. Arkansas Asphalt Solutions

Arkansas Asphalt Solutions started spontaneously back in 2023. Between Autrey and Easley, they have about 25 years of entrepreneurial experience but limited industry experience. They haven’t let that stop them though. Presently, the company focuses on asphalt maintenance aspects like crack sealing, long striping, patchwork, and seal coating. Past maintenance, it does asphalt repairs as well. 

The company has grown a large customer base since then and that can be credited to the value it placed on customer relations and setting up a strong foundation. 

A Network of Stability

Coming from a networking-heavy industry, Autrey was able to quickly build an extensive network for the company within the first year and a half of starting. Networking has brought the company many opportunities and led to Autrey being featured on multiple podcasts.

Apart from networking, Autrey expressed that the company stands out because of its dedication to core values and a strong foundation as well as its determination to have exceptional customer relations.

Autrey explained, “Every decision we make has to abide by all of [our] core values at one time. A lot of them are basic like communication, but if you don’t focus on communication, you fall with a lot of other contractors that don’t answer emails or don’t notify a customer of something that’s come up.”

Arkansas Asphalt SolutionsBuilding a strong rapport with the community can greatly improve a company’s ability to continue to grow its customer base. Autrey said that he and Easley asked their customers about what could have been done better when they worked with other contractors in the past. The feedback received helped them to improve their company and do the best that they can.

One of the best ways that Autrey said the company was able to build customer rapport was his and Easley’s decision to keep operation and sales separate. Doing so helped ensure that calls were getting answered and customers weren’t facing response delays depending on the operation teams’ project schedule. 

“[We] developed a really strong foundation in our company that identifies all of our core values, our focus, [and] our mission,” said Autrey. 

Autrey said that another key to success has been having good quality equipment. Quality equipment is one of the best ways to ensure quality work.

“We don’t shortcut equipment, quality equipment is expensive but so are callbacks and downtime,” said Autrey.

With a sturdy work foundation, the company was set up for success. Autrey said having the foundation built from the get-go and being able to go back to it at any time has made starting in the industry much easier. 

Paving on the Horizon

As Arkansas Asphalt Solutions gets a safe footing in the industry, it anticipates growing and expanding into more areas of asphalt and pavement maintenance.

Autrey said, “We’re really just looking for exponential growth this year and trying to handle it the best we can. We’re looking to do better and improve in every aspect. In 2026, we’d like to get into some paving.”

The company anticipates paving in the near future. Autrey said that the company has grown the most because of a pursuit of knowledge. Arkansas Asphalt Solutions expects to keep growing and learning as it expands its capabilities and services. Arkansas Asphalt Solutions

Know Your Company

Arkansas Asphalt Solutions may be a newer company but it is growing and improving every day. Autrey suggested that knowing what your company is past the logo is essential to the success of your company. 

Doing great work can only take you so far if customers feel put off by your lack of communication or overall crew reputation. Arkansas Asphalt Solutions’ dedication to customer relationships, strong core values, and solid foundations make it a model for others and position it for success.