Rick Gosser

Tiling since his teens.

A lot of teenagers spend their summers relaxing, but Rick Gosser wasn’t most teenagers. He was tiling before he had a driver’s license. He started farming for his current business partner, Bob, when he was only 13. A few seasons later, Bob and his brothers couldn’t get anyone to tile for them, so they bought a ditcher, and naturally, 15-year-old Rick tagged along to help. It turns out, he never stopped.

From connections man to co-owner.

As the years went on and the business grew, partners began selling their stakes in the company, and Rick jumped at the opportunity to be part owner. Today, Crawford Drainage Co. installs about 2 million feet of pipe per year. If we do some rough math, Rick is well on his way to installing over 100 million feet of pipe in his career.

Rick’s seen his fair share over the years. Like the time a ditcher hit a stump hole and got so stuck that it took a 25-ton crane and two dozers to get it out. He’ll never forget that one. Regardless, after 46 years of tiling, Rick‘s learned that even though it takes more work to do it right the first time, your reputation depends on being able to do what you say. We can all agree that this business is not for the type who takes shortcuts.

Here’s how Rick sums it up: “You can’t see the product after you put it in the ground. There’s no way to tell what’s going on. The farmer wants to know that somebody’s gonna stand behind their work, so they want a contractor and a product they can believe in.”