the

august 2015

INSIDER

west coast materials inc.

as landscapes change, west coast adapts

featured location:
West Coast Landscape Supply, an 8
acre material receiving yard, is
about to celebrate its first birthday.
After just 12 months in the business, the company has surpassed expectations due to the
quality of material and service it provides.
West Coast Landscape has its foundational
roots in the successful golf business developed by West Coast Palm Springs in the early
2000s. It was during this time that Thermal
owned the individual selling rights to all white
golf sand in Southern California, which eventually expanded into Northern California, Nevada and Arizona.
As Thermals momentum of selling and transporting this white sand to out of state locations
continued, the demand for a more cost effective and smoother transition was needed to
accommodate these loads. In response, West
Coast Materials purchased the new Avondale
plant in Arizona which is used to not only produce the white sand, but also to manufacture
custom blends, much like other West Coast
Materials locations. In the past, Arizona experienced high demand in the summer months,
but struggled to sustain a larger fleet during its
slower season. This realization lead to the
unique bond between Avondale and Thermal,
as thermal trucks could be used to support
Arizona in their peak season.

sand to Arizona and upon their return, they

pick up an Arizona product to bring back to
California a method known as back hauling.
Arizona landscapes have adapted to hot
weather conditions, using a unique landscaping design which requires low maintenance.
This method of landscaping known as decorative rock is increasingly becoming more popular in California due to drought conditions.

regards to product and pricing.

West Coast Landscape Supply markets all the

products of Resource Building Materials, while
maintaining the bulk of colors and supply of
West Coast Sand & Gravel. It offers nearly 50
different decorative rock materials, varying in
size and color. WC Landscape also has bagging operations, contributing to both MSU and
RBM specialties, which are sold to homeownNow, thermal trucks deliver California white
As Thermal and Avondale continued to back ers and various contractors.
haul loads, decorative rock yards could not
keep up with the demand, allowing for an opAlthough its efforts are currently supported
portunity to invest in a holding yard.
by two yardmen and a location manager,
West Coast Landscape provides favorable
logistics for both Arizona and Thermal trucks
through these natural back hauls. This structure both increases supply and maintains
price control.

Joel Sanchez, West Coast

Landscape Supply Manager

Right now, I dont think

anyone can touch us as far
as volume of rock and variety of rock Ed De Boer

Currently, one of the biggest challenges WC

Landscape faces is its distance off the free- West Coast Landscape continues to be innoway. This requires WC Landscape avenues of vative in daily operations and a leader in its
marketing to employ various customers to field.
attract. However, the yard sells itself once
customers see what the plant has to offer in

the dare to stay aware

Safety doesnt just happen by accident
The safety and well-being of all West Coast Materials initiatives have been
developed in order to prevent harmful situations for our employees and the
customers we serve.

Every year, each trucking yard manager hosts a safety meeting educating
employees on procedures and the importance of choosing safety. Most recently, Visalia, Modesto and San Diego have completed their annual safety
educational meetings, discussing the risks and dangers of Californias busy
roadways.
One safety statistic that we are particularly proud of is that 25% of our locations have maintained an injury free branch for over 8 years including West
Coast Aggregates and RBM yards located in Beaumont, Gardena, Downey
and Stanton. Also, 55% of our 20 locations have worked injury free for more
than a year. The goal is for all locations to be injury free and we are determined to make this goal a reality.

# OF YEARS BEING INJURY FREE

RBM - STANTON
WCA - THERMAL
RBM - DOWNEY

RBM - GARDENA
RBM - BEAUMONT
WCA - INDIO
RBM - CHINO
RBM - MODESTO
RBM - INDUSTRY
RBM - SACRAMENTO

RBM - HUNTINGTON BEACH

0

the decks are stacked and in your favor

Although, you must play the hand
you are dealt, up your ante and continue to pay attention as thousands
of dollars are up for grabs.

Joey Rodriguez, RBM Huntington Beach

Yardman and Grand Prize Winner with
4-of-a-kind aces.

With just a month into our second

game of safety poker, there are already bets being placed with who
has the best hand.

In game 1 of safety
poker, a total of

$550 was paid out in the month of

July. Mike Cook from Visalia leads
the division with his pocket Aces.
Winners are determined by branch,
and other winning hands have included pairs and an Ace high-card.

was paid out, to

more than 400
winning employees.

$20,650

This game is not limited to the individual performance of our yard

workers, mechanics and truck drivers, but also has a team component
rewarding those divisions that work
the entire month injury and accident
free.

$1,200
february

San Diego was our only location to

maintain injury and accident free
operations for the month of July,
earning the king of spades as their
community card. Other divisions
lost their community cards due to
vehicle accidents and/or injury.

$2,450march

$5,900
division
bonus

$6,900
game 1
finalists

$2,600
april

$350
may

$1,250
january

In the desert area,

the daily per capita
water use is 201
gallons more
than double
the state
average.

dont doubt this

drought

And how it directly effects west coast materials

80%

of human
water
use in
California goes towards
irrigating its
nine
million
acres of

effects of the drought and fears that if water levels remain too low, the agricultural
effects could be detrimental to businesses in the area.

95%

of the compost that

we produce every
year is sold and
applied on fruit and
nut trees.

With up to 40% water restrictions throughout the state, it is no secret that

California is in a severe drought. The state has seen record-breaking low
rainfalls and this natural disaster not only has effects on a national, state, city
and personal level, but also on West Coast Materials.

Four years ago, California began noticing effects of the drought and from
the start, West Coast Materials has been able to identify both positive and
negative aspects of the states current condition.
Effective on June 15, governor Jerry Brown set a mandate which required
water districts to place a 25 percent restriction on water usage. After the first
month with this regulation in place, California managed to conserve 27.3
percent. Due to these stricter regulations, customers have started developing and creating new projects, which would work to better control water
supply. Our trucking yards, including Buena Park, Ventura, Corona and San
Diego have seen this through different trends in material orders. A few of
these innovative jobs include delivering trucks of water to batch plants in
San Bernardino and projects requiring bioswale a water filtration product.
The drought has increased Resource Building Materials sales as desert
landscape is becoming more attractive to both businesses and homeowners. Helping attribute to sales are the new rebates given by various city
governments encouraging the renovation of landscapes to this desert-like
design.
Our desert locations have also noticed this increase in decorative rock orders, noting how different colors are used in different environments. Due to
prices and large volume needed, large projects in the city tend toward lighter
and warmer color products of California due to its lower price. However, it is
not uncommon for homeowners or smaller private customers in the desert
area to prefer more exotic colors, which are trucked in from out of state.
As desert landscape gains popularity, RBM, MSU and other desert
locations are noticing increased orders of decomposed granite,
flagstone and variations of decorative rocks.
WC Woods, located in the central valley region, is experiencing the harsh

If more land continues to dry up, farmers will stop expanding properties and eventually will either move their businesses to another state or simply shut down operations.
If such actions were to take place, there would be a significant decrease of demand
for construction aggregates and other agricultural products such as mulch, wood
chips, soil and compost.
In the case that the drought persists, central valley orchards will be forced to drill
deeper wells before their trees perish. This could be detrimental to the demand for
compost and like products. In the meantime, mulch and bark sales are increasing as
they help soil retain moisture between waterings, which are now several days apart.
While the drought certainly has its negative effects, the increasing water conservation
efforts have opened new markets for West Coast Materials and its companies.

wonder

what

YOU
can do?

heres

unique ways
to monitor
personal
water usage.

1. wash only full 4. Eat a vegetarian

loads of laundry

2. water

plants in the
morning or
evening

There
are two wells
on our Visalia
property used for
watering roads, adding
water to our compost and
farming 45 acres of crops.
However, one well has
recently dried up leaving
only enough resources for
watering and compost
until another well can
be drilled.

meal once a week

3. Buy water
bottles not
produced in
California

5. Buy
recycled
paper products

The
average
depth of new
agricultural wells
is approximately

1,000

feet. Visalia is currently on a waitlist

for such a well
which will take
nearly a year.

Santa Anas Community College is in the process of developing a water irrigation system beneath its parking lot, which WCSG Buena Park
has been delivering materials to for the past couple years. The campus
plans on using this reclaimed water to help support the limitations
that have been put in place due to drought conservation regulations.

the future is bright with

these kids sitting at the wheel

West Coast Sand & Gravel participated in the San Diego Touch-A-Truck fundraising festival, helping
raise $11,000 dollars for childrens cancer research over Memorial Day Weekend. Joined by
motorcycles, hot rods, big rigs, classic cars and military vehicles, West Coasts truck gave kids like
San Diego Driver Ken Groves son a chance to sit in the drivers seat (left). Similar to his co-worker,
Shayne Willingham made this Saturday morning event a family affair (center). Just two weeks earlier, Long Beach hosted its inaugural Touch-A-Truck event, providing a family-friendly environment
down by the beach which included Buena Park dispatcher Rob Halma and his son, Hudson (Right).

walking

for

wells

at the h u n t i n g t o n b e a c h

turkey wobble

With so much to be thankful for, what better

way to show our gratitude than giving back
on Thanksgiving morning.

Join the West Coast team on November 26 for a 5/10K walk

supporting Cause Lifes mission. All proceeds will go toward
drilling wells in developing countries such as Haiti, Uganda,
India, Guatemala, Honduras and the Philippines. Each well
drilled has the potential to give clean water to 1,000 to 1,500
people.
This is an event for the entire family to get involved in. So,
get up early and get active before Thanksgiving dinner. The
first race will begin at 7:00 am and new races will start every
20 minutes until 9:40 am. At 10, the last race of the day will
be a 1k kids run.
Registration is $35 a person ($45 the day of the event) and
$20 for kids between the ages of 3 and 12. As West Coast is
a sponsor of the event, prices can be reduced to $25 and
$10 by signing up through us. Registration includes a t-shirt
and light breakfast.

By participating, you are providing 2

people fresh water for nearly 20 years.
If you are interested in signing up and joining our team,
please pay the HR Department cash or make checks payable to Cause Life, and submit participant names and shirt
sizes (youth sizes available).

step aside Tiger

Be sure to follow the our social

media accounts for company updates, including the safety
thought of the week and new
products. To see your pictures in
the next newsletter, post a
picture and either tag us in the
photo using any of the handles
listed below or by using #wcsg
and #westcoastsandandgravel.

having a golf course as his

office for the day simply
wasnt enough for Jeff Hewes
As RBM-Modestos Jeff Hewes teed up his ball, the
last thing he expected was to hit a hole-in-one. Even
after his shot, his luck was far from over.
Hewes was awarded a $10,000 check after his once
in a lifetime shot rolled in the pin at the Valley Builders Exchange Golf Tournament.
Hewes foursome at the tournament included West
Coasts Don Van Vliet (right) along with a RBM
Modesto customer and a WCSG Modesto customer.

West Coast Sand & Gravel

Resource Building Materials
Material Sales Unlimited
WC Woods Industries

@westcoastsndandgravel
@resourcebuildingmaterials
@materialsalesunlimited
Resource Building Materials
is also on :

attention drivers & mechanics:

West Coast Materials is currently hiring
truck drivers at all of our locations. In certain
cases, we are able to facilitate a transfer to
one of our other locations. Contact your supervisor for further inquiry.
Dont forget about the chance to earn
$1,000 for our driver and mechanic referral
program. This program gives three pay outs
($100, $400 and $500) when an employee
refers a new hirer who can successfully
complete 2 years on the job.
West Coast Materials has
already given $1,100 to
employees who have participated in this program.

open enrollment for 2015

During this annual open enrollment period for West Coast

Enroll in and/or change plans

Add or delete eligible family members

For the past 8 plus years, West Coast Materials has offered health
benefits through Anthem Blue Cross. However, it was obvious that Anthem no longer desired our business as their renewal offering included a
26% increase. In the entire history of our Company, we have never
seen such a huge increase on a renewal bid. Such an increase would
be a $1 million hit to the bottom line. In todays competitive market
place, we are unable to raise our prices to a level that would cover this
exorbitant increase. So we asked our insurance broker to take our case
to market in hopes of finding a quality and affordable alternative. Fortunately, Cigna has offered us an acceptable alternative.
There are several reasons why Anthems rates are no longer competitive. According to our insurance broker, nine out of 10 of companies
they represent that had offered Anthem coverage to their employees,
have switched to other insurance companies upon their renewals this
year. Anthem appears to be putting most of their energy into the exchange for the Affordable Healthcare Act. Apparently that business is
more lucrative than providing insurance to long-term companies and
their employees. And why wouldnt it be? The Affordable Care Act
guarantees profit to providers who participate as an exchange option,

august

14 to 28

Materials, eligible employees may:

funded by additional taxes imposed on all other Health insurance policies. These taxes are another reason that our insurance rates were so
unpleasantly affected. Another factor was the specific experience of our
group. During the 2014-15 plan year, our expenses far exceeded the
amount of money we paid in premiums. So much for the savings
promised by our government after passage of the so-called Affordable
Care Act. Additional legislated services and prescriptions, additional
guaranteed dependent coverage, and additional taxes are 3 simple reasons why health insurance is becoming so unaffordable.
All that being said, we are pleased that Cigna has stepped up to the
plate and given our employees affordable options. In addition, West
Coast Materials has decided to increase the benefit to our employees. The HMO Value plan offers a good option for all our employees. Selection of this plan will actually result in savings to employees in
their contribution rates. Employees that choose either of the other two
options will notice an increase which represents the buy up costs of
these plans compared to the HMO Value Network Plan.

health plan options

This policy year we will offer Cigna as our medical provider. The following plans will be offered:

HMO Traditional Network: This plan requires you to choose a primary care physician.

Physicians can be found at www.cigna.com.

The HMO Plan is based on co-pays and no deductible is required to be met.

HMO Value Network: This plan also requires you to choose a primary care physician.

The plan is similar to the Traditional HMO, but

using a smaller network of doctors.

HSA (Health Savings Account) Plan: This plan is a high deductible PPO Plan with a HSA attached to it.

It is not necessary to

choose a primary care physician. This plan offers a larger network of doctors, but requires a deductible to be meet before services will be covered.

dental and vision plan options

The company will offer eligible employees two (2) dental plan coverage types: Anthem PPO Dental and Anthem HMO Dental. Participating dentists
can be found at www.anthem.com/ca. Our vision plan will also be offered by Anthem and participating doctors can be found on the anthem website
as well.

voluntary life insurance & long term disability

Life insurance and Long Term Disability are offered through Mutual of Omaha. A completed medical questionnaire will be required for first time enrollees who have been employed over 90 days.

Open enrollment packets will be distributed to your location with detailed plan information
and premium rates. Contact your supervisor for a packet.