Valley Precast gets ready for another busy day at its Waynesville, N.C., operation. The Cat wheel loader loads the sand and gravel where it will be mixed with water, cement and admixtures into the cement trucks. The products will be mixed and placed into the forms.
(CEG photo)
Since he was a youngster, Jason Ball always enjoyed being outside and using equipment, whether it was for farming or construction. By the time he had become a young adult, he decided that construction was the career for him, and he wasted little time getting started.
"I had an opportunity when I got out of high school to purchase my first dump truck," Ball said. "I bought it with money I had saved, and my uncle helped me by co-signing a note, something for which I am very thankful. From there, I went from dump trucks to trackhoes to dozers."
With that equipment, he successfully built his first company, Appalachian Siteworks Inc. (ASI) in Waynesville, N.C., southwest of Asheville, into one of the region's best site development firms.
ASI is noted for delivering reliable sitework and civil construction services with projects across the state. Additionally, the company is an unlimited licensed general contractor and an approved prime contractor for the North Carolina Department of Transportation (NCDOT) as well as for multiple local municipalities. Its bonding capabilities also allow ASI to take on commercial infrastructure and underground utility work.
Then, in 2021, with ASI in top form, Ball started a sister company to it that also seems well on its way to a successful future.
The husband-and-wife team, Jason and Brandy Ball
Valley Precast was formed by Ball, its president and owner, to be the regional producer and supplier of MagnumStone Retaining Wall systems. Based in Canada, MagnumStone is one of the world's leading manufacturers of these super-strong, dependable, and eye-pleasing concrete block walls.
Ball's curiosity about MagnumStone was piqued when he saw an advertisement online about the product, leading him to read all he could about its advantages, he said, before calling Alain Michaud, the president of MagnumStone, about becoming a franchisee.
Ball describes the precast business, and MagnumStone specifically, as a business that he and his group of approximately 25 employees have really enjoyed working in. Joining him in running the business is his wife, Brandy, who serves as vice president, and Jackie King, Valley Precast's estimator.
"We purchased the production rights for western North Carolina to make the blocks here at our site on Jonathan Creek Road in Waynesville," he said, noting that ASI is also within the same building. "Currently, Valley Precast is the MagnumStone producer for the area between Knoxville, Tenn., east to Hickory, N.C., but we sell them across both the Carolinas and Tennessee."
MagnumStone's big block retaining wall system offers high-strength, everlasting solutions due to its advanced hollow core block design. These engineered large precast blocks also use 40 percent less concrete than solid block systems to deliver supreme versatility that easily fits any retaining wall design or application, according to the company.
Ball added that the retaining walls are an ideal fit for the mountainous area that makes up his MagnumStone territory and have a tremendous curb appeal to people. Plus, expert engineering goes into the design of gravity-walls, which provide a built-in stability.
For instance, MagnumStone's gravity-wall extenders that Valley Precast uses are designed to strengthen complex block walls that contain tight corners with limited space and varying loads.
"If it is a gravity-wall system you are building, you can install those extenders and that wall is not going anywhere," he said. "In addition, the weight of the material on top helps hold it in place. Engineers really love and work well with this product."
Various Elevations No Problem for MagnumStone Walls
The geography that encompasses Valley Precast's territory, which includes eastern Tennessee and western North Carolina, ranges from low hills to high mountains and deep valleys — just the type of area where a product like MagnumStone would seem to be in demand.
As a result, Ball and his crew at Valley Precast have built gravity walls for both commercial and residential clients across the region.
"Very often, a retaining wall is built right against a slope or a bank," he said. "These blocks are filled with crushed gravel that allows any water behind the wall to drain through it so that there is no pressure on the structure. We have retaining walls next to creeks, around houses, in commercial areas — anywhere you can think of. Some of these walls are used to hold home developments on one level that are 40 feet higher than another level.
"The possibilities are endless due to the various elevation changes found in western North and South Carolina."
The concrete blocks that Valley Precast makes are not currently used on highways and interstates, he added, because the company is still in the process of getting state certified to do so.
"Once that happens at our concrete plant, we can start marketing to the states of North Carolina and Tennessee," he said.
MagnumStone is not the only precast wall system available, but to Ball's mind it has a few advantages over its competitors.
"Number one, I think our blocks are the best-looking ones on the market, and, secondly, we have an edge in that our gravity-wall system has the mass extender that holds each block in place," he said. "Plus, you can set this entire block-wall system with just a mini-excavator — there is no need for a larger machine to do that. I feel like that makes our product very efficient."
Installation of MagnumStone's hollow core system also is easier as each large precast concrete retaining wall block covers 8 sq. ft. Individual concrete blocks are 2 ft. high, 4 ft. long and 2 ft. thick, Ball added, while the extenders come in 2-ft. and 4-ft. sizes "so you can use them at differing intervals depending on the engineering of the wall."
Young Production Company Making Great Strides
After Valley Precast took the necessary steps to produce MagnumStone's products, the result was that it used a block-mold package to turn out 30 blocks per day, said Ball.
"First, we bought a concrete and its own concrete truck. After that, we went to a Redi-Mix plant and picked up the concrete to turn it into blocks," he added. "We investigated making concrete ourselves on site, and once that got going it helped us tremendously in terms of time. Later, we built our own concrete plant to produce MagnumStone blocks in house and with that plant, we increased our block production to 40 per day now, all of which we sell each week.
"That is a good number for us, but I also feel that there is some potential for growth," he added. "People love the product and having it installed where they need it.
Valley Precast uses a form in which to pour its concrete to make a finished MagnumStone block. Assisting the block manufacturing are wheel loaders to load the hoppers at the concrete plant, he said, along with a front-discharge concrete mixer truck.
Although still in its early years of operation, Valley Precast is likely on an upward surge in popularity with more people discovering both the strength and the beauty MagnumStone Retaining Walls can bring to their home, business or development.
"We truly believe in these products and enjoy working with the people that set the walls," Ball said, adding that he attributes his company's growth and success to the fact it has "so many good people, such a good product, and the good Lord has blessed us — that is the number one thing."
For more information, call 828/712-2049 or visit www.magnumstone.com/supplier/valley-precast-asheville/. CEG
Eric Olson
A writer and contributing editor for CEG since 2008, Eric Olson has worked in the business for more than 40 years.
Olson grew up in the small town of Lenoir, NC in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he began covering sports for the local newspaper at age 18. He continued to do that for several other dailies in the area while in college at Appalachian State University. Following his graduation, he moved on to gain experience at two other publications before becoming a real estate and special features writer and editor at the Winston-Salem Journal for 10 years. Since 1999 he has worked as a corporate media liaison and freelance writer, in addition to his time at CEG.
He and his wife, Tara, have been married for 33 years and are the parents of two grown and successful daughters. His hobbies include collecting history books, watching his beloved Green Bay Packers and caring for his three dogs and one cat.
Read more from Eric Olson here.
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