Meet the North Bay family dominating the concrete business

For the extended Arreguin family, concrete is a family affair.

How else do you explain the phenomenon that led to so many family members operating so many different concrete companies? There’s John’s Custom Concrete, JR’s Concrete and Eddie’s Quality Concrete all in Healdsburg, as well as Carm’s Custom Concrete of Windsor.

A few Arreguin cousins still work for Coleman Concrete in Santa Rosa, too.

At any point in the last decade, as many as eight members of the Arreguin family were on the payrolls at five separate concrete businesses in the North Bay. If you have concrete poured in anywhere on a job site in northern Sonoma County, you likely will work with an Arreguin at some point along the way.

The family’s legacy in the concrete business has endured for decades — much like the very concrete they create. Naturally, it has become a great sense of pride for everyone involved.

“It’s something we all take very seriously — something that brings us great joy,” said Eddie Arreguin, 39. “If you live in the (Healdsburg) area and you want concrete, our family’s name is the first name that comes to mind.”

Humble beginnings

The Arreguin family’s history in Healdsburg dates to the late 1940s and early 1950s, when they emigrated from Mexico via Texas and Healdsburg was more about prunes and beans than grapes and fancy restaurants. Their history in the concrete business started in the late 1960s and early 1970s, when three brothers — Salvador, John and Paciano — got their first gigs.

Salvador was the first, really, taking a job for Bill Coleman at his eponymous concrete shop.

By the time the mid-1970s rolled around, Salvador was ready to go out on his own and started Sal’s Concrete. His younger brothers John and Paciano followed suit. At first, John and Paciano worked for Salvador. After a few years, however, they left and each started their own firms. John started John’s Custom Concrete and Paciano started JR’s Concrete.

“We never saw it as competing against each other,” the 69-year-old Paciano Arreguin said about his 71-year-old brother John. “Even though we all do the same thing, we have always gotten along.”

The decentralized model normalized independence, and the younger generation of Arreguins continued the trend. Carmen, one of John’s cousins, started his own concrete business, Carm’s Custom Concrete. Then Eddie, John’s son, started Eddie’s Quality Concrete. Bobby, Paciano’s son, is in the process of taking over his father’s business, JR’s Concrete. Eventually there may be other Arreguins in the mix, too.

Anatomy of concrete work

As far as trade labor goes, concrete work is hard work. The big moment on each job is “pour day,” when concrete comes out of a cement mixer and is poured onto a site. Leading up to that moment is a ton of planning and hard work.

Bobby Arreguin says he trains his seven employees to manage every aspect of the job, from site prep to forming and finishing. Most employees also know how to handle rebar, the steel around which the concrete hardens.

“We all wear a lot of hats around here,” said Bobby, 40. “It’s one of the ways we get our people up to speed on every aspect of the business — we give them opportunities with everything.”

Eddie added that the hardest part of the job is coordinating all the steps.

“You can be setting up a job for weeks and then all of a sudden, it’s time to pour,” said Eddie, who employs 10. “You only get one chance to pour, so you have to make sure everything is just right before you get that part of a job done.”

Some signature projects

Over the last few decades, the Arreguin concrete businesses have done hundreds of jobs. Most of them have been wineries and small office buildings — what John and Paciano both refer to as relatively “small” gigs.

Others have been much more high-profile. Like the gazebo on the Healdsburg Plaza.

Several of the Arreguin companies collaborated on the concrete for that project — the same pad on which bands play during Healdsburg’s Tuesday night summertime concerts in the Plaza. The concrete reveals true craftsmanship — there are steps leading from the grass to the plaza, and two ramps flank beautiful flower beds.

“When you think about how many people see that job and use it and admire it, that makes me very proud,” said Bobby. “I also love that I got to work with my cousins and my dad and my uncle on that job.”

The Arreguins worked with other North County contractors on the gazebo project, too, and Healdsburg-based Eddinger Enterprises was one of them.

Co-owner Jerry Eddinger remembers the engagement fondly, and said he has the utmost respect for all the Arreguins in concrete. Eddinger noted his history with the Arreguin family goes way back: John and JR’s father was his boss early in his career, and he was partners with Salvador the 1970s. Salvador Arreguin died in 2018.

“There have been many civic projects we have worked on together (in Healdsburg) — the (Prune Packers) baseball park, the swim center, the senior center, and the museum, to name a few — and I cannot think of a time they were not ready to help,” Eddinger said of the Arreguins. “I could tell you stories for hours, but I am sure some you could not print.”

What’s next: More collaboration

With more cousins joining the various concrete companies and a third generation of Arreguins approaching high-school age, the Arreguin family has no plans of slowing down any time soon.

That said, change is underfoot at individual companies.

JR’s Concrete is in a time of flux; owner Paciano is in the process of stepping aside and Bobby has been transitioning into more of a leadership role. Eddie’s Quality Concrete is growing exponentially, taking on more work every month. As the family transitions its concrete businesses into this decade and beyond, there undoubtedly will be more collaboration among companies.

Looking forward, Paciano is optimistic that the extended family will cement a legacy in Sonoma County and beyond.

“Concrete is permanent, you know?” he said. “It’s nice to know our reputation will last that long.”