ForConstructionPros.com

Running an asphalt maintenance and paving business in the Midwest, it can sometimes be a challenge to keep cash flowing in during the long winter season. But Angela Wilburn, owner of Affordable Asphalt, Middleville, MI, has found a way to keep her employees working and her customers happy in the winter months.

Wilburn's certified woman-owned company has been in business for five years and offers paving, milling, and an array of asphalt maintenance services including sealcoating, patching, and pavement marking. "I don't think that there's another company in our area that has the same services and delivers like we do," Wilburn says.

Since starting Affordable Asphalt, Wilburn has also offered hot mix winter patching, which is something she says most of her customers don't know about. "We're in Michigan, so we have about a five month off-season. We're able to do a lot of work for municipalities and such for water main breaks and that kind of thing because we can produce hot mix. And that's a pretty big deal in our area," Wilburn says.

Before hot mix patching, Affordable Asphalt filled potholes in the winter with a cold mix, which would then need to be taken out and replaced again in the spring, Wilburn says.

"I know it's just a hole, you wouldn't think it would be exciting, but they [customers] don't have to revisit it in the spring," she says.