Power Motive Corporation - Dirt Talk - Summer 2026

Building Colorado’s Front Range

Quality projects done on time lead to expansion for Denver-based heavy civil contractor American West Construction, LLC

American West Construction, LLC founder Paul Snyder vividly remembers the first job the Denver-based company did. It was 2002, and Snyder was working on a widening project at 108th and Wadsworth.

“It was a little bit of storm sewer and a little bit of dirt work that took about three months,” recalled Snyder, President of American West Construction, LLC. “It wasn’t very much, but it was enough. I and an old superintendent who I knew were building it together. We finished that job and got the next one.”

Snyder has continued adding “the next one” to American West Construction, LLC’s resume during the past 23 years, growing the heavy civil contracting firm to more than 100 people who complete projects mainly along Colorado’s Front Range. Over the years, he was joined in ownership by Senior Vice President Brian Schrameyer and Chief Financial Officer

Customer snapshot

Company: American West Construction, LLC

Location: Denver, Colorado

Employees: 100+

Established: 2002

Area of expertise: Underground utility installation and trenchless technology

Komatsu equipment: D65PXi-18 IMC dozer; PC490LCi-11 IMC excavator; PC228USLC, PC238USLC, PC360LC and PC490LC excavators

Komatsu technology: intelligent machine control (IMC) and My Komatsu

Rob Casagranda. Additional key personnel include Operations Manager Josh Luebbert and Equipment Manager Bill McCartney.

“American West Construction, LLC’s success is a result of finding good people, from our newest laborers to our management staff,” Snyder emphasized. “It’s an experienced group. A lot of them have been here through our growth and brought more employees to us by referring a friend or brother.”

“We believe in being an exceptional organization, and that’s led to a lot of repeat work.”

- Paul Snyder, President, American West Construction, LLC

Snyder added, “Everyone is invested in our philosophy that success is not just about completing jobs. It’s about a long-term goal of growing the business with a good reputation. We believe in being an exceptional organization, and that’s led to a lot of repeat work.”

Specializing in utilities

American West Construction, LLC performs a wide variety of work, with wet utilities being a specialty. Its full sitework packages include everything from stripping to final grade, including taking responsibility for paving. It also does standalone utility installation, earthwork, road and dam construction, and channel work, self-performing nearly every aspect.

Those types of projects are done by American West Construction, LLC’s main heavy civil division. About a year ago, it added a trenchless technology division that performs pipe rehabilitation without digging it up, such as sliplining and pipe bursting.

“I like to say that one of our greatest flaws is we never say no,” commented Luebbert. “The right partnership with another contractor, the right challenge, we dive in. We’re an on-call contractor for several municipalities, so if an issue comes up, we jump on it. Most of our work, however, is heavy civil projects that we bid on such as the large storm sewer improvement job we are doing for the city of Broomfield. It involves putting in box culverts through a neighborhood, flood mitigation, lowering a waterline, putting in an outlet structure, and sanitary sewer lining with our trenchless technology group.”

American West Construction, LLC recently completed a 30-inch sewer interceptor and a waterline rehabilitation for the city of Brighton as well as waterline improvements in the city of Aurora. The company also started a taxiway expansion at Rocky Mountain Metropolitan Airport in Broomfield that includes earthwork, storm, sewer, water and paving. The company usually has 12 to 15 projects in the works at any one time.

IMC, PMC changing the game

To keep track of American West Construction, LLC’s equipment, McCartney relies heavily on Komatsu’s My Komatsu application to look at machine utilization, fuel consumption, hours and more, using his desktop computer, tablet and smartphone to view the information.

“It helps me build into forecasting usage for a cycle, replacement schedules and other essential information,” explained McCartney. “I’m tracking operationally from a maintenance cost standpoint. I can turn the data into Paul, Brian and Rob, and we can use it for recommendations that we’re making for growth and equipment retirement. It’s a great fleet management tool.” Luebbert emphasized that technology like My Komatsu has become increasingly essential in a competitive market. American West Construction, LLC continues to incorporate it at all aspects of its business, including adding Komatsu intelligent

machine control (IMC) equipment. It started with a D65PXi-18 IMC dozer and has since acquired a PC490LCi-11 IMC excavator.

“We’re able to build a model with our GPS survey equipment, load that into the dozer, and fine grade in one pass,” said Snyder. “IMC really has become a game-changer in our industry and has been very beneficial for us. Our success with the dozer led to us purchasing the excavator. It knows exactly where final elevation is by reading the design file and ensures we’re putting pipe in the ground on line and grade.”

“IMC really has become a game-changer in our industry and has been very beneficial for us.”

- Paul Snyder, President, American West Construction, LLC

Luebbert added, “The cost of rework is huge, and IMC minimizes or eliminates that risk while increasing production. It’s a shoo-in to use. On the last pond with the dozer, we didn’t have to recut or clean up anything. That lets the crew keep moving forward faster. We’re not waiting for surveys because we’re confident in the machine’s accuracy.”

The IMC machines were added to a fleet that includes several standard Komatsu excavators, including PC228USLC, PC238USLC, PC360LC and PC490LC models purchased from Power Motive Corp. (PMC).

‘The PC238 with rubber tracks has been our go-to machine’

The IMC machines and other recent additions were made with the assistance of PMC Territory Sales Manager Nick Busicchia.

“Komatsu excavators have been top notch,” Luebbert commented. “The PC238 with rubber tracks has been our go-to machine for all the public work we’re doing out in the middle of the streets. The larger excavators, the PC490 and PC360, have been great with our deeper excavations for sewer installs or large diameter box culvert installs.”

to move approximately 40,000 yards of dirt and install about 2,000 feet of ductile iron pipe at an elevation of approximately 12,000 feet.

“The advantage of not having to turn a truck to get into position sped up cycle times,” said Foreman Julio Dorado. “It was a highly environmentally sensitive area, and we want to disturb as little ground as possible and protect the nature. The ability to rotate kept us from having to turn a truck and mess up the ground. The rubber tracks with low ground pressure float across the mud. They were also helpful in making the ride more comfortable on the rocky road.”

Busicchia has also helped with rental units, including a Terramac RT7R rubber-tracked crawler carrier with a 360-degree rotating upper structure that allows dumping at any angle. American West Construction, LLC used it on its Argentine Pass project near Dillon “Komatsu excavators have been top notch.”

By the numbers

• 12 to 15 projects in the works at any one time

• 30-inch sewer interceptor and a waterline rehabilitation recently completed

-Josh Luebbert, Operations Manager, American West Construction, LLC

According to McCartney, PMC’s ability to get equipment like the RT7R quickly and provide exceptional service has played a big factor in American West Construction, LLC’s equipment choices.

“The relationship we have and the support we get from Nick and PMC help tremendously,” McCartney emphasized. “They are Johnny-on-the-spot when we have issues, questions or request training for our technicians. There’s a lot of collaboration between us and all of PMC’s departments.”

Right position, right size

Controlled, steady growth is the trajectory American West Construction, LLC wants to take. Snyder sees that being the case for at least the next five years.

“We’re in a growing market with a lot of work, so we’re not looking to expand beyond this area,” Snyder stated. “I think we’re in the right position, and we’re the right size to be competitive. Another thing we don’t really want to change is our emphasis on utilities. We started out doing dirt and pipe and have gravitated more toward pipework the last few years. I see us maintaining that focus. People need water, so we don’t see infrastructure jobs slowing down.”

Luebbert agreed, adding, “We want to continue to grow our relationships with customers and develop the next generation that will carry American West Construction, LLC forward.” ■

*The opinions expressed here are from the end user as quoted. The results described herein are those of these end users under certain conditions. Individual results may vary.