The benevolence of people in the community and beyond has spurred North Beaver Contracting to rise from the ashes.
Flames were still leaping from the company’s 10,000-square-foot four-bay garage and office complex at 4210 Edinburg Road on March 26 when friends, family, community members and local business owners were already arriving there to offer owners Mike and Kasey Sperdute and their sons, Ethan, 7, and Jake, 5, condolences and help.
The generosity came by way of food, monetary donations and offers for sharing equipment, temporary office space, equipment storage and many other measures to soften the blow of the family’s multimillion-dollar loss.
More offers materialized in the days following as trucks, giant pieces of farm and excavating equipment, some apparently brand new, showed up on the premises. Those kind gestures are allowing Sperdutes to continue undisrupted with the peace of their reputed North Beaver Township business while they continue working with insurance adjusters to measure their losses.
“The next morning after the fire, all I literally had left was a spade, a shovel and a tape measure,” Mike Sperdute reflected, sitting in a trailer outside the burned building he has turned into a makeshift office. The trailer was donated for his use by longtime friend and local construction company owner Kenneth W. Shiderly Jr.
After the initial shock wore off, “we haven’t even had time to feel bad about it,” Sperdute said. “We’re pressing forward with rebuilding.”
The community outreach was the boost they needed, he said. “I think the blessings might be bigger than our setback.”
Sperdutes expressed their gratitude for the countless people who brought help from far and wide, even from other states.
Mike Sperdute said he has tried to enumerate the immeasurable ways people have stepped up, but lost count.
“I’m really reluctant to list everyone who reached out to help us,” he said, “because I’m afraid I might forget someone, and I would never, ever want to do that.”
Mike Sperdute looks over the remains of his antique 1956 tractor that was one of the many casualties of his business fire March 26 in North Beaver Township.
Debbie Wachter | News
THE DAY OF THE FIRE
It was a cold, windy afternoon with pelting rain as a heartbroken Sperdute watched leaping flames and black smoke consume his four-bay garage and office complex. Sirens were screaming and Edinburg Road was blocked as dozens of trucks from 16 fire departments rolled onto the Sperdute property and down a quarter-mile lane to attack the roaring blaze with smoke visible from miles away. Firefighters continuously refilled at a hydrant at the old Bessemer Elementary School about 1 1/2 miles away.
Inside the shell of a collapsed building now sit the burned remains of an excavator, a dump truck, company vehicles, a boat, all of the company’s trucks, a semi, a front loader, farm equipment and other pieces of large and small equipment plus business files and thousands of dollars worth of tools he amassed over the years. Everything remains untouched while insurance adjusters and fire investigators evaluate it.
Trooper Duwayne Baird, state police deputy fire marshal of Butler County, said the cause was not suspicious.
“As you can imagine, a lot of items in that building were insured, and the insurance company has a lot of people in and out, looking at it all,” Baird said Friday. He said the investigation “is still in the works.”
These remains are one of the many pieces of farm machinery lost in a fire that broke out in a four-bay garage and office complex of North Beaver Contracting Inc. on March 26, destroying the building and all of its contents.
Debbie Wachter | News
ABOUT THE BUSINESS
It has taken Sperdutes 10 years to build their excavating and farming business and establish a solid reputation in the community. Mike started the company in 2014 after graduating from Penn State Behrend in Erie. That’s where Mike, 36, and Kasey, 34, met, and together they’ve built their dream enterprise that kept him close to his family’s fruit and vegetable farm where he was raised.
Mike started as a general excavation contractor with specialties in underground utilities and municipal contracts. The company, which has six employees, has done reclamation work in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio for a major pipeline company.
His firm also works in the industrial/commercial sector and residential and agricultural arena.
Sperdutes’ garage was built in 2018 with the addition of GPS technology and continued expansion in its equipment fleet. The company at that time took on such projects as installing and grading sports fields, including Heinz Field and the Steelers practice field.
It also competitively bids work for municipalities and school districts to install/update storm sewers, sanitary sewers, culverts and other excavation projects.
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THE FARMING BUSINESS
In addition to the contracting business, Mike and Kasey also lease a range of 1,000 acres of farmland between Mercer to Enon Valley where they raise specialty grains. Their farm equipment was also lost in the fire. When their equipment dealers learned about their loss, they too, stepped up.
One of those was George Guy, owner of Land Pro Equipment in East Palestine, Ohio, a John Deere dealer, who has been doing business with Sperdute, his father, his grandfather and his uncle for more than 30 years.
“They’re great people,” he said.
“I talked to Mike and tried to figure out who we could replace some of that equipment in a short time so he could plant this spring,” Guy said. “We got a tractor and a planter and took it down for him to use. “We also bought a sprayer and another planter we delivered (Thursday) to get him through the planting season.”
Two of the pieces came from Missouri.
“All of the equipment that burned came from us, so we wanted to reach out and replace it as quickly as we could so he could farm this spring,” Guy continued. “He’s a good customer. He has a lot going on, not just the farm side but the construction side of things. He’s a very hard worker. The whole family has a good reputation in the community, all of them. I feel somehow if this role was reserved, any one of them would do the same for anyone else who asked.”
“We’re good to plant and ready to go thanks to our dealers. Equipment has been coming in from all over the place,” Mike said, noting, “People don’t realize this wasn’t just a business, it was an extension of our home. “Even our kids suffered a loss. That’s where it really hits home.”
The boys lost toys, sports equipment and their bicycles, but one kind donor was quick to deliver them new bikes in the aftermath.
The Sperdutes are in the process of building a home near where their garage was located and the wind blowing during the fire raised a concern they could have suffered an even bigger loss. He credits all of the fire companies for battling the blaze and keeping the fire limited.
OTHER GESTURES
Shiderly said he was happy to help Mike in his time of need.
“I’ve known Michael his whole life,” he said, characterizing him as an honest businessman with a shining reputation. “He’s a farm boy who’s not afraid of working and getting things done.”
Shiderly let Sperdute borrow the office trailer to temporarily house his internet and computers. Meanwhile, Sperdute already has drawings to build another office building and garage.
“The building is in order,” he said. “We’re hoping by the end of summer to be back into it.”
He’s also in the process of rebuilding the grain storage bins that were destroyed.
“I will be getting the new metal building for him and helping him to get things put back,” Shiderly said, adding “He’s a good guy. He does a lot of excavating work for us. “It was sad to see him lose his building and his equipment.”
Jared Castaldi, a lifelong close friend of Mike, heard about the fire half an hour after it started and immediately went over to offer his help.
“Basically I just gave him my time,” Castaldi said. “I’m involved with helping him design the new building, which is already in progress.”
He described Mike as “one of the most dedicated, goal-driven guys I know. He’s a hard worker. I’m 100 percent confident that he’ll spring back and build bigger and better.”
“I received more than 150 text messages the day after the fire,” Mike pointed out, “and people are still reaching out. We just have so many good people around us.
“We still have the work and we still have our name,” he said. “We really haven’t missed a beat. “It’s going to take more than a fire to put us out of business.”
