Native Excavating

Native Excavating is a Steamboat Springs, Colo., site contractor that Ed MacArthur started in 1981 with a single rubber-tired backhoe. His wife June ran the front office, and the family still runs it, with Charlie MacArthur as president. It’s grown into one of the biggest contractors in the Yampa Valley now, with more than 70 pieces of heavy equipment and about 120 projects a year across Colorado. Crews handle road building, sewer, water and storm lines, and foundation digs, then they’ll switch to snow plowing in winter. Staff runs 45 year-round and about 110 at summer peak. This week Bedrock Robotics named Native among seven new customers for its autonomous excavator kit.