July 2020 by John W.
Melvin E. Cassel Enterprises (MECE) is a top, quality company to work with. I had the good fortune to use MECE for a job around 15 years ago, which was an excellent experience in both the quality of work as well as customer service, so calling MECE for my most recent excavating needs was an easy choice. It’s an unfortunate sign of the times that they are a much smaller company than when I dealt with them previously. Nonetheless, they delivered the same quality experience. Keith, the President of the company, returned my call within just a few hours and we arranged a time for him to come out the very next day to check out the job site, give me his opinion and work up some numbers. Keith obviously has plenty of experience and has the ability to eye the grade before he even sets up a laser so he’s very helpful and to the point about the best way he feels to achieve your end result. He’s a true expert in his field. Just an hour or two after his job site visit, Keith called us back with a fair price and was available to start the job immediately. Unfortunately, we were not; however, he was able to accommodate our schedule and started the job three days later, on time, around 8 am, which is when he stated he would start. Keith and his partner Wes were very much in sync with one another and their ability to navigate their equipment through our very tight quarters. We really appreciated them taking maximum effort to preserve not only the vegetable garden but all the flower gardens and our already established pond. The scope of the job was to remove approximately 8” of ground by an approximate 28’ x 30’ space for a paver patio as well as excavate down another 33” for where a swimming pool will be installed. He did us a favor and tried his best to spread all the excavated material out on site to save us the dollars of having it trucked out. The entire excavating job took only one day to complete. The guys returned the following day, once again, on time to complete the job by using an auger to drill 10 post holes. Overall, our job was not an easy one. In addition to the tight quarters, the ground is all shale and it was over 90 degrees both days they were here. The guys were hustling the entire time they were here. We never saw them take a break or stop for lunch. Their communication skills were excellent and they frequently checked to make sure they were completing the job as desired. I realize not all excavating jobs are the same and change based on location and the ground composition; however, I would not hesitate to recommend or call MECE for any excavating needs. Both Keith and Wes appeared to genuinely want to satisfy our needs. Quality job, quality customer service for a reasonable price.
