Foundational Family

By Jerrica Andrews • Photos by Jessica McCafferty

Jessi and Bill Thwaits

When the SB editorial team was discussing the September line up for the “Small but Mighty” construction issue, we started at the bottom and worked our way up. What better place to start than the foundation. Thwaits Excavating LLC was among the suggested businesses and had great online reviews. They sounded like the good all-around fit!

It wasn’t until SB sat down with the Thwaits that we discovered they are two separate businesses. Bill Thwaits owns Thwaits Excavating LLC while wife, Jessi, owns Thwaits Blacktopping LLC. Although the two businesses often work in tandem, they are not a package deal with each working on independent projects as well. Here’s the whole story…

Bill Thwaits grew up in Clintonville, New York. His dad worked in the excavating and trucking business and Bill loved to be able to shadow his father. At an early age he knew he wanted to have his own excavation company. After graduating from AuSable Valley Central School in 2002 Thwaits worked for several local companies learning all he could about the trade.

In 2005 Bill met his now wife, Jessi, an AuSable Forks native, and they started dating. Bill continued to work in excavation, while Jessi enjoyed a career in the medical field. At first, she worked as part of an MRI team and later for a local surgeon. The couple married in 2012 and life progressed nicely, but Bill still had that dream of having his own company.

In 2014, at the age of 29, Thwaits knew it was time. He was ready to take on business ownership and felt he was still young enough to have time to grow the business into something substantial. With the help of his father, he started Thwaits Excavating LLC and the two men have worked side by side nearly every day since.

The new company’s focus was and is residential site preparation. The son-father team clear building sites, dig basements, set up slabs, install water lines, put in septic systems, and cut in driveways. The company has built a strong reputation for itself in the North Country community.

When COVID hit, the Thwaits were fortunate. Construction was deemed an essential service and they were able to continue to grow their business, as well as their family. In 2020 the couple welcomed their daughter, Arabella, and life was good.

Fast forward five years and things have only gotten better for the Thwaits. Jessi decided her husband and father-in-law weren’t going to have all the fun and it was time for a career change. At the beginning of 2025 she left the medical field to shadow Bill in the excavating business. She recalled how it started, “It was a whole new world for me. I needed to learn all aspects of the business and what was involved in each service we offered. There are a lot of moving parts. It’s amazing.”

Not only did Bill support his wife’s choice to work by his side, but he saw the opportunity for her to have a business of her own and helped bring that to fruition. And so, after shadowing her husband and father-in-law for five months Jessi opened Thwaits Blacktopping LLC in May of this year.

Paving was not a service the Thwaits had offered. Homeowners would need to work with a sub-contractor to pave the driveways the Thwaits’ team cut in. It only made sense for the companion company and allowed the couple to work together, and yet independently.

Of the many services the Thwaits offer currently, the most requested are the joint ventures of driveways with Bill quoting the ground work and Jessi subcontracting the paving. Most of their work is residential, though the blacktopping business is now seeing about ten percent of its revenue coming from commercial jobs.

The projects the Thwaits’ find most satisfying though are the aesthetic ones, boulder walls and other large stone work. “I have done hundreds, thousands of square boxes, digging foundations, but this is different. There is something so satisfying about pulling away and seeing it all blacktopped and the top soil down, it’s very fulfilling,” Bill enthused.

While Bill’s comments paint a pretty picture, it is not all sunshine and roses. The Thwaits’ face their share of concerns like other businesses, the largest being the ever-rising cost of materials and labor. Jessi commented, “It’s hard to explain the rising costs to customers in today’s economy.” Consumers are already feeling the strain in day-to-day life so they are more guarded with their expenditures. “Material costs continue to rise and you need to offer a competitive wage to insure employee retention. But at the same time, you have to offer competitive rates. It can be a challenge to balance both,” added Bill.

Thwaits Excavating currently employs nine. “The crew we have right now is amazing, but we are always looking to add,” Jessi noted with a smile. The work is seasonal and dependent on North Country weather. A few crew members stay on over the winter to help perform machine maintenance while others are laid off until spring. The right person — someone who can handle the manual labor and outdoor working conditions — can be hard to find. We can have them drop like flies,” quipped Bill. “It’s hard work.”

Not one to shy away from hard work, Bill has embraced the freedom of business ownership. “The harder you work the business, the more it pays off,” he said.” You could reach a 30-year retirement goal in 20 if you can complete enough jobs. The work is there if you have the manpower and materials,” he stated proudly. Jessi is embracing her ownership freedom a bit differently. She is grateful for more family time, getting to work with her husband in what is now truly the family business and finding more free time with their daughter.

The Thwaits, both individually and as a couple, embody the spirit of hard work and dedication. Bill’s lifelong dream of owning an excavation company, supported by his wife and father, laid a solid foundation. Despite challenges like rising costs and labor shortages, their commitment to their craft and their community shines through. The best piece of advice they offer to SB readers is, “Don’t always go with the cheapest estimate. The excavation is the prep for your foundation, and we all need a solid foundation.”

Thwaits Excavating LLC

1554 State Route 9N

Keeseville, NY 12924

(518) 834-0180

Thwaits Blacktopping LLC

24 Rectory St.

Clintonville, NY 12927

(518) 593-3524