There are few people that have had such an impact on the paver industry as Steve Jones. After playing professional rugby in Germany, he returned to the Minneapolis area to start a paver installation company in the late 1980s. His unwavering insistence on absolute perfection in paving residential projects almost immediately led him to the conclusion he couldn’t make money and stay in business. In those days, the main method of keeping edge pavers from wandering off was steel edging with an installation behavior of a mean snake, laboriously forming and pouring a concrete curb, or worse yet, troweling concrete against the pavers and wishfully hoping that nothing would move or crack.
His response to these options was inventing Pave Edge edge restraints. Secured by any load applied on the edge pavers plus long steel spikes, that PVC invention accelerated edge restraint installation while making it more reliable. Steve and his small, dedicated team spent months driving to every paver plant in the US and Canada giving installation demonstrations for contractors while pitching distribution through manufacturers.
After establishing the Pave Edge brand in the industry, Steve formed a partnership with Martin Probst. He’s a clever German inventor of time- and back-saving tools and machines for installing pavers with increased safety. Martin serviced a mature, experienced German paver market 10 times the size of the US—not to mention in many other countries. Steve’s company, Pave Tech, provided the technology and cultural transfer by “Americanizing” German inventions. That education and marketing effort was a technical and time-saving resource, plus an encouragement for countless paver contractors.
Steve made countless educational videos and a book in English and Spanish for use in vocational schools explaining the paver estimating and installation process, and how to use Pave Tech tools for faster and higher quality paver installations. Those resources, plus sales success, led him to create The Advanced School for Segmental Paving near Racine, WI. Hundreds of contractors and paver product representatives attended his school, exposing them to tools and most importantly, to the craftmanship required for building long-lasting interlocking concrete paver, permeable, and slab pavements.
Steve’s influence on the Interlocking Concrete Pavement Institute (ICPI), now the Concrete Masonry & Hardscapes Association, would fill many pages. He served on the Construction Committee and, as its chair, he contributed time, ideas, text, and pictures to the contractor curriculum for the ICPI Certified Installer Course, as well as for the Commercial Installer Course. Steve was exhibiting at the Green Industry Expo several years before it partnered with Hardscape North America in 2009.
In the early 2000s, he repeatedly noted at ICPI meetings that the nascent HNA show was an education and income opportunity for ICPI if it joined GIE. Steve was successful in convincing the ICPI Board for HNA to join GIE. This partnership expanded the reach of ICPI and concrete pavers to many more commercial and residential landscape contractors and dealers. Once HNA did that, Steve provided tools for demos and education sessions, as well as exhibiting there.
When Steve entered any room, he exuded bravado, generosity, and humor. His business partner and love of his life, Pam, did much to encourage him over the years. He touched and influenced so many in the paver industry who continue to benefit today from all of his innovations and energy.
All of us in the industry owe a great debt of gratitude to Steve.