Construction has always been in my blood.  It started when my brother and I built our mother a home.  After that, we started a small company doing roofing, remodels, and even a grocery store in San Manuel, AZ.  While building a convenience store in the town for the grocery store owner a guy by the name of Jack Chapin showed up.  He was the fuel guy.  He asked if I could dig him a hole and drew out what he wanted on a napkin.  I got the hole dug and he showed up the next week with a crane, tanks, and some sand.  Once again, he made a drawing on a napkin and I proceeded to set the thanks……the first of many!

After that, I started doing more fueling sites with Jack’s company, T-PEC.  We built several gas stations and convenience stores together and the best thing about it was that I met my future wife, Apryl there!  Apryl and I were married in 1985 by one of our customers, Jon Trejo, at Trejo oil and in June of 1986 we incorporated as Cochise Contractors.  Apryl has always been the brains of the company as she is well organized and time management oriented.  Our son, Steve, also had a lot to do with our success and in 1989 we became even bigger with the purchase of Petro Systems.  Now we were in the petroleum sales and service business and our company grew over night.  With the purchase of Petro Systems Bob DeGroff, our current Operations Manager, and Cliff Cogswell, our current sales leader, joined us.  We were very fortunate to get both Bob and Cliff in the “deal” as they have been a big part of our success.

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Eventually, we learned enough to build the fueling side of the convenience store as well and our business expanded even further.  We were even named Contractor of the Year for Texaco in 1991. 

Some other interesting facts about Cochise:

• Our first equipment lines were Gasboy and Xerxes which will still have to this day
• We expanded our business by working for hospitals and data centers
• We are Authorized Service Contractors for both Wayne and Gilbarco
• We have our own electrical and concrete crews
• In 2011 we became a woman owned company
• Our company motto is “Built to Last”

Cochise has always had a family, friendly work environment where we fight with each other but protect our own.  I’m so proud of what all of us have built and we’re excited to join the D&H United family.