Barry County Ready Mix continuing local concrete business

By Kyle Troutman [email protected]

Fifty years after mixing his first load of concrete, Corles “Corky” Stehlik said the success of Barry County Ready Mix hasn’t come from big corporate strategies or flashy equipment — it’s come from grit, loyal customers and the ability to keep things running, even when the parts weren’t perfect.

“I was born in Springfield then moved to Monett with my folks, and my dad was manager of the lumber up there,” Stehlik said. “In 1958, he came down and started his own lumber yard. I was around there growing up, and of course, he had hopes of me following in his footsteps in the lumber business, but it was too complicated for me.”

Stehlik said his interest pushed him toward another direction.

“I thought I wanted to be in the ready mix business,” Stehlik said. “So, in 1975, I started a little company over at Exeter and was over there about six months, then I got a chance to buy this place [at 14th and Pressley in Cassville] and moved down here in November of 1975.”

What eventually became his concrete operation had already been established in various hands.

“Well, two or three people owned it, but Kay Concrete, at the time, owned it out of Monett,” Stehlik said. “We’ve been here ever since, through lots of recessions and lots of winters.”

Stehlik said the ready-mix side fit him better than the lumber business.

“I liked trucks and liked moving parts, machinery, plants and stuff,” he said. “And I I knew all the contractors around through the lumber yard, and they were looking for another source for their concrete.”

Stehlik recalled buying, hauling and reworking his first plant piece by piece, learning the business as he went.

“I knew nothing about concrete when I started this,” Stehlik said. “But, I hired a guy that had worked here for two or three different owners that knew how to batch concrete.”

His own role was sales, customer connections and finding work.

“I was out running the roads, finding work, selling; and we had small, old trucks, and just one thing led to another,” Stehlik said. “We started out in a recession, and my competitor came to me and said, ‘Hey, there’s not enough business here for both of us, won’t you just buy us out?’ So, I talked to my good banker at First National Bank, Cherry Warren. [Through the recessions], we survived. We had a lot of help, and bankers were good to me, and we tried to do the best we could for our customers and make a good product.”

Stehlik, at age 26, established Barry County Ready Mix in Exeter in July 1975, moving to Cassville in October and November of the same year. In the mid-1980s, the business expanded to Shell Knob, then expanded again to Eagle Rock in 1992. 

In 1996, Barry County Ready Mix opened Jenkins Quarry, which it sold to Konya Mining Company in 2023. Today, the company still operates its Cassville, Shell Knob and Eagle Rock locations.

Over five decades, Barry County Ready Mix has played a part in numerous buildings, large and small, throughout the county. The company’s portfolio includes Cassville, Exeter, Purdy and Southwest schools; commercial and retail developments like Cassville Walmart, Taco Bell, several Dollar General stores, Fastrip, Hudson Feed Mill and Verizon tower; municipal and community projects like sidewalks in the city of Cassville, the Barry County E9-1-1 building, Seligman City Park, Viola substation, Roaring River enhancements and various bridges; and institutional and recreational facilities, like Cassville Baptist Church, Barry Electric Cooperative, Mercy Hospital, Cassville Country Club, the Cassville Aquatic Center and Crowder Cassville.

One of the biggest jobs stands out — the George’s plant near Butterfield.

“That one was a continuous pour that took 14 days,” Stehlik said. “I didn’t get much sleep, not for two weeks. But, I had a lot of good help.”

Over the years, staffing evolved with the times.

“It’s a lot harder to get people,” Stehlik said. “You know, there’s a lot better jobs around now than when we first started.”

Still, some employees have built their careers at Barry County Ready Mix.

“We’ve got some people that have been worth us 25 to 30 years,” Stehlik said. “My previous bookkeeper and office manager, she was with me for 40 years of the 50, and now her daughter’s working for me.”

Demand has also swung with economic cycles.

“At some points, we did over double what we do now,” Stehlik said. “And then that was at the peak, when everything was good.”

Stehlik said he survived downturns by staying committed and adaptable.

“It could have been some of that, and the fact that I didn’t know how to do anything else,” he said.

Even after 50 years, Stehlik said he still comes to work with the same approach.

“Oh, I haven’t thought much about [the future],” Stehlik said. “I just get up every day come to work.”

Today, Barry County Ready Mix operates three plants — located in Cassville, Shell Knob and Eagle Rock — though Stehlik said keeping them running takes extra effort.

“It takes a lot more work to make a yard of concrete than it does for bigger, more modern plant,” Stehlik said. “But, we still make a good quality product.”

Staffing-wise, the company employs about 15, down from when Stehlik also owned the quarry in Jenkins and Barry County Ready Mix made its own rock.

The business today focuses on reliable, local service rather than chasing massive contracts.

“We don’t chase the big products like we used to, just simply because of manpower,” Stehlik said. “Our goal now is to take care of the really good contractors that we have relationships with. We make sure we take really good care of the local contractors.”

Stehlik said those reliable contractors and the community have made the business successful.

“I’m grateful to the area for helping support us,” Stehlik said. “If it hadn’t been for our customers and friends and stuff, we wouldn’t have made it, of course.”

Sustaining in a small town is rare, ad Stehlik said the industry nationally is consolidating.

“Big corporations are taking over,” he said. “Cement companies are vertically integrating and buying up ready mix producers. When I first started, I spent a few thousand dollars. Now, a new truck will cost $60,000, a new plant will end up costing you $2 million, and our area won’t support that. We’ve got to live with what we’ve got.”

As the industry becomes more complex, Stehlik said he continued doing what he always had — keep things running with what was available.

“If something was broke and we didn’t have the money to fix it, we knew how to patch it until we got by,” he said. 

Stehlik said that knack came from one of his early employees.

“The old boy I originally hired, Jim Sparks, was a loyal employee for a long time,” Stehlik said. “He taught me how to use bailing water and tin cans.”

After 50 years, Stehlik said the journey has been hard work — but worth every bit.

“I made a lot of friends and made a few enemies,” he said. “It’s been a good run. I didn’t get rich, but I made a living.”