Company History
1948
Jack Serwa Established
1966
Phil Large (son-in-law) succeeded
1982
Brad Serwa (grandson) re-established
2022
Jason Serwa (great-grandson) succeeded
At the time, Phil was the District Engineer for the Department of Highways. By this time, Serwa Bulldozing was building logging roads, digging basements, clearing old orchards, leveling land, and working for the Irrigation District. Equipment consisted of eight bulldozers, two loaders, a grader, a crusher, and a shop. Phil enjoyed the challenge. In 1967, he formed DMJ Construction Ltd., and bought more equipment so that they could focus on building subdivision roads and demolishing buildings. In 1982, Phil formed Jen-Ter Enterprises, handling mainly crushing jobs, and sold Serwa Bulldozing to his nephew, Brad Serwa.
Serwa Excavating is a family owned and operated company, serving the Kelowna area since its inception as Serwa Bulldozing, in 1948. The company was a brainchild of Jack Serwa, who had come to this beautiful valley to retire. Not one to rest on his laurels, Jack purchased a couple of tractors and was instrumental in building many of the roadways that opened up the interior and northern parts of British Columbia, in the 1950's and 1960's. Jack had one son, Cliff, whose dream was to open a ski resort in the mountains near Kelowna. This remained Cliff's focus, resulting in the successful opening of Big White Ski Resort. So, when Jack retired to play crib, he sold the company to his son-in-law, Phil Large.
Brad started with just one backhoe digging basements. Then, he secured the contract for the Westside Landfill. Within 10 years, and long after his father’s retirement, Serwa Bulldozing was working at Big White, clearing runs and sites for chalet and condominium developments. Over the last 60 years, Serwa Bulldozing can attest to having built roads, subdivisions, damns and sewage treatment facilities, moved lifts and buildings and been involved in about 90 percent of the development of the ski resort itself.
Forty years later, Brad’s son, Jason Jack Serwa, has purchased all rights and equipment of the company and progressively changed the name to Serwa Excavating. As a Professional Engineer, he is excited to see where the future takes us. Along with our work at Big White, we also service agriculture, vine and orchard infrastructure in the Central Okanagan, support forest fire suppression and participate in large development projects. The company now employs up to twenty people during peak times and operates a couple of gravel pits that benefit our customers at Big White and nearby Idabel & McCulloch Lake Resorts. With more than 25 pieces of equipment, from bobcats to bulldozers, rubber tired backhoes to track excavators and gravel trucks to rock trucks and rock crushers, Serwa Excavating is proud of their achievements!