Dave Maggiora borrowed money from his father to get the company started and agreed to let his brother, Marty, in as well. Both men worked in the field. Marty eventually began working in the office while Dave continued in the field. 

Under their leadership the company grew.  Forty-five years later the one-man drilling operation has been turned into a multi-million dollar company that employs 60 to 70 full-time workers, including office staff.

Maggiora Bros.' corporate headquarters are located in Watsonville, California, with a branch office in Hollister, California that houses the full-service pump repair and machine shop.

Maggiora Bros.' owns about 30 rigs of various sizes and types. You might find any of them on domestic, municipal/industrial and irrigation drilling projects as well as abandonments and various pump projects for small domestic customers to large municipalities.

Dave's oldest son, Mark, began working summers around 1976. His first duties included broom pushing, cleaning parts and general "go-fering." He began working full-time in 1981 and by then his duties included delivering gravel and casing to the rigs. 

Mike, Dave's other son, came on board a few years after Mark doing the same go-fering and odd jobs during the summers.  After graduating high school, Mike went off to college where he received a bachelor's degree in business. Mike currently runs the pump department.

In 1994, Marty passed away after a fight with cancer. After losing his brother, Dave was forced to regroup.  He and his sons continued on.

Dave has been described as a man with a "vision", one with "a drive to succeed" and, as "a workaholic".  Maggiora Bros. is evidence of all of Dave's hard work. His sons say Dave's life is this company. And that may well be true...but if Joanne, his wife of 43 years, had it her way, they'd be traveling with friends or hanging out with the grandkids instead, letting Mark and Mike run the show!

Mike agreed to answer a few questions for the Iris Newsletter:

Q. What kind of accounts would you list as major long-term customers?

A.  Our major long-term accounts are mainly comprised of large agricultural, municipal and mid-sized water companies.

Q.  To develop and maintain these customers, what is it you feel you need to accomplish?

A.  To maintain these accounts, we need competent employees, a good reputation for quality work and the ability to service our accounts on a timely basis.

Q. You have a competent core group of people working for Maggiora Bros.; some have been with you over 10 years. What is it that you do to gain this kind of employee satisfaction?

A.   We actually have quite a few employees with 20 plus years experience with our company.  Although it is extremely hard to find and retain good employees for all businesses today, we really try to treat our employees the same way we would like to be treated: With honesty and integrity. 

Q.  How competitive is your business and what are you working on to insure a competitive advantage for the future?

A.  The business climate in our service area is very competitive.  We try to keep ahead of our competition by keeping up with new products as they come to the market so as to be able to offer our customers the benefits of such products.  In addition, we also offer a wide range of services so customers can rely on us to be a one-stop shop.  From the well to the pump and distribution system, we offer a turnkey project which most of our competition do not. 

Q.   How do you perceive the Watchman system as an opportunity for your dealership?

A.   The Watchman System fits in well with the direction our company is heading.  By offering innovative products such as the Watchman System, we can provide our customers with a reliable product that will allow our customers to really manage there system and not allow the system the manage them.

Q.  You receive requests from lots of Water Districts that are not in compliance with regulations.  How do you deal with this problem where there is a serious lack of enforcement?

A.  It is very difficult to convince water districts that have compliance issues with regulations to get on board with current regulations. Most water districts are resistance to change, especially the smaller private water districts that rely on the users to run the water company.  In most cases, all we really can do is point out the deficiency(s) and the required corrective action(s).  Since the enforcement agencies are severely understaffed, and cannot enforce the current regulations, in most cases, most small water districts tend not to comply with current regulations until the enforcement agency catches up with them.

Q.  How do you stay-up with the industry to make sure you understand what is coming in the way of new technology and innovations?

A.  We try to stay up with new technology and innovations through good relationships with our venders.  In addition, we stay active in the California Groundwater Association and attend their trade shows and seminars.

Q.  Can you recall a situation where you were able to save a customer from experiencing a serious mishap?

A.  We have been able to avoid many problems just by routine site visits and maintenance.  We feel the Watchman system will be an excellent addition to our product line that will greatly enhance our ability to avoid emergency calls.

Q.  How frequently do you respond to emergencies?

A. When customers are out of water, their call is always an emergency, so we have emergencies everyday.

Q.  Are you on-call 24-7?

A.  We are a 24-7 service company.