Smith Sondy’s story begins in 1946 when President Joseph Smith’s father, Edward J. Smith, made a declaration that would set the family’s trajectory for the next three-quarters of a century. Like many in the industry, Joe began working for the family at an early age, pushing a broom until he was a teenager and later able to work in the field as a laborer. 

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Joe went on to graduate from Fairleigh Dickenson University where he studied marketing. In 1973, while he was still in college, Joe took over the day-to-day business of the company and spent his senior year of college splitting time between running the business and his full-time course load. 

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Two years later, Joe purchased one third of the business from his father. When his father passed away in 1977, Joe continued to pursue ownership of Smith-Sondy, buying out his mother in 1980, and then Joe Sondy in 1987.

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Joe’s current partner and Vice-President, Nick Genchi joined the firm in 1981. Nick graduated from Memphis State University in 1976 with a degree in Civil Engineering. He worked briefly as a consultant, but ultimately came to join the construction business with Smith Sondy. Nick brought valuable contributions to the business, and after 6 years together, became a partner.

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Nick’s skills and background as a professional engineer enabled the firm to take on more technical work, beginning with an $864,000 site improvement contract for the Clifton City Hall. From there, the duo was well positioned to take on an increasing amount of public work, further diversifying their portfolio and solidifying their reputation as a premier paving operation in the state.

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Nick says, “In the past, the firm concentrated on grading and paving as a subcontractor to larger construction companies, but over the years, developers would prefer to give out one contract, and that’s basically when we started building up our sitework expertise. We started to take on the crews and performed much of that work ourselves.”

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Now, with about 100 employees, Smith-Sondy continues to build upon its legacy. They’re currently finishing up a State Department of Transportation project on Route 23, working on a project for Amazon in Carlstadt, and have just completed a 50,000-ton paving project for Union County, and a 40,000-ton project for Essex County. 

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Despite its commercial success, Smith-Sondy remains a family business. Their office is still located in the house where Joe was raised, and they have an impressive history of employee retention. “Our management team has about 300 years of collective expertise, and our employees are our most valuable asset,” Joe says.  “Our management team has about 300 years of collective expertise… our employees are our most valuable asset.”

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For three-quarters of a century, Smith-Sondy has built upon its success and expanded into a multi-million-dollar success story, all while remaining true to its foundations. Their mission of ‘building relationships through quality, integrity and service’ has served them well, and remains at the core of their business model, to this day and into the future.