Submitted photo: D & G Excavating owners Brian (left) and Kristin Gruhot (center), alongside son David Gruhot (right) stand by one of the company’s working semi-trucks. D & G is a multi-generational family business that services around southwest Minnesota.

LYND — From demolition, to hauling, landscaping, snow removal and everything in between, Lynd’s D & G Excavating is rooted by family and has been servicing the area for nearly five decades. 

Originally established in 1979, the Gruhot family has continued to elevate its mission and grow its impact with D & G Excavating, while remaining as a multi-generational family business that continues to make impact through the community and surrounding region. 

Dave and Sharon Gruhot were the starters of D & G Excavating, who then passed down ownership to their son Brian, and his wife Kristin Gruhot, in 2007 who are still the current owners. 

“D & G Excavating was started in 1979 by my in-laws, Dave and Sharon Gruhot. Brian became an employee at that point, too. He was young, but he was digging basements for them and everything,” Kristin said. “I started with the company in 1992 once I married Brian … It’s been a good ride. It really has.” 

Located just outside of Marshall on the cusp of Lynd, D & G serves a large part of the region including Worthington, Slayton, Granite Falls, Ghent, Canby and more. Services include excavation, utilities and septic work, oversized hauling and more, and it also mines and manufactures its own aggregate material. 

Brian and Kristin took over the business to keep the family tradition running when Dave was readying for retirement. 

“He (Dave) said, ‘You have two choices. You guys can either buy me out, or you can find other jobs. I plan on closing up shop’ … So, February 12th of 2007, we closed on the company and bought it from Dave and Sharon,” Kristin said. “It took us six weeks from beginning to end for the process … We’ve owned it ever since. Our son, David (Gruhot), who was also born in 1992 when I started working here, (he) has grown up in the company … He went to college at SDSU (South Dakota State University) as part of the construction management program, and now David will be the third-generation owner.” 

D & G has seen significant growth over the years, in both operations as well as from the grounds where it first started up. It was initially headquartered in the basement of Dave and Sharon’s home, until they built the current office building on the same property next to the shop in 1994. 

“When I first started, the office was in the basement, and everything was done by hand … You would get a bill in, and you’d have to enter it in a written ledger, line by line … You think about the time lag,” Kristin said. “They do the bill, and then they send it back for a review, and then they mail it off to the customer. So, maybe a month after the job, you might get a bill in the mail … I told them, ‘Let me run with it, let me put this on the computer, I can do this.’ So yeah, I stepped into that role, just computerizing everything.” 

As construction can often require long working days for employees, the Gruhot’s also wanted to provide their workers with another resource for those with families, furthering their reach and community impact. 

“One of the biggest changes we made in 2016 was opening a daycare, because a lot of the home-based daycares around here only take kids from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., and we start working at 6:30 in the morning,” Kristin said. “We had to come up with an alternative to accommodate the parents who work longer hours, so we have a daycare down in Lynd that is available for our employees, and we’re extended open hours to accommodate our guys.” 

The daycare center is Li’l Diggers, and Kristin said she came up with the idea while on a vacation to Hawaii in 2016, where she was thinking on the beach of how D & G could better retain employees with families. 

Kristin cited that her neighbors at the time owned the building of the former Caboodle Cafe in Lynd, who were selling the building, which is now the daycare. 

Beyond the Gruhot’s continuing the family business, employees of D & G that have come and gone through have also played into the close-knit environment. 

“When I first came here, it felt like family. Everybody was family, we did everything together. We camped together, we had lots of company outings, company parties. We knew everybody’s families, kids, birthdays. We celebrated everything,” Kristin said. “I feel as the generations (passed), that kind of stretched out, started dating a little bit, but now I can see the younger guys really forming that bond again, which is good to see.”  

D & G has been a part of several projects throughout the region, as its work continues to be seen and used every day. When it comes to making a difference in the community, the Gruhot’s appreciate being a resource to help make improvements and dreams a reality. 

“I like that we, (with) a lot of the projects in town, have been involved. You hear this from the wives, even like my daughter-in-law, Melissa, she’s like, ‘Every time we go drive around, David is pointing things out like, ‘We dug that base, and I dug that, oh see that garage, yeah, we did that,”” Kristin said. “It’s just, it’s the whole town … We have history like that.”