Big Sky Wireless

Koocanusa Excavating

Koocanusa Excavating, one of the largest contracting businesses in the valley, has been serving the community since 1995. It’s current owner, Buck Schermerhorn, brings with him 14 years of experience as an engineer at Montana Design Services.
Schermerhorn’s crew has an immense amount of combined experience among them, and each one has long been a part of the community.
“They bring a lot of wisdom to any project,” Schermerhorn noted with a smile. “I want to see some gray hairs and wrinkles on a job.”
Koocanusa Excavating has experience in many major excavating and infrastructure jobs – landscaping, subdivision roads, installing septic and water systems, and site preparation.
“We’ve focused on creating it to be a multifunctional company, so that we can take on most any construction project,” Schermerhorn explained.
An example of this is landscaping, which has become an important part of Koocanusa Excavating services.
“We’ve done more landscaping work lately than we have in the past, and it’s been kind of fun to work in an artistic frame,” Schermerhorn said. “As a straight black-and-white engineer, it’s been neat to see colors and work in artistic form to see a raw piece of land turn into a work of art and make a landscaping theme for their place.”
Koocanusa Excavating has its own rock pits, to make projects quicker and easier, and with expanded services comes an expanded set of equipment. Five excavators, a dozer, three dump trucks, a belly dump, roller, blade, track skidster, and a backhoe are now part of the business.
“Having so much equipment, it makes us capable to support most any project out there,” Schermerhorn said.
Koocanusa Excavating is about helping the community in more ways than just providing a great service. They have also donated time and manpower to different community projects such as the Riverwalk, the new shot-put pits for the high school, and they are currently helping with the new Kootenai Valley Rangers baseball field.
Schermerhorn, who served as president of the Community Development Council for three years, does drawings for the town engineer for many installation projects for the town. “We try to keep involved,” he added.