Sacramento, California-based concrete supplier Folsom Ready Mix was founded in 1999 by Scott and Lisa Silva. At the time, Scott was working as a small concrete contractor specializing in landscaping and pool decks during a construction boom. Frustrated at the timing involved in securing concrete for jobs, he decided to buy his own concrete mixer trucks and become his own supplier, a venture that morphed over time into his purchasing land to build a plant of his own.
Around 2016, Folsom Ready Mix established its own concrete lab and hired people with more experience on the commercial side, which is how the venture grew from a concrete producer for small contractors into counting public works and large commercial outfits among its clientele.
Across 2020 and 2021, Folsom Ready Mix expanded its initial California-based operations into Reno, Nevada, this time as a separate company named Silver Strike Concrete. Silver Strike is run by the same management team and back office as Folsom, but it does have its own sales and operations forces unique to Nevada.
In 2023, Folsom Ready Mix was acquired by The Farmer Companies, a construction materials producer based in Missouri and with worldwide reach. Derek Miller, President for Folsom Ready Mix and Silver Strike Concrete, says that its new parent company has helped the company not miss a beat with its customer service during the changeover: “We are much more stable being part of a large nationwide corporation while maintaining the same company culture,” he tells us.
Miller says that, throughout its considerable history, people have been a large part of what has defined Folsom Ready Mix, with many of its salespeople boasting 15 to 20 years of experience in the concrete industry. Miller himself came into the fold in 2016 and is one of many employees who bring a unique mix of both insider and outsider business practices and knowledge to the company. This is a part of a “many heads are better than one” approach that gives the company a broader perspective and allows it to succeed.
Innovation is another long-held value of Folsom Ready Mix; from the very beginning, Scott Silva preferred to be on the cutting edge, developing and welcoming valuable innovations. The company focuses on implementing relevant technology that gives its customers better service, produces a quality product, and ultimately, helps to grow the business. To this end, it has partnered with a Silicon Valley-based construction technology outfit, Handle, that is helping manage and streamline the business’ lean processes, leading to benefits for both staff and the end customer by facilitating a more streamlined payment process.
In its time, the company has implemented an in-house lab as well as quality software to help with concrete submittals. The team is also thankful for partner Verifi for its technology that assists in in-transit concrete management, as well as CRM (customer relationship management) systems that allow customers to receive their quotes and submittals quickly. Indeed, the ability to respond to last-minute customer needs as they arise using the technology the company has at hand goes a long way. “Our vendors describe us as user-friendly,” says Miller, a compliment that validates the efforts the team continues to make.
This year has been a packed one for the company, as it has undertaken projects like the Folsom Dam Raise with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, a quality-critical project that aims to reduce flood risk in the Greater Sacramento area. Similar work is being done on the Mosquito Road Bridge Replacement in the Placerville area in El Dorado County, California. Many of these projects also have strict timelines, so it is important that the team not only meets these quality expectations but that service be tight so as to save customers money and labor.
In October of this year, Silver Strike Concrete will be kicking off a project for an airport parking structure in Reno, a project that will require a great deal of experience, attention to detail, and service. Miller says that this type of work is challenging but rewarding to pull off—which the team typically does without a hitch.
Although Miller says that the company has been busier than ever, it has nonetheless been navigating challenging and inconsistent waters due to several factors including the current state of the economy, uncertainty around tariffs, and higher interest rates than in years prior. These elements have created a ripple effect on the specific markets the company works in as well as nationally, the latter of which is a newer concern since The Farmer Companies’ acquisition of the business. Thankfully, the Reno market has been especially busy in 2025, with many projects like parking garages, data centers, and multi-family housing being funded by private investment, painting a rosy future for the company.
Miller tells us that the new ownership has been open in its desire for the company to expand its geographical reach. There are no specific moves to be made just yet, but it is something that is always under consideration. Miller says that Folsom is as much a trucking company as it is a concrete provider, so the greater its geographical spread, the more it can expand its service offerings because of newfound proximity to available jobs. Since part of the company’s modern identity involves a geographical expansion with Silver Strike Concrete, it stands to reason that Folsom could find further success in other parts of Northern California.
Into the new year and beyond, the company will be looking to invest in new technology that will help both it and its customers reach their respective goals. Miller says that the team is hoping to work with a company that specializes in maturity meters, sensors placed in concrete that communicate to a monitoring device to determine concrete strength over time. The team will also be investigating investments and partnerships to monitor its product quality and add further value to customers. Folsom also plans to look inward at its company culture to make sure it is maintaining the right employees and skill sets, rewarding strong performers appropriately, and exploring new opportunities for expansion across the country.
Miller says that interest rates going down will hopefully cascade into 2026 and lead to a rebound in fortunes for that arena of the business and the industry overall. When homeowners struggle with inflation, interest rates, and wages, as well as tariff uncertainty, it can give people in the industry pause around starting projects like home-building (especially since materials like rebar, lumber, and cement powder are generally imported products in this market). Thankfully, this company has a group of loyal customers that value what the business provides; in fact, Folsom and Silver Strike have been a bit busier than many of their competitors who may not claim as diversified a customer portfolio.
“We are thankful for our customers because of their dedication to the company during tough times,” Miller says. Their loyalty is not lost on a business that has always been people-focused, in and out.
