At age 8, Matt Quinnell was driving skid steers around a plot of land. Not so unusual, given his family is in the construction industry. Today, Quinnell is the lead equipment operator and a foreman as the second generation to help operate Advanced Wall Structures in Prior Lake, MN, which his parents Terry and Patti started in 1992. “Nothing has really changed,” says Quinnell, “except my sandbox has gotten a little bigger.” Advanced Wall Structures provides services in natural boulder and block retaining walls, hardscaping, demolition, grading, and tree removal for the commercial and residential sectors in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area with seven employees. Quinnell does most of the company’s retaining wall installations, using boulders sourced from local farmers’ fields.
His brother Chris works as the foreman for the segmental retaining wall jobs. His father does the scheduling and permits and helps drive trucks. His mother does office work. The company works with several national and custom homebuilders, such as Pulte and D.R. Horton.
What Led Him into This Line of Work
Quinnell was studying mechanical engineering in college but decided it wasn’t as interesting as the hands-on work entailed in his family’s business. “I liked being out on the job site and in the field,” he says. “I was born to do it. I like that freedom versus being in an office. A lot of our walls are engineered and 20 to 30 feet tall. I work with civil engineers and mechanical engineers constantly. I still get that fix as far as math and understanding how things go together. I enjoy operating equipment in my day-to-day interactions in working with different companies and building relationships.” Quinnell says what makes a family business stand out is “it’s not just you’re working for a business—there is more skin in the game. We all know our roles and what needs to be done.” He says the company doesn’t advertise much, relying instead on its reputation for referrals. The company is often called in to work in confined spaces. Quinnell says in the last 15 years he’s worked in the industry, “the sites have gotten smaller and a little bit more demanding. You need to be flexible with how sites are set up.”
What He Does Day to Day
Quinnell typically starts work about 7:30 a.m. and sometimes calls it a day at midnight, depending on the season and the job requirements. He ensures everyone has what they need to get the job done and then initiates his site work building boulder walls. “I have an eye for it,” he says. “A lot of people call it an art. My main focus is to build more challenging boulder walls—the ones that are really large. I try to divide the easier tasks among the other workers. I’ll go to meetings, but that’s pretty rare—my Dad takes care of most of that.” The company’s fleet includes Doosan and Bobcat excavators and skid steers as well as rock grapples and buckets. It also includes an Engcon tiltrotator, which Quinnell calls the “Swiss Army knife” with its 360-degree spin and 45-degree pivot and various attachments. “It helps us get a lot of things done we couldn’t do before,” he says. “We have a lot of issues with doing soil corrections. There’s a lot of safety issues with that. OSHA once showed up on a job site unannounced. We were completely in compliance, thanks to that machine and attachments. When we can buy and use equipment that makes us more efficient and lowers the operator fatigue, it’s a win in my book.”
What He Likes Best About His Work
“Building is a process,” points out Quinnell. “Each wall is different, so it’s always a challenge for me. I like pushing myself and the equipment as far as I possibly can. I like working hard. There’s a lot of satisfaction at the end of the day.”
