Service area · Northwestern Wisconsin
Based in Eau Claire. West to Menomonie, north to Chetek, east to Stanley, and the townships between. If you're inside those lines, we'll come and look at it. Not sure? Call, the estimate is free either way.
The edges
Most of the ground between these towns is farm country, and a driveway out there is often several times the size of one in town. That doesn't put it out of reach. It does mean we measure it rather than guess at it, so the number you get is for your driveway and not for an average one.
Pick yours for what the driveways and lots there are actually like, and what we do about it.
Altoona sits immediately east of Eau Claire, close enough that Fairfax Street is most of what separates them. Lake Altoona and the Eau Claire River form the northern edge and Otter Creek the southern one. The US 53 bypass opened in 2006 with an interchange at River Prairie Drive, and essentially everything new in town has been built around that interchange since.
Augusta sits in southeastern Eau Claire County where Highway 12 runs east and Highway 27 crosses it, about ten miles north of the interstate. Bridge Creek and Diamond Valley Creek run through town, both trout water, which is a nicer way of saying there's more groundwater under this town than under most.
Bloomer sits north of Chippewa Falls where Highways 40 and 64 cross, the largest town in the northern half of the service area and the one most of the smaller places up there drive to.
Cadott sits in Chippewa County where Highway 27 crosses Highway 29 and the Yellow River, halfway between Chippewa Falls and Stanley on the four-lane. The village has advertised itself since 1955 as the halfway point between the equator and the North Pole, and the sign in the park is honest enough to add that the actual line is three miles north.
Cameron sits in Barron County where US Highway 8 meets US Highway 53, which is the reason to know it. Highway 8 is the main east-west route across northern Wisconsin and 53 is the north-south spine, so a village of 1,872 sits on a genuine crossroads and carries the traffic that goes with one.
Chetek is the far northern edge of what we cover, in Barron County, built on the chain of six lakes that runs through the middle of town. Open water covers most of a square mile inside the city limits, which is why a city of 2,172 has the property profile it does.
Chippewa Falls sits on the north bank of the Chippewa River with Duncan Creek running through the middle of it and Lake Wissota about three miles east. The West Hill rises on a bluff west of downtown, so the town has real grade: the hill and the river flats drain completely differently, and pavement on each behaves accordingly.
Colfax sits on the Red Cedar River in Dunn County where Eighteen Mile Creek joins it, about eight miles north of the I-94 corridor. Highways 40 and 170 are the routes through the village. The river banks here are steep and wooded with sandstone outcrops, which isn't incidental: the village had a sandstone quarrying industry and its two landmark buildings are both built from the local stone.
Cornell sits on the Chippewa River upstream of Lake Wissota, where Highways 64 and 27 meet and the Scenic River Road up from Chippewa Falls ends. The country around it is glacial: rolling forested moraine, kettle ponds, eskers and kames left by the Chippewa Lobe. Brunet Island State Park sits at the north end of Park Road where the Fisher River joins the Chippewa.
Durand is the Pepin County seat, on the Chippewa River near where it runs down toward the Mississippi, and the southwest corner of what we cover. County seat is the operative fact: it carries a courthouse, county offices and a hospital for a population of 1,854.
Eau Claire sits where the Eau Claire River meets the Chippewa, on the northern edge of the Driftless Area. That matters for pavement more than it sounds: the city runs from river flats up steep slopes toward the east and south sides, so grade and drainage vary sharply from one neighborhood to the next. Clairemont Avenue, Hastings Way and the North Crossing carry most of the commercial traffic.
Elk Mound sits in Dunn County between Eau Claire, Menomonie and Chippewa Falls, named for the mound that rises above it. At about fifteen minutes from the shop it's one of the closest towns to the shop, which matters for what a small job costs to get to.
Fall Creek sits on US Highway 12 about twelve miles east of Eau Claire, with I-94 another twelve miles on and County Road K running north toward Highway 29. The village takes its name from the rapids on the creek that runs through it, and the Eau Claire River passes just to the north.
Lake Hallie sits between Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls at the junction of US 53 and Highway 29, with the Chippewa River along its western edge and the regional airport on its southern border. The lake itself is an oxbow, a piece of the river's old course. The village only incorporated in 2003, which is why so much of it feels, and is, new.
Menomonie sits at the south end of Lake Menomin, a reservoir on the Red Cedar River, right on the boundary between the Central Plain and the Western Upland. I-94 runs along the south side with exits at Highway 25 and again four miles east, and Highway 25 north is the commercial spine. The grade change between the lake flats and the uplands is real, and so is the difference in how they drain.
Mondovi sits in Buffalo County on the Buffalo River, where Highways 10 and 37 meet, in valley ground rather than on the flat. It's the westernmost city we hold a page for and the ground here's Driftless: cut valleys, real grade, and drives that run downhill more often than they run level.
Osseo sits where the north and south forks of the Buffalo River meet, in Trempealeau County, and more importantly where three routes converge: US 10, US 53 and Interstate 94. For a village of 1,811 that produces a commercial profile far larger than the population, concentrated around the interchange.
Stanley straddles the Chippewa and Clark county line just north of Highway 29, with its own interchange and a rail line running past the east business park. At 1,080 feet it sits on some of the highest ground in the area, and the four-lane is why a village of under four thousand carries the commercial traffic it does.
Strum sits on the Buffalo River in Trempealeau County with Crystal Lake on its edge and US Highway 10 running through as the main route. The Buffalo River State Trail, thirty-six miles of old railroad corridor between Mondovi and Fairchild, passes through the village. Rolling hills in open farm country, and unusually for this area, unglaciated ground.
Most of this area is not in a city. If your address is a fire number on a town road rather than a street in a village, you're still inside the line and we still come out.
If several driveways on the same road need doing, tell us when you call.
A lot needs a walk-through and a written number before a date, so start the conversation ahead of the season.
Call and ask. Addresses just outside the line get told so on the call.
