C-116 Part 4: Case StudiesCharles Samuel Luck, the great grandfather of the current
CEO. In 1925 the quarry employed 23 men and the first
available production records show sales of 94,000 tons
of stone at an average price of $1.40/ton for the year 1928.
During the 1930s Luck Stone acquired four more
quarries in Virginia. One of the quarries purchased was
the Boscobel quarry that is located about 20 miles from
the center of Richmond in Manakin-Sabot, Virginia;
where the company’s headquarters are now located. The
Boscobel quarry has been in operation since the 1880s
and production records for 1931 show that it produced
130,151 tons of stone with net sales of $138,065. In 1938
Luck Stone purchased Fairfax Quarries Inc. for $17,500.
This quarry became one of their most successful quar-
ries because of the growth in Northern Virginia and its
proximity to Washington, D.C.
In the 1940s, the U.S. involvement in World War II
caused major production problems for Luck Stone. By
1942 there was a freeze on all state road contracts, a slow-
down in the construction industry, and labor shortages
for nearly all domestic companies. All of Luck Stone’s
quarries were forced to minimize operations with pro-
duction coming to a virtual halt in 1943 and 1944. The
Boscobel quarry was able to continue operations on a
reduced scale selling exclusively to the U.S. government
for military base construction in the greater Hampton
Roads area. In 1949 the property for a new quarry near
Charlottesville, Virginia, was purchased for $43,500
from the Thomas Jefferson Memorial Commission and
is still operational.Expansion, the Charles S. Luck, III,
Years, 1965 to 1992
After spending summers working in the quarries,
Charles Luck, III, Charlie’s father, joined the company
in 1957 after his graduation from the Virginia Military
Institute and two years of active service in the United
States Air Force. He became President of Luck Stone
in 1965, succeeding his father, Charles S. Luck Jr., who
became Chairman of the Board.
When Charles took over in 1965, sales were approxi-
mately two million tons of crushed stone per year. When
he passed the baton to his son in 1995, annual tonnage of
crushed stone had grown to almost fifteen million tons
per year. The company had expanded to 14 crushed stone
operations, including one in North Carolina. In Virginia,
quarries were purchased or developed and became
operational under the Luck Stone name in Goochland
County (1965), Loudon County (1971), Green County
(land purchased in 1982 and quarry became operational
in 1984), Powhatan County (land purchased in 1984 and
quarry became operational in 1985), Fauquier County,
land purchased in 1987 and quarry became operational
in 1988), Louisa County (land leased in 1989 and lim-
ited production started the same year), Loudon County,
Leesburg (1993), and King William County (1996).
The oil crisis and recession of 1973 produced sky-
rocketing energy prices, high inflation, and a major lull
in the construction industry. Luck Stone’s management
used this time to begin an initiative to bring energy sav-
ings, cost cutting and efficiency improvements to their
operations. Despite the depth of the recession and the
need to reduce hours, no employees were laid off.
Following the recession of 1973, corporate manage-
ment looked for areas into which to diversify in order
to lessen the impact of the cyclical nature of the con-
struction industry. As a result, the Architectural Stone
Division was started in 1976 and their first stone center
opened the next year in Goochland, Virginia.
Under the leadership of Charles, the company estab-
lished itself as an industry leader in technology and
innovation. In 1977 employees of Luck Stone designed
and built the industry’s first totally automated lime plant
in Augusta County, Virginia. The plant was designed to
run unattended and had sensors that shutdown the plant
if a problem arose. In 1987 Luck Stone’s engineering team
designed and built segmentation and automation sys-
tems that allowed a plant to produce crushed stone 24
hours a day. Through his years as president and CEO
of Luck Companies, Charles grew the company signifi-
cantly, created a culture focused on people, and brought
the company to the forefront of innovation.The Charles Luck IV Years
In 1995, Charles Luck IV (Charlie) was named President
of Luck Companies, and his father Charles became
Chairman and CEO. At this point the company
employed approximately 400 associates, produced over
12 million tons of crushed stone, and was known for their
“WE CARE” about our people culture. In addition, Luck
Stone established a nationally recognized safety program,
which became a model for the industry.
Charlie describes his early years as CEO as follows:I really did not fully understand the company at first.
I knew that decision-making was centralized and we never
shared our profit and loss data with our people in the field.
I started sharing revenue, cost data, and profitability num-
bers with our field managers and I also decentralized our
management structure. To begin the development of our
management team, I sent our officers to executive business