About Jim Smith Contracting

Company History

Jim Smith Contracting began in 1959 in Grand Rivers, Kentucky. The company started by performing small earthwork projects including clearing, excavating and digging farm ponds for local landowners.

Over the next few decades, Jim Smith Contracting grew by completing many diverse highway grade and drain projects, including many sections of the interstate and parkway systems throughout Kentucky.   During our involvement with the interstate and parkway systems, we expanded into the production and placement of asphalt for road and commercial construction projects.

Around the same time, Jim Smith Contracting got involved with the coal mining industry, as Smith Coal. This work became a key part of our company’s activities for more than a decade. During that time, Jim Smith Contracting operated one of the most successful strip-mining operations in the country.

In the last few decades, the organization has continued to innovate and diversify its offerings and services. At one time, Jim Smith Contracting owned and operated a railroad, railroad shops, a fuel and oil distribution center, and a large hotel and convention center. In addition, Smith established, operated, and sold a successful quarry.

Today, Jim Smith Contracting is focused on asphalt paving, grade and drain, bridge construction, and trucking services. With more than 200 employees, our company has the capacity to work on large scale state and federal jobs, corporate/retail, Quarry operations and other specialty projects.