Con-Cor Company, Inc. began in 1959 as a two-man soil testing company. Soil boring lead to concrete coring, or “core drilling”. In 1966, a partnership was formed between Orville “Orv” Hoffmann and John Polzer. Con-Cor began with one office in Butler, Wisconsin, and a second opened shortly after, in Des Plaines, Illinois. The concrete cutting industry was very small. Our first large-scale job was a contract at O’Hare Field, for the core drilling of runway expansion lighting in 1969. This type of runway lighting was a developmental design with the light fixtures being embedded in the concrete. Con-Cor designed a coring rig that could power a 12″ bit to drill through 15″ of concrete runway and then remount a 24″ bit to drill a 5″ deep hole over the 24″ hole, to recess the light fixtures.

old con-cor truck

In the early 1980s, the construction industry in Wisconsin was slow. The slowdown in the economy forced Con-Cor to look for other profitable opportunities. We had heard about barn floor grooving, a cutting process with which the University of Wisconsin was experimenting. Barn floor grooving was the cutting of concrete in the milking parlors so dairy cows wouldn’t lose their footing and milk production remained steady. The application required 6 diamond blades to be mounted on a 65 HP flat saw that cut across the barn floors, providing edges on which the cows could catch their slipping hooves. Con-Cor went nationwide and grooved barns throughout 38 states.

Con-Cor also began to manufacture our own diamond core rigs and bits. This endeavor lead to the very popular core drill machine we sell on our website today. Sawing walls for remodeling and demolition became more and more popular. The Wisconsin Department of Transportation developed a “repair instead of replace” philosophy and road repair became more popular in the 1980s and early 1990s. We turned our focus to bidding for Wisconsin DOT state road work.

With the 1990s came many changes. Orv Hoffman retired. John Polzer became ill and passed away and Karen Polzer became president of the company in 1996. We remodeled our offices and added a larger showroom to improve sales of concrete cutting equipment. We took on equipment lines like Stihl and Honda. We developed the best parts and equipment repair division for the Milwaukee area. In 1998, Con-Cor Company received its DBE Certification from the Department of Transportation as a minority business.

Our focus today remains on providing contractors with safe, efficient, experienced service work with professionally-trained operators and continued sales and repair of equipment to provide assistance to our valued customers.