When the late Sam DiGeronimo came to the United States in 1928 from Abruzzi, Italy, little did he realize the impact his life's work would have on the City of Cleveland and beyond. Sam and his son Don started Independence Excavating in 1956 with a backhoe, bulldozer, truck, and only a few employees. They quickly grew to become a leader in the residential and small commercial excavation field. 

In 1971, Don lost his battle with cancer and the responsibility for running the business was assumed by Don's brothers, Victor, Richard, Robert, and Anthony.

Vic, Rich, Bobby DiGeronimo in the 1970's.

Independence Excavating has performed most of the major building excavations in downtown Cleveland. Our first major Cleveland project was the 1972 excavation of the Justice Center Complex. Since then, we've tackled building excavations for Tower City Center, Cleveland State University Convocation Center, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Great Lakes Science Center, numerous projects for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, Flats East Bank, ODOT Innerbelt, Cleveland Browns Stadium, Cleveland Medical Mart, and Gateway, the largest excavation in Cleveland to date. Under the leadership of Bob DiGeronimo, Gateway was one of the most aggressively scheduled projects in the history of the company. Mike Orlando, Vice President of Engineering and Construction, and project coordinators assisted the workforce to bring the project in on schedule. This landmark sports complex revitalized downtown Cleveland and has been an impressive addition to the Cleveland skyline.

Independence Excavating has vast experience in highway and airport construction, site work, environmental remediation, sheeting and shoring, dewatering, demolition and decommissioning, concrete paving, and energy and industrial solutions.

In 1977, our company began to crush and recycle concrete and asphalt from jobs and materials from other contractors.  We currently own and operate twelve recycling yards; three in Ohio, one in Pennsylvania, and eight in Florida where demolition concrete is brought in and recycled into different aggregates for reuse in the construction industry annually producing over 4 million tons of material for our customers.

Now in our third generation, Independence Excavating offers a diverse portfolio of services and employs over 800 people at peak operation, and owns and operates over 500 major pieces of construction equipment.