Meet Jake Eckberg

Rugged Earthworx is owned and run by Jake Eckberg, and he has been working with his hands since the day he finished high school.

He started out as a laborer for one of the biggest landscape companies in the area, which is where he first got into hardscape and site work. From 2012 to 2015 he served in the military, and that is where the leadership side of running jobs came from. After that he got his CDL and drove tractor trailer for about eight months before deciding it was not for him.

For the last eleven years he has worked for a local water authority, doing everything from repairing water main breaks to reading meters to treating water. That is where the utility side of this business comes from. Water line installs, trenching and conduit work are things he has done day in and day out.

He first opened the business in 2022 under the name Rugged Utility and Contracting, taking on side work for family, friends and neighbors. About a year and a half in he scaled back on purpose. He has a nine year old and a twelve year old at home, and he was not willing to miss those years. Now that the kids are a little older he is building the business back up, and he rebranded as Rugged Earthworx at the start of this year.

The goal is simple. Grow Rugged Earthworx to the point where he can leave the water authority and run it full time. Every driveway, every drainage job and every acre cleared gets him closer to that.