ABOVE: Colby Grotte puts down water on a farmer’s roads. By doing dust control in this way, it minimizes dust inhalation health risks and keeps dust from adding onto the home and requiring cleanup.

FAIRMONT – Juggling helping his father with construction and his own work, 22-year-old Colby Grotte is making his own path early on.

Colby is a fifth-generation Grotte. The family originally came from Norway. He started working for his dad, Greg Grotte, while he was in school in Fairmont, but found himself wanting to do more.

“I wanted something more to do on the nights and the weekends,” Grotte said. “I hate dust. Dust has always been not good. My brother does detailing. I like a clean vehicle, and I liked to not have any dust on the farm site.”

While it is never easy to start a new venture, Grotte said it’s what his family has always done.

“We’ve always worked for ourselves, doing the concrete and the snow removal,” he said. “Why I went into something on my own is I’ve always wanted to be a business owner myself. I like making my own choices for the business, pretty much something that nobody can tell me what to do, and I like to make the calls.”

In dust control, he said 75 percent of the work he does is home improvement, working on rural farm homes.

“It’s in front of the acreages,” Grotte said. “In front of the homes, to create less dust to breathe in, and better for your health. I do a little bit of businesses, but mostly for the homeowners.”

For dust control, Grotte employs a relatively straightforward setup.

“I have a big tanker truck that applies it with a spray bar in the rear,” he said. “It’s all flow metered out toward the correct flow coming out. The tanker itself is just a big water tank truck, nothing too fancy, goes to a pump and goes out the rear.”

When setting up jobs, Grotte said he wants to ensure he establishes communication with the owners and gets a lay of the land.

“I go by feet,” he said. “And the feet is how far of a length it is. I can do a 10-foot pass, a 14-foot pass and a 15-foot pass. I can be very fluctuant for the width, but for the feet, it comes in all different sizes. The application rate is pretty much the same across the board, unless it’s a little heavier of a traveled road.”

In talking with people, Grotte said he has seen several home positives measured by customers.

“A big thing is health-wise, breathing in a lot of dust,” he said. “There’s a lot of cars that travel on these gravel roads. I see a lot of people who like it because [they’re] cleaning their windows not so often. They can actually enjoy outside, because it’s not as dusty. I see a lot of benefits just in between the health and being able to enjoy your house in the country without being stormed by dust.”

Springtime is his busiest time of the year. Grotte said some prefer to do it in the fall, but he has reasons for preferring spring to do his business.

“There’s a lot of moisture from the spring rain, so the mixture soaks in and locks in that moisture,” he said. “Majority of the people are going to be enjoying the outside in the spring and early summer.”

Around a year ago, Grotte added a new facet to his business with bulk water services. This came due to popular demand.

“I got a lot of phone calls asking if I fill water, do a lot of pool stuff,” he said. “It’s the same truck. I had to get a couple more hoses and stuff like that, but pretty much the same thing that I use for my dust control. I just switch a couple gears, and I go to filling the water pools.”

The water he uses is treated water purchased directly from municipal water sources, and Grotte schedules pool and dust control jobs in separate shifts to keep them as separate as possible.

“I strive for a very, very clean tank every time,” he said. “Every time I were to go put dust control down, I rinse out the tank and sanitize the tank. If I were to haul any water, everything is good to go.”

In dust control, he averages around 50 to 100 customers a year, and on the bulk water side, he receives several calls a week to fill pools, while also keeping time open to assist his father in the main construction side of the family business.

This doesn’t deter Colby Grotte though; he is looking at expansion in the near future.

“I’m always looking to expand, help a lot more people,” he said. “This year, I am expanding my bulk water service up to Mankato to try and help some more people up there.”

Overall, he said he is content with his equipment, but a few years down the line, he is interested in upgrading his truck.

For more information or to inquire, call 507-848-1554.

*Editor’s Note: This article ran in the Sentinel’s Spring Home Improvement section on March 26, 2026.