Our UNIQUE Story

It Started with a Dream
After spending twenty years developing his expertise in the paving business, Tom Letizia, Sr. dreamed of having a family-owned business devoted to premium quality products that delivered the highest performance, while providing customers with superior service and genuine fairness. In 1959, Tom founded UNIQUE Paving Materials with the motto, “where quality and service count.”

A Coffee Can and a Welding Rod –
The Birth of High-Performance Cold Mix
Looking for a permanent pavement repair formulation that worked during the winter, Tom began experimenting with additives and aggregates. He mixed his first batches in a coffee can with a welding rod.

After tireless research and experimentation, Tom formulated his proprietary ingredients which even today, we refer to as the “secret sauce additive in UPM^® Permanent Pavement Repair Material.”

Word Traveled Fast

Sales were modest in the beginning with just two municipalities in the Cleveland area buying UNIQUE’s innovative cold patching asphalt material.

Word traveled fast throughout the industry that this new product stayed in the holes and was outlasting the surrounding pavement. UPM Permanent Pavement Repair Material was on its way to worldwide recognition as The High-Performance Cold Mix.

UPM Mix Named in SHRP Study

Many independent tests were done on UPM mix throughout the ’70s, ’80s and 90s proving its performance as being superior to all other pavement patching products on the market.

Then, the federal government through the Strategic Highway Research Program (SHRP Study), named UPM mix as its control material for the largest study on pothole patching materials.