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Gartner’s Excavating & Trucking is a family-owned and operated excavation and trucking company proudly serving the South Okanagan for more than 30 years. Rooted in deep local knowledge and trusted by generations of homeowners, land developers, wineries, orchard operators, and builders, we bring a level of expertise that only decades of hands-on experience in this region can provide.
From the soil beneath your feet to the contours of the valley itself, we understand the land—because we’ve worked it our entire lives. Our team operates multiple excavators, trucks, and support equipment, enabling us to take on projects of all sizes while maintaining the personal service, reliability, and accountability of a family business.
At Gartner’s, we believe in doing things right: safely, on time, and on budget. Whether you’re preparing a new home site, installing a septic system, developing a vineyard block, or moving material across the valley, you can count on us to deliver quality workmanship backed by decades of local experience.
We’re not just contractors—we’re neighbours committed to building a stronger, more vibrant South Okanagan community, one project at a time.
The Gartner Family
Local. Reliable. Family-Owned since 1992.
Gartner’s has always been in Penticton, BC. The company began as Gartner’s Bobcat, later became Gartner’s Bobcat & Excavating, and today operates as Gartner’s Excavating & Trucking—reflecting the steady growth of our services and capabilities over more than 30 years.
The business started when Kim Gartner was working full-time at a local manufacturing company. One day, he spotted a backhoe operating across the street and thought, “I could do that.” At the time, Kim had an old cab less John Deere backhoe that he tinkered with for personal use—never part of the business, but the first spark of what would eventually come.
After many conversations, Kim and his wife Karol made a life-changing decision: they took all their savings, added a bank loan, and purchased a used bobcat and trailer—launching their business in August 1992. Kim completed his first job that month: 6.5 hours of work for a local landscaper!
For the next 10 years, Kim worked both jobs—days at the manufacturing company, evenings and weekends on Gartner’s Bobcat projects.
The economy was tough and was before the days of cell phones and the internet, finding work meant literally pounding the pavement. Kim and Karol are forever grateful to Ken Ruggles at Berdick Manufacturing, who allowed Kim the flexibility to pursue both roles, and Marvin Hayter (H&M) and Harvey Gardiner, who helped Gartner’s Bobcat get off the ground.
Over time, they saved enough to buy an old used dump truck. In 1996, Karol earned her air ticket and began driving the single-axle dump truck while the kids were in school. Through the next decade, they kept saving, reinvesting, and growing—carefully adding equipment as they could afford it.
Choosing to begin with a bobcat, rather than a backhoe, turned out to be the right call. Eventually, they added a backhoe attachment, followed by a tandem dump truck, and finally their first full excavator—each step expanding the capacity of projects the company could take on.
This was never a business built on inheritance or handouts. It was built on bank loans, long days, long nights, and a family determined to create something of their own.
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Gartner’s has always been a family-run operation. Kim and Karol’s two sons grew up surrounded by equipment—building backyard motorcycle jumps and toboggan hills long before they were old enough to join the crew.
Travis, the oldest, began working full-time after high school in 2008. After two years, he moved to Alberta to gain large-scale equipment experience at Imperial Oil’s Kearl Mine, returning in 2021 to help run the family business. Today, Travis leads the business development efforts, schedules of jobs, and runs equipment.
Colby, the youngest, joined the business after graduating in 2010 and has been operating equipment and learning the details of the operations side of the business. Colby now leads the estimating of projects and plays a key role in day-to-day operations.
Travis’s fiancée, Micaela, manages the office paperwork, while Kim, Travis, and Colby jointly run operations and still spend plenty of time on the machines. No one at Gartner’s is “just in the office”—everyone works in the field.
