This year marks a special milestone as A&D Equipment celebrates 10 years of partnering with Steelwrist to help bring one of the world’s leading tiltrotator manufacturers to the United States.

Founded 21 years ago by Stefan Stockhaus, Steelwrist has grown into a global company with a presence in more than 20 countries. With a vision of becoming the world’s best at increasing excavator efficiency, Steelwrist continues to develop innovative solutions that help contractors work safer, smarter, and more productively. Today, the United States has become Steelwrist’s largest market and Stefan believes the opportunities for future growth here are even greater.

Like many great partnerships, this one began with an unexpected phone call.

More than a decade ago, Anthony LaFata contacted Stefan from the United States looking to purchase a screening bucket. The two had never met and had only spoken a few times over the phone. Because the companies were complete strangers, Stefan asked Anthony if he would be willing to pay for the order in advance. Without hesitation, Anthony sent a substantial amount of money to someone he barely knew.

That simple act of trust left a lasting impression.

About a year later, Steelwrist was preparing to establish its U.S. headquarters. While Stefan knew the American market held tremendous potential, he had never actively marketed there and knew very few people in the country. One of the first people he thought to call was Anthony LaFata.

Anthony welcomed Stefan to Guilford, Connecticut, shared his local knowledge, and helped him navigate the many logistical and practical challenges of launching a business in the United States. After researching where the greatest concentration of potential customers could be found, Steelwrist ultimately chose Berlin, Connecticut as the location for its U.S. headquarters.

As the partnership continued to grow, so did the friendship. When Steelwrist appointed Christian Yanes as Vice President of Sales for the U.S., Christian, his wife, and their child even lived on the LaFata family property while establishing the business.

Looking back, Stefan says what drew him to Anthony and Donna LaFata was their hardworking, down-to-earth nature and, above all, their integrity. The trust Anthony demonstrated by paying for that very first order before they had ever met spoke volumes about his character.

When asked what makes A&D Equipment such a valuable partner, Stefan’s answer was simple:

“The people.”

After ten years of working together, the relationship has grown well beyond business.

When asked to describe the partnership between Steelwrist and A&D Equipment, Stefan said,

“It’s almost like a family relationship.”

At A&D Equipment, we couldn’t agree more. We are incredibly grateful for the trust, friendship, and shared commitment to helping contractors succeed that has defined the past decade. We look forward to continuing to grow together and bringing innovative attachment solutions to customers across North America for many years to come.

On July 15, A&D Equipment welcomed contractors, arborists, and landscape professionals from across the Northeast to our Guilford, Connecticut headquarters for Built in the Dirt: Field Test and Evaluation Day. The event gave attendees a unique opportunity to see industry-leading attachments in action, ask questions directly to product experts, and experience firsthand how the right equipment can improve productivity on the jobsite.

Throughout the day, guests watched live demonstrations and had the opportunity to operate equipment in real working conditions. Featured attachments included the MDE Scorpion Rake Grab (S900 & S1600), MDE Koala Tree Shears (K300 & K400), the Lloyd Rotastar Screening Bucket, and the Steelwrist Tiltrotator. Each demonstration highlighted how these innovative attachments increase efficiency, improve machine versatility, and help contractors accomplish more with every job.

One of the highlights of the event was the official introduction of MDE Machinery to the Northeast. Based in Ireland, MDE Machinery has earned a reputation for designing high-quality excavator attachments built for durability and performance. A&D Equipment is proud to partner with MDE, bringing their innovative product line to customers throughout the region while sharing a common commitment to building lasting relationships with contractors.

Members of the MDE team traveled from Ireland to attend the event, giving visitors the opportunity to learn directly from the people who design and manufacture the equipment. Their presence reinforced the partnership between MDE and A&D Equipment and demonstrated a shared commitment to customer support, innovation, and long-term success.

At A&D Equipment, we believe there is no substitute for seeing equipment perform in real-world conditions before making an investment. Events like Built in the Dirt allow customers to compare products, gain hands-on experience, and make informed purchasing decisions with confidence.

A sincere thank you to everyone who attended and helped make the day a success. We look forward to hosting more opportunities to bring manufacturers, equipment, and contractors together because the strongest partnerships are truly Built in the Dirt.

It didn’t start with excavators. It started with Christmas trees. 

Anthony LaFata’s father and uncle, Italian immigrants who came to Connecticut with nothing but a work ethic, found a piece of property in Vermont where a landowner would let them cut trees. Every year, they’d drive up, load the truck, and sell Christmas trees on the streets of New Haven. That hustle funded a small plot of land in Guilford, Connecticut. That land became the base for a landscaping operation. The landscaping grew into excavation. The excavation grew into one of the region’s most respected site work companies: LaFata and Son, incorporated in 1976. 

Anthony grew up inside that business. At 10 and 11 years old, he was fueling equipment and cleaning machines after school. By 16, he was proficient enough to work real job sites. By 18, he had his tractor-trailer license and was responsible for moving all the company’s equipment from site to site, freeing his father to run the business rather than logistics. 

“You woke up and drank, ate, and slept the business. That’s just how it was.” 

He went to community college for an associate’s degree in civil engineering; not to become an engineer, but to speak the language. To sit across the table from architects and surveyors and actually understand what they were talking about. That instinct, to build knowledge that would serve the work, has defined his career ever since. 

By the 1990s, Anthony had taken LaFata and Son deeper into commercial work: mass excavation, utility installations, underground infrastructure. By the 2000s, engineers were calling him before projects were even designed, asking how he’d approach the site. His experience had become a resource that projects were built around, not just brought in to execute. 

Why A&D Equipment Exists 

A&D Equipment wasn’t planned. It evolved the same way the LaFata family business did, organically, out of necessity and curiosity. 

In the late 1990s, Anthony started experimenting with specialty attachments that the broader industry hadn’t fully recognized yet. He partnered with a European manufacturer, Steelwrist, to develop products he couldn’t find in the U.S. market. Those products started selling. Other contractors wanted them. A small revenue stream became a company. 

A&D Equipment was formally established in 2012. The name stands for Anthony and Donna,  husband and wife, the way most real businesses are actually built. 

Today, A&D works with contractors from small owner-operators to multi-billion-dollar corporations. But the approach hasn’t changed: get to know the customer, understand their actual problem, and find the right tool for the job, not just the one that’s easiest to sell. 

The goal, as Anthony puts it, is simple: “Our customers need to increase their bottom line with the investment they make through the products we provide.” 

That’s been the standard for 50 years. It isn’t changing now. 

Since founding C.L. Powers Jr. in 1995, Chuck Powers has built his business on a simple philosophy: provide quality work, take care of your customers, and never lose sight of what matters most. What began as a small operation serving local farms and homeowners with projects that larger contractors often overlooked has grown into a respected excavation business specializing in new construction, additions in tight-access locations, and septic system installations.

Despite that growth, Chuck has remained true to his roots. As a family-focused business, his wife and daughter still lend a hand when needed, and he continues to enjoy taking on the smaller jobs that first helped establish his reputation nearly 30 years ago.

Chuck’s fleet has grown significantly since the early days with a single John Deere tractor. Today, he operates a Cat 311 excavator, a Bobcat E88 excavator, and two Bobcat T770 skid steers, all equipped to tackle a wide variety of projects efficiently.

To maximize productivity, Chuck has invested in several attachments from A&D Equipment, including a Steelwrist tiltrotator with an S-coupler and multiple buckets, a ripper, plate compactor, screening bucket with couplers for both the E88 and T770, and a mulcher.

As a one-man operation, Chuck says these tools have made a tremendous difference.

“The Steelwrist and attachments have made working much more efficient. It takes less time to change attachments and reduces some of the physical strain on my body.”

While he doesn’t currently have a specific attachment on his wish list, Chuck is always looking for equipment that will help his business work smarter and more efficiently.

When asked what he values most in an equipment dealer, Chuck’s answer reflects the same principles that have guided his own business for decades.

“I expect a dealer to stand behind the products they sell, understand what my company needs, and listen instead of assuming they know what’s best.”

For Chuck, A&D Equipment has consistently delivered on those expectations. He added that they’re very thorough and make sure customers are fully informed before purchasing equipment. “They follow through after the sale and aren’t just trying to sell you something, they want to make sure you’re investing in equipment that will truly help your business.” Chuck goes on to say that he thinks A&D really enjoy getting to work through problems with their customers as well. “A&D Equipment sees their customers as people, and that’s something I really appreciate.”

Thank you, Chuck, for trusting A&D Equipment to be part of your journey. We appreciate your partnership and look forward to supporting C.L. Powers Jr. for many years to come.