Man cinches the sandbag market with a lucky buy

SNOHOMISH – Marc Castoriano swears he can’t see into the future, but he made one fortuitous purchase early this month that has him thanking his lucky stars.

Castoriano, a certified arborist, produces organic compost for his 15-year-old company, Nature’s Helper Northwest.

On Nov. 6, he bought a commercial-sized bagging machine from Wilder Construction in Everett.

Record-breaking downpours convinced him to expand his plan.

By Nov. 7, when much of the Snohomish River Valley was flooded, Castoriano, 33, was using the machine to bag sand.

By the end of the week, he had more than 10,000 orders for sandbags from business owners and residents desperate to save their property.

“We bought the machine from a construction company and found out there’s a huge demand for sandbags,” he said.

He said his first customer was Wilder Construction. The company bought about 8,000 sandbags as soon as they sold him the machine, Castoriano said.

“It’s all about timing, isn’t it?” said Steve Harding, business development manager at Wilder Construction. “The day we cut it loose we have a keen need for it.”

Vicious rains and subsequent flooding caused at least $20 million in damage to the region, according to the most recent estimate from Snohomish County officials.

That number may go up as the flood’s total impact is assessed.

More than 500 houses were damaged, and 27 were completely destroyed.

Wilder Construction, a highway construction company, ordered sandbags from Castoriano in an emergency response to the flooding.

It’s not easy to find a business that specializes in filling and delivering sandbags, Harding said.

“You can find people who’ll sell you the bags, and you can get the sand, but putting the two together and getting it to the site, that’s key,” he said.

Castoriano isn’t celebrating others’ losses.

“We’re happy that we’re able to help out,” he said. “This is our way of taking care of things.”

Castoriano hopes to sell sandbags to the cities and towns that could have used them during the most recent flood.

He bought the used bagging machine for about $10,000. New, they can cost up to $25,000, he said.

Sandbags sell for $1.50 each, or $1.90 each to have them stacked on a pallet and shrink-wrapped. Castoriano has sold as many as 15,000 sandbags in three weeks, and the orders just keep coming in.

Even though the hardest rains have come and gone, many people are using sandbags to protect driveways and yards from water bubbling out of plugged drains, Castoriano said.

“We haven’t even begun to do any type of advertising whatsoever,” he said. “This has all just been word of mouth.”

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