Curtis Henning and Horace Hill, two WW2 pilots, founded Concrete Chemicals of CA in 1957. Curtis Henning, a true war hero, was shot down and captured by Nazi forces, later escaping. We like to think that their heroic service to our country is a tradition we have kept through the years. After the war, they collaborated on the idea of creating a company servicing the massive concrete industry in California. San Mateo Feed became one of their original stockholders, helping them realize their dream of providing liquid black, air entraining agent and Z-Con, a water-reducing agent, to the booming construction industry in California in the fifties.

Later, Walter Hay, one of their most trusted employees, bought the company in a handshake deal in 1983 after decades of successful production and service. He concentrated on producing Liquid Black, a carbon-based liquid used to color concrete and plaster. Soon after, his son began working with him in the warehouse, learning the trade, filling bottles, and making deliveries to the cement mixers in the Bay Area.

Eventually, in another handshake deal, Steve Hay purchased the company from his father in 1996. Un 2001, Steve was approached by a pool plasterer, Jeff Kerber, hoping for pool pigments. Steve became one of the first manufacturers of liquid blue, mixing it with liquid black to make the always popular Tahoe Blue and Caribbean Blue.

In 2012, Steve added the production of powder pigments and greatly expanded the colors available to pool manufacturers and their customers. To date, Steve has supplied the colors for two million pools, just within the last ten years.

After nearly thirty years as the sole owner and proprietor of Concrete Chemicals of California, Steve is slowly passing the torch. In the tradition of trusted friends and family, Spencer and Doug Mills bought the company. Spencer Mills and Steve Hay, best friends in middle school, rekindled their friendship with a challenging hike up Mount Elmo in Colorado and a two-week adventure culminating at the Arctic Ocean in Alaska. Steve is busy downloading his years of expertise to Spencer and his son, Doug and will remain a permanent consultant for the company, ensuring that the quality of the product and the dedication to serving the customer never changes.