Machine Comfort Allows Injured Site Developer to Launch Business

After an injury redirected his career out of mining, Sean O’Donnell put his childhood dream of launching his own business into action, launching Pioneer Trucking & Excavating, in April 2016.

“I always knew at a young age that I wanted to be in business for myself,” O’Donnell says. “It was a dream that kind of sat idle for a long time, but I never lost focus of it and was finally able to get into a position where I could start off for myself. I haven’t looked back.”

O’Donnell doesn’t shy away from any type of work as long as it’s profitable. The Whitehorse-based business provides site preparation, septic installation, property development, mine servicing work, road construction and goods transportation throughout the Yukon.

Because of his mining injury, O’Donnell says the comfort of his Bobcat T650 compact track loader and E80 excavator is key when putting in long hours behind the controls.

“The air-ride (suspension) seat that Bobcat equipment provides ensures that I can sit for a 12- or 14-hour day inside the machines and make the dollars that need to be made,” O’Donnell says.

Off The Beaten Path

Some of those dollars fund O’Donnell’s off-season passion: adventure motorcycling. In the winter, O’Donnell takes his BMW motorbike on cross-country and international tours.

“I’m a motorhead. Pretty much everything I do involves a motorized toy,” O’Donnell says. “In 2012, I decided I wanted to explore, so I bought a touring bike setup and told myself that I’m going on an adventure. I rode my bike from Vancouver all the way to Guatemala and back. I took three and a half months for myself. I rode down the West Coast of the United States, through central Mexico and into Belize.

“The motorcycle gives me balance. When I get on the bike, regardless of what’s going on in my life – whether it’s personal issues or stress from the jobsite – every thought in my mind just goes to another spot.”