07/29/2026
What's in a Name? The Story Behind Soiland Materials
People hear "Soiland" and assume we made it up: soil and land, a tidy name for a company that moves rock and dirt for a living. It's a good guess, but it's wrong.
Soiland is a Norwegian family surname, which refers to the provenance of the family’s “farmland".
Our Owner, Mark Soiland, was born to grandparents who were the first generation of the family born in America, arriving in San Francisco around 1900 to parents who were still fully Norwegian.
Here's the wild part: for over 100 years, a family named after farmland has done nothing but work the land. A cabinetmaker who landed in San Francisco around 1900. A chicken ranch during the North Bay egg boom. Then pipelines, quarries, real estate, construction — generation after generation, same thread.
Marv Soiland started the company in 1962 and bought Stony Point Rock Quarry in '73. Four generations later, it's still run by a real Soiland.
Soiland Materials - Family owned since 1962