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Exhibit 31.1

CERTIFICATION of Chief Executive Officer of Penhall International Corp.

I, John T. Sawyer, certify that:



|(1) |  | I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of Penhall International Corp. (the Company)                                                                                                                                                                                                                             
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|   
|(2) |  | Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue statement of a material fact
or omit to state a material fact necessary to make the statements made, in light of the circumstances
under which such statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by this
quarterly report;
|   
|(3) |  | Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial information included in this
quarterly report, fairly present in all material respects the financial condition, results of
operations and cash flows of the Company as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly
report;                      
|   
|(4) |  | The Companys other certifying officer and I are responsible for establishing and maintaining
disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Exchange Act Rules 13a-15e and 15d-15e for the
Company and we have:                                                                                                           



| | (a) |  | designed such disclosure controls and
procedures, or caused such disclosure controls
and procedures to be designed under our
supervision, to ensure that material information
relating to the Company, including its
consolidated subsidiaries, is made known to us
by others within those entities, particularly
during the period in which this report is being
prepared;
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|
| | (b) |  | evaluated the effectiveness of the Companys
disclosure controls and procedures and presented
in this report our conclusions about the
effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
procedures, as of the end of the period covered
by this report based on such evaluation; and                                                                                           
|
| | (c) |  | disclosed in this report any change in the
Companys internal control over financial
reporting that occurred during the Companys
most recent fiscal that has materially affected,
or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
the Companys internal control over financial
reporting; and                                                                              



|(5) |  | The Companys other certifying officer and I have disclosed, based on our most recent evaluation of
internal control over financial reporting, to the Companys auditors and the audit committee of the
Companys board of directors (or persons performing the equivalent function):
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| | (a) |  | all significant deficiencies and material
weaknesses in the design or operation of
internal control over financial reporting are
reasonably likely to adversely affect the
Companys ability to record, process, summarize
and report financial information; and
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|
| | (b) |  | any fraud, whether or not material, that
involves management or other employees who have
a significant role in the Companys internal
controls over financial reporting.                                                                                        

February 17, 2004

/s/ JOHN T. SAWYER

John T. Sawyer
Chairman of the Board, President and Chief Executive Officer (Principal Executive Officer)