In 1884, he founded the H.P. Fayé & Co. plantation and began well boring for water. In 1886, when Faye's first crop was ready for
harvesting, he rented Chinese laborers to harvest the cane from Chinese immigrant Leong Pah On (1848–1924), known as Kauai's "Rice King". The cut cane was sent by bullock teams into
Kekaha, several miles away, where it was processed at the sugar mill at Kekaha Plantation. At the turn of the 20th century, the now-defunct Waimea Sugar Mill Company was a publicly owned and traded company, and Faye began to purchase shares in it. By 1905, he was the President and largest
stockholder of Waimea Sugar Mill Co. By 1915 or 1916, Faye owned the entire operation. In addition to operating his own businesses, in 1898 he helped merge three existing plantations into the
Kekaha Sugar Company, and he became its first manager and Vice president, a position he held for thirty years, until his death in 1928. Faye drew up much of the designs for the Kekaha Plantation. It was initially seen as a shaky investment—with a need for great amounts of capital to build an infrastructure of
canals, pumps, water systems, and other facilities needed to overcome its inherent physical disadvantages. These pioneering years were rough ones for the sugarcane growers who lacked an abundant water supply. As the sugarcane area increased, natural springs and intermittent streams proved inadequate, so wells were drilled. Most wells had been drilled too deep and at locations far too seaward. As a result, most wells became salty over time and were abandoned, buried and lost. As part of Kekaha Sugar's expansion program, three surface water diversions were constructed to address the failure of the well supply. In 1903, the
Waimea Ditch was dug to divert water from the
Waimea River to nearby fields. The success of this venture prompted the construction of the Kekaha Ditch in 1905, which carries water from an altitude of about 500 feet on the Waimea River to Kekaha. The ditch was completed in 1907 and the well water quality began to improve. In 1950, Waimea Sugar Mill Company was reorganized into the Kikiaola Land Company, a property and land management division, and Waimea Sugar Mill, Inc. which continued to raise and process
cane sugar. By 1969, with returns on sugar diminishing, the Faye family kept title to the lands and sold the sugar operations to Kekaha Sugar Company.{{cite web|url=https://www2.hawaii.edu/~speccoll/p_kekaha.html ==Personal life==