Automated Builder September 2009 : Page 24

Part of the staff at the LaPorte Midwest Building Components plant includes, on top of the load, left to right, Josh Crasslin, Mike Jones Jr., Nick Scudder, Roman Ruiz, Matt Lilly, Richard Ruiz, Kelly Skaggs and Adam Scudder; and the men below, left to right, are Mark Jankowski, Tony Scudder and Ryan Wagner. Midwest Building Components: Helps Self in Down Times by Building Both Wood and Steel, Handles Own Installations, Pursues Commercial Sales LAPORTE, IN—”Being guided by market opportunities,” says Bill Martin, chief estimator and sales person of Midwest Building Components, Inc., “is one easy way to take advan- tage of the slow times by making simple changes in your marketing approach to the component industry.” While explaining to Automated Builder Magazine that whereas they always were a lumber-based operation, when the opportunity arose primarily from requests by com- mercial customers, they did not hesitate to go into the use of light gage steel in framing some of their components, primarily walls. Also, he points out that they admittedly got a head start on doing their own installations since the company liter- ally started as a carpentry organization called Cedar Creek Carpentry. When they went into fabrication of components they already had the talent to do their own installations. The company recognized that this created an ideal new market of profitability and they went full throttle into their own instal- lation business. Martin observes that at the present time their profit from the carpentry end of installing components is more than from the factory which manufactures them. 24 The factory at the LaPorte operation is 165,000 sq. ft. and supplies wood products to customers in Michigan, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Wisconsin. For metal wall panel shipments the firm’s market also include Pennsylvania, West Virginia, N. Carolina and Kentucky. SEPTEMBER 2009 Midwest owns and operates its own three delivery trucks with 48' trailers. The firm says they often can pickup lumber and other building materials after dropping off component loads at job sites which consid- erably reduces transport costs for supplies. They have two Kenworths and one International. Martin has been in the business since 1999 when he opened a combination carpentry and component operation in Michigan. While that business is still on going, the company found that moving to a new location would allow them to expand their residential and commercial business markets. Therefore recently they opened a plant in LaPorte, IN which enables them to service not only the Northern Indiana market but also the market around greater Chicago just across the border in Illinois. During the good times for the business the firm employed 140 people. They are now operating with a smaller staff but are still turning out a profitable collection of roof trusses, floor trusses and wall panels with both wood and steel. Martin explained that prior to adding carpentry to buttress their component business, they worked like many plants in turning the installation duties over to framing contractors and/or groups of carpenters. When they realized that they had the capacity and the skill to profitably execute their own installations, a door opened to a new market by simply re- energizing the firm’s old Cedar Creek Carpentry division.

Midwest Building Components Helps Self In Down Times By Building Both Wood And Steel, Handles Own Installations, Pursues Commercial Sales

LAPORTE, IN—”Being guided by market opportunities,” says Bill Martin, chief estimator and sales person of Midwest Building Components, Inc., “is one easy way to take advantage of the slow times by making simple changes in your marketing approach to the component industry.” While explaining to Automated Builder Magazine that whereas they always were a lumber-based operation, when the opportunity arose primarily from requests by commercial customers, they did not hesitate to go into the use of light gage steel in framing some of their components, primarily walls. Also, he points out that they admittedly got a head start on doing their own installations since the company literally started as a carpentry organization called Cedar Creek Carpentry. When they went into fabrication of components they already had the talent to do their own installations. The company recognized that this created an ideal new market of profitability and they went full throttle into their own installation business. Martin observes that at the present time their profit from the carpentry end of installing components is more than from the factory which manufactures them. Martin has been in the business since 1999 when he opened a combination carpentry and component operation in Michigan. While that business is still on going, the company found that moving to a new location would allow them to expand their residential and commercial business markets. Therefore recently they opened a plant in LaPorte, IN which enables them to service not only the Northern Indiana market but also the market around greater Chicago just across the border in Illinois. During the good times for the business the firm employed 140 people. They are now operating with a smaller staff but are still turning out a profitable collection of roof trusses, floor trusses and wall panels with both wood and steel. Martin explained that prior to adding carpentry to buttress their component business, they worked like many plants in turning the installation duties over to framing contractors and/or groups of carpenters. When they realized that they had the capacity and the skill to profitably execute their own installations, a door opened to a new market by simply reenergizing the firm’s old Cedar Creek Carpentry division. Martin also explained that during down times commercial construction frequently comes to the fore. This change of business is most common in the construction industry. “We started getting a lot of calls from commercial firms such as grocery store chains, Wal-Marts, hotels, assisted living facilities, churches and fire stations. Many of these commercial firms wanted steel framed walls but were not adverse to use of wood roof and floor trusses,” he adds. “It didn’t take long for us to consider that the idea of going into light gage steel framing might be a smart thing to do,” said Martin. When asked if they would consider going into their own roll forming equipment to make their own steel members for wall panels and trusses he said at the present time they were not considering roll formers. However if the steel business should continue to increase that approach might be something on the agenda. At the present time they purchase their light gage steel from fabricators who specialize in parts for wall panels. They’re purchasing most of their steel members from Dietrich. Martin points out, “When you are dealing with commercial buyers you find that they’re a lot more professional than the carpenters who generally build homes. To begin with, the home builders are often ruled by dozens of different communities who demand different things for homes under construction. On the other hand dealing with commercial customers you find they are much more professional and use the commercial codes for their buildings. Frankly I’d rather build one major commercial project than 20 houses.” The company also is very well equipped with modern machinery in their LaPorte, IN plant. Among the equipment in their factory are wall panel machinery from MiTek, Commercial Machinery Fabricator’s Stealth Lines for floor trusses, cutters by Monet DeSauw, Alpine saws, finish rollers and splicers by Klaisler Manufacturing, top and bottom plate cutting equipment by Virtek Vision Machinery and software by MiTek, Alpine, Dietrich, Argos Systems and Virtek Vision. As for the future Martin believes the firm’s operations in both Indiana and Michigan will continue to pursue both residential and commercial customers offering both wood and steel components.

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