When Charlie Clark looks at the Chattanooga residential and commercial construction market, he sees a regional economy that’s riding a recovery faster than the state’s.
“Chattanooga is doing better than most parts of the state,” Clark said as he stood inside a 55,000-square-foot building where his company has opened a truss and wall panel design and manufacturing facility.
Hiwassee Builders Supply Inc., a longtime Athens, Tenn., construction supplier, has invested about $700,000 in a Chattanooga operation. The venture, called Hiwassee Structural Products, is at Hickory and East 23rd streets on a five-acre tract the company purchased.
The business is aimed at residential and commercial builders, Clark said. The company uses computer programs to design roof and floor trusses along with wall panels for individual structures.
It produces the units in-house and delivers them to the construction site.
Joe Campodonico of iLevel by Weyerhauser, which supplies engineered lumber products to Hiwassee Structural, said constructing trusses and wall panels at the business rather than at the building site is faster and ensures better structural integrity.
Officials also said the process Hiwassee uses is environmentally greener because less lumber is wasted.
“We’re taking a system approach to a house,” Clark said. “We’ve got it all right here.”
Doug Beaty, the new operation’s manager, cited the array of industry coming into the Chattanooga area that he believes will help drive up the building market. Volkswagen, Wacker, Amazon and Alstom Power have announced or built big facilities in the region.
Beaty said Hiwassee Structural employs eight people. Officials indicated they’ll have at least three times that number five years from now.
“This is a big move for us,” Beaty said.
Officials declined to give projected sales numbers.
Hiwassee Builders Supply has operated in East Tennessee since 1958. It has made trusses for more than 20 years in Athens.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.