Building Center launches nearly $500,000 expansion

Employees work inside The Building Center on Jenkins Dairy Road in Gastonia, which is in the process of a $500,000 expansion project at the site.

How do you know the housing market continues to recover? Try the recent expansion of a local building supply company.

The Building Center recently launched the second phase of its four-year expansion plan, President Skip Norris said. The more than $484,000 project will install more than 6,000 square feet of space at its Jenkins Dairy Road building in Gastonia, which Norris said will be used to create and store additional roof and floor trusses produced by the company.

Norris said the companys local expansion plans began last year with the installation of 10,000 square feet of storage space for building materials. Next year, portions of the property will be raised to allow for the installation of better storm drains, and Norris said a new production facility will open at the site in 2016.

Our business made it through the downturn in housing, and we feel like were in a pretty strong position right now, Norris said. Were projecting an increase in sales over the next year at roughly 20 percent.

The region lost some of its building supply companies during the recession, Norris said, which offered his company a chance to grow as the market started to rebound. The company has expanded some of its current facilities, like the one in Gastonia, but its also expanded to new markets, most recently Burlington and, later this week, Mebane.

Founded in 1977, The Building Center has six locations throughout North and South Carolina. It opened its Gastonia location in 1997. It offers framing, treated and engineered lumber, trusses, roofing, siding, windows, custom entry doors, millwork, railing systems, decking, columns, hardware and other supplies.

Follow this link:
Building Center launches nearly $500,000 expansion