| New truss company adjusting to changes in economy |
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By: ERIN EDGEMON, Business Editor
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Posted: Sunday, August 3, 2008 7:25 am
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Huskey Truss & Building Supply is trying to make the best out of the drop in new home construction across the midstate.
“The slowdown has provided us an opportunity to get our system up and running properly,” said Donna Smith, manager of Huskey Truss’s building supply store that opened in Murfreesboro in May.
But it may just be bad luck that Huskey Truss relocated and expanded its retail and manufacturing operation when housing starts in Middle Tennessee began a sharp decline.
Huskey Truss custom manufactures components for homebuilding including roof and floor trusses, wall panels and staircases. The building supply store sells loose lumber.
Despite the slowdown, Huskey’s new 62,000-square-foot factory is in operation at least eight hours a day during the five-day work week, said Warren Butters, Huskey Truss’s general manager, who is based in Franklin.
“We have adjusted,” he said. “We were building 10 houses a day. Now we are building six to seven a day.”
Huskey’s reduced manufacturing labor force is still working 40 or more hours a week.
Huskey Truss & Building Supply employs 60 home designers, lumberyard staff and manufacturing workers at its Murfreesboro facilities.
In a previous interview before the relocation, Neil Gossman, chief financial officer for the company, said Huskey Truss had 80 employees at its Franklin plant.
Butters said Huskey Truss wasn’t expecting such a quick drop in the housing market.
The issuance of single-family residential building permits in Rutherford County was down 44.3 percent in June 2008 from the same month the previous year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Year-to-date housing starts in the county are down 58.7 percent from the previous year.
The Nashville-Davidson County-Murfreesboro metropolitan statistical area — made up of the 13 counties in northern Middle Tennessee — saw an 11.5 percent drop in single-family building permits from 2006 to 2007 and an 8 percent drop from 2005 to 2006.
Construction on just over 1 million homes has started so far this year nationwide, according to the National Association of Home Builders. Housing starts reached its peak in 2005 with more than 2 million across the country.
Butters expects it will take three to four years for these numbers to rebound.
Huskey Truss originally expected to have their new facilities opened by the end of 2007. The Franklin-based company announced earlier that year that it planned to relocate its truss plant because it has outgrown its Franklin facility.
The Rutherford County Industrial Development Board gave the company a 50 percent break on its property taxes for five years.
Butters said the 22-acre site on Rutherford Boulevard was an ideal site for the building supply store and manufacturing facility because of its access to railroad tracks.
All of Huskey’s lumber arrives on rail cars, he said.
Additionally, the site was well positioned in the Interstate 24 and state Route 840 corridor providing convenient access to much of Middle Tennessee.
Huskey Truss delivers lumber and building components to customers located within 100 miles of the facility.
Despite the decline in home starts, Butters said Huskey Truss has been able to gain more clients and increase its Middle Tennessee market share.
The use of building components in home construction is a rising trend nationwide, he said.
Butters said using already assembled components makes building more efficient and accurate. It eliminates the guesswork that is often done on the job site.
Having less loose lumber on construction sites also reduces the risk of theft, he said.
Builders like Greenvale Homes and Ole South Properties use components to build their homes. They are not clients of Huskey Truss.
Shane McFarland, chief financial officer of Greenvale Homes, said using components ensures consistency.
“Everything is still hand built but it takes away any guesswork for framers in the field,” he said.
Waste also is greatly reduced, he said.
Huskey Truss designers build the homes on a computer before component specifications are sent to the manufacturing facility. They test to make sure the house will be structurally sound.
Designers start with as much as builder blueprints or with as little as a sketch on a piece of loose paper.
After being manufactured in Huskey Truss’ state-of-the art facility, the components are shipped by truck to the building site.
In some cases, Huskey Truss hires subcontractors to install building components, roofing and interior trim.
The company has its own crew that can install windows.
One of Huskey’s large pieces of state-of-the-art equipment can make 50 sets of stairs in a single day.
The components for one home can be constructed in the facility in just one hour.
Erin Edgemon can be reached at 869-0812 and at eedgemon@murfreesboropost.com.
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