Published January 2001

Sultan shop specializes
in custom trailers

By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal Editor

The construction industry depends on good, reliable equipment, which is why so many companies are relying on Paros Custom Trailers in Sultan to get their equipment to the job site.

Constantin Paros has built a reputation for reliability by building trailers that last, useful trailers customized for carrying backhoes, small dozers or landscaping and maintenance equipment.

Although he builds standard equipment trailers, too, he specializes in customized rigs that include individualized tool boxes, racks for shovels and weed-eaters or tilt beds for loading motorized equipment.

Trailer ramps can be folding or stowable; electric or hydraulic brakes can be added; plus lighting, bumper bars or a winch or bucket tower.

“We make double- and triple-axle trailers, hi-boys, utility trailers, fifth-wheels and flat-beds for contractors, up to 14,000 pounds GVW, or more,” Paros said. “But we make sure it fits the owner’s needs.”

Fitting the owner’s needs is his top priority, he said, whether someone is ordering a trailer for towing snowmobiles into snow country or a trailer for moving Bobcat loaders and excavators to job sites.

Even trailers that aren’t designed from scratch as custom models can be made more useful to their owners by installing items that meet particular needs, he said, such as tool-box options.

The added touches he puts on his trailers, such as smoothed welds and his own professional paint jobs, also keep customers coming back. He simply understands trailers and the needs of people who use them.

“I don’t speak English well, but I speak trailers well,” Paros said, grinning.

Actually, his Romanian-accented English is easy to understand, but his catchy phrase about speaking “trailer” language has become a good marketing tool.

And marketing is what Paros knows as well as trailer talk and construction techniques. As his Web site shows (www.paros-trailers.com), Paros has a lot to offer, ideas and services that have created his own niche in a highly competitive market.

He uses the Web, color brochures, former employers, plus contractors and trailer dealers to get the word out that he builds superior trailers that answer buyers’ needs.

Paros, himself, is as tough as his trailers. A tall, muscular man who learned to survive as a street youth after growing up in a Romanian orphanage, Paros made his living as a boxer before coming to America several years ago.

Today, his jovial nature, hearty laughter and quick grin seem to reflect his pleasure at being in America as much as his business success.

“Before I came to the United States, all I knew was Romania and the Communists. There are lots of problems there. Here, I saw how to be free. I can’t live any more in a cage when I see the freedom,” he said, grinning again.

He’s also successful because of the quality of his employees, he said, and finding good employees is one of the toughest challenges of his business. Paros is used to hard work, both in Romania and here, so he picks people who can keep up with him and meet his high standards.

Paros’ street smarts have taught him how to judge people, but his background and personal experiences in Europe have no doubt inspired him to help others who are new to this country, too.

“We are like a little NATO here,” he said, laughing.

His crew of builders includes another Romanian, an Iranian, Mexican and Russian as well as an American-born worker in the mix.

“When I learned to build trailers, here in America, I was working for a company in Woodinville that later moved to Monroe. After moving again into a much larger space, the national company that owned it sold the business. That’s when I started my own business,” Paros said.

“I knew speed without quality wasn’t good, so I built for quality with prices low enough to be competitive,” he said.

That success formula has worked well for Paros, who has built and sold 400 trailers since he set up his own shop in Sultan.

Paros Custom Trailers is on Highway 2 at 403 West Stevens in Sultan. For more information, call 360-793-4482, e-mail to paros@foxinternet.net or visit the company’s Web site.

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