Published July 2002

Corstone targets remodeling,
repair markets

By John Wolcott
Herald Business Journal Editor

A cautious economy and lengthy permitting processes are convincing many Puget Sound businesses that it’s smarter to remodel or expand existing facilities than to build from scratch, making remodeling work a growing market for contractors.

Responding to that market, some larger contractors have formed Special Projects Divisions in recent years to capture a share of the growing demand for remodeling, repair and renovation work.

That’s exactly the trend that a new Snohomish company, Corstone Contractors LLC, is targeting.

Launched in May, Corstone — named for the architectural term referring to the finishing touch of a project — has an experienced management team capable of taking on full-building construction work.

But it’s the only area business its owners know of that is primarily focusing on commercial and residential remodeling projects, additions, emergency response work and insurance claim repairs.

President Mark Tapert and Business Development and Marketing Director Erin VerHoeven, co-owners of Corstone, have a combined history of 25 successful years in the construction business. Both were previously with one of Snohomish County’s largest building firms, Kirtley-Cole Design/Build of Snohomish.

Tapert was General Superintendent of Kirtley-Cole’s operations and helped to form the firm’s Special Projects Division in 2000, then helped to develop it into a new profit center for the company. VerHoeven was involved with business development and marketing for Kirtley-Cole for years, most recently for the firm’s Special Projects Division.

Last month, they left the thriving business co-founded by VerHoeven’s father, Gordon Cole, to launch Corstone. Kirtley-Cole’s Special Projects Division Project Manager, Marshall Ryan, also joined the management team for the new venture.

“I have always had this strong urge to be an entrepreneur. Starting the Special Projects Division at Kirtley-Cole only strengthened this need to do something on my own,” Tapert said. “I enjoyed my time there, but I needed a new challenge. The opportunity to start Corstone, and continue down this path we’d already begun, just made sense.”

For now, Corstone is sharing offices in the Snohomish Business Park (a Kirtley-Cole development) with Corstone Enterprises LLC, the private development and environmental siting firm Gordon Cole formed after selling his share of Kirtley-Cole a year ago.

Corstone’s management team previously worked with subcontractors on such Kirtley-Cole projects as the remodeling of Puget Sound Christian College in Mountlake Terrace, tenant improvements to Murphy’s Corner Physical Therapy offices and restoring the Harvey House in Snohomish after fire damage, along with the total building of such projects as the Snohomish Eye Care Center.

Now the new firm is concentrating on similar projects, but the management team expects to work with a wider range of customers and partner with more architects than before. While the need for new buildings won’t ever go away, work for Corstone and other remodeling contractors in the business today is driven by the economy, VerHoeven said.

“There’s a lack of land, money is tighter and the lengthy permitting process is making it more difficult and expensive to build new facilities compared to remodeling or upgrading existing ones,” she said. “There are a lot of existing buildings in the county and in Puget Sound that need upgrading or expansion. So we see a pretty steady stream of work ahead.”

The company they left — Kirtley-Cole Design/Build — has also endorsed the same market it entered two years ago by adding staff and emphasis to its successful Special Projects Division, looking toward increased business in that area.

Ray Kirtley said the division brought in about $2 million last year, about 4 percent of the company’s revenues.

“It’s not a significant volume for us, but it’s an important effort for our overall focus on our customers to be able to provide smaller projects as well as major construction,” he said. “A Special Projects Division requires a very different structure to work efficiently than our main construction organization does. But it allows us to serve all those little needs that customers have, and they want a reputable firm they’ve worked with before.”

As for the economy spurring the trend to smaller projects, Kirtley said, “There’s a couple schools of thought on that, one being that a tougher economy brings more remodeling work, but we’ve had good amount of it in a hot economy, too.”

He said some of the major contractors in the Puget Sound area also have recognized the need to serve their customers’ smaller building needs, forming SPDs of their own.

“We do schools and hospitals and clinics and things for a lot of different clients, but — regardless of the economy — it’s important to be able to take care of our customers’ smaller needs as well,” he said.

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