Wood truss manufacturing company will break ground in Silver Springs

A wood truss manufacturing company will break ground on a 29-acre fabrication building and office in Silver Springs to serve the Northern Nevada construction boom and development projects in northern California.

Don Ogden, Builders Choice owner and manager of the Silver Springs facility, said truss manufacturing will begin in spring 2006 with about 25 employees. That is expected to increase up to 300 employees when the business is fully operational.

The Silver Springs operation will be twice the size of the company's 20-acre plant in Hughson, Calif. That plant employs 187 workers and processes more than 2 million board feet of lumber monthly.

"We have a lot of customers out here who build houses and do commercial products," he said. "They were encouraging us to come to Northern Nevada. We cover Fresno to San Francisco, north to Sacramento and, for the last year, Northern Nevada. We realized that there's a lot of potential here and we felt Silver Springs is logistically a good spot because you can get to Interstate 80 fast and Highway 50."

Ogden said the fabrication building will be about 142,000 square feet, plus a 6,000-square-foot office and a 7,000-square-foot shop. Miles Brothers Construction, of Carson City, will break ground on the 600 Lake St. plant Thursday. Builders Choice bought the land about a year ago.

"They plan on employing 100-plus people so it will be nice to have a local employer of that size," said Bill Miles, owner of Miles Brothers Construction. "A lot of people who live there now commute quite a distance. It will also keep things more competitive for builders in the area."

Miles said construction and equipment for the new building will bring the cost up to about $8 million. The site is located off Highway 95 Alternate. Up to 20 subcontractors are expected to work on the project.

Builders Choice is a family-owned business headed by Ogden's father-in-law, Phil Overholtzer. Both live in Dayton.

Ogden said the Silver Springs plant will contain more automated machines than the California one. He also hopes to begin automated wall construction in six months to a year after the plant opens.

"Our designers draw what the truss is going to look like on the computer and then transfer that design to the saw," he said. "The saw has software that knows exactly how to cut all the pieces of that truss. It automatically adjusts the saw angle to cut that piece of wood. The only thing the operator has to do is put in the right piece of wood and push a button."

The company manufactures roof and floor trusses assembled by a machine that rolls over the wood and presses the metal plates into place.

"What we have found is that the people in Silver Springs who we've dealt with, they've been very supportive and gone out of their way to make us successful," Ogden said. "Water was an issue, but we got it."

The company was founded in 1986 and will continue operating the California plant.

Employment opportunity

Builders Choice will begin hiring at the Silver Springs manufacturing plant in late spring.

Pay and benefits depend on job-entry level. All employees are full-time with benefits and 401K profit sharing.

For information contact Builders Choice human resource department at (209) 883-8000.