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Volume 13
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Number 9
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SEPTEMBER 2015
Stucco-ed together
Big changes
L-R: Benjamin Sanchez, Blake Meador, Charlie Meador Sr. and Charlie Meador Jr.
The BETCO Scaffolds’ staff is ready for business in their new Hurst location.
“G
oing it alone” didn’t have the same meaning for Charlie Meador Sr. that it does for others who start their own businesses. That’s because Meador has had his family behind him – and with him – from the start. Charlie Sr., a 36-year veteran of the lath and plaster supply industry, owned a building supply company for 13 years, sold it in 2000 and continued to work for the new owner for eight additional years. However, when that business sold its stucco and mortar division to another company, Charlie Sr. and his youngest son, Blake (who also worked there) opted to move on and start Texas Stucco Supply in Dallas in 2008.
The company quickly became a family affair: His wife Carol is company president, his oldest son, Charlie is a warehouse supervisor, and Blake serves as vice president. Although Charlie Sr. calls the decision to strike out on his own again a “very easy” one, it didn’t come without challenges. “When we started in ’08, it was a little bit tough because the economy had turned,” he explains. “But we’re very conservative, we’ve always been very focused on what we do and we’re very customer oriented. The first couple of years we didn’t struggle; we did fine and had five employees. Sales were decent and we survived.”
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verything is coming up BIG for BETCO Scaffolds these days. The company recently moved its Euless location to a larger facility in Hurst, and it turns out that bigger is indeed better, according to Dallas/Fort Worth branch manager Kevin Rowland. “It’s a strategic move for us,” Rowland says of BETCO Scaffolds’ new location at 205 W. Hurst Blvd. “We were only on three acres in our old location and now we’re on seven acres with a larger storage facility that will enable us to grow our business and better serve our customers. We are anticipating increasing the sales force, as well as adding to our operational capabilities now we have the facility that really allows us to be able
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to grow.” Rowland says client reaction has been very positive, and they aren’t the only ones happy to have BETCO Scaffolds in Hurst. “It’s something that everybody is excited about,” he says. “The city of Hurst has been very accommodating and welcoming of us moving here and will have a ribbon cutting for us. Construction and restoration work took a little bit longer than we expected but we are fully operational now. We are planning to host an open house event in October or November.” In addition to a new location, BETCO continued on Page 18
Delayed gratification
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rom the beginning, the project was one step forward and six years back. When Tutor Electrical Service Inc. owners Bobby and Diana Tutor bought a little over an acre at Mansfield’s 201 Willow Creek Court in 1998, the couple planned to build a much-needed spacious facility for their business. “The old space was a very small building; we had nine people working in nearly 1,300sf,” Diana explains. “We were very cramped. We had four people to a room; phone conversations overlapped with visitors trying to have a conversation – we were like puppies in a box.” The first two steps – finding a general contractor and hiring an architect to design the building – were the easy parts. In addition to Tutor Electrical Service Inc., Bobby also owned a general contracting business, Tutor Development. As for the architect, the Tutors relied on Paul E. Canup with whom they
had worked on other projects. Canup, who designs a range of projects from banks to warehouses, had one directive from Bobby. “I told Paul that I wanted a nice building, not a box,” Bobby remembers. “I wanted something professional, similar to a doctor’s office.” With the plans in good hands, Bobby and Diana focused on actually getting it built. The economy, however, kept getting in the way. “The year 2000 was a very good year, so we started the process [to build it] but then 9/11 happened and the economy cratered,” Diana says. “The year 2007 was another good year for us but then we had the recession of 2008. It seemed like every time we thought we were on mark to do it, something happened.” With the economy finally recovering in 2013, the Tutors sprang into action, Bringing the new Tutor Electrical Service Inc. building to fruition was a 17-year process.
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