Barden building new Preble plant

CNY Business Journal (1996+), Apr 30, 2004 by Spohr, George

PREBLE - The Barden and Robeson Corp. is investing $5.5 million to increase the size of its production facilities, buy new equipment, and add staff.

The company - which sells residential, manufactured, precisionengineered, custom homes under the Barden Homes name - produces home, commercial, and church material supplies at its pre-existing Homer and Middleport plants. It serves customers in Central and Western New York.

While much of the company's work in Western New York is in planned communities - with a lot of that work focused on the suburban areas of Erie and Niagara counties - "our bread and butter is scattered-lot home building," says Jeff Cordill, the company's marketing director.

The 100,000-square-foot creation of a Preble plant will mean the creation of 25 to 45 jobs, Cordill says. "We outgrew our existing plant and equipment," he adds.

"The $5.5 million expansion includes some capital being invested in Western New York, although the vast majority is being invested in Central New York Cordill explains.

Seventy-five percent of the money came from an HSBC loan while the remaining 25 percent came from working capital.

Barden Homes is a family-owned and operated business that started in 1909 building bushel baskets and wagon wheels. In 1929, the business expanded to include baby furniture and became a national supplier to the likes of Sears and Montgomery Wards. During World War II, production switched to ammunition boxes and crates, and in 1947, production for its first homes took place.

In addition to supplying about 700 new homes a year, Barden Homes constructs commercial buildings and churches. Every house that is produced is custom-designed and manufactured to meet the needs of individual homeowners.

"Our new facility is now twice the size as it was before," says Kevin Tomko, the company's vice president. "We have doubled our production capability and have added warehouse space. This facility will service the entire Northeast and makes a nice model for all future regional expansion."

The new equipment will be placed in the facility in June, and the plant will be online in August. On Aug. 1, the Homer plant will go offline and the new plant in Preble will go online, Tomko says.

Barden already employs about 225 people. The company generates about $20 million in annual revenue according to Business Journal estimates. Cordill says he expects the company's annual revenue and production to double in size again within the next five to 10 years.