Business Spotlight: Springfield Brick Co.

Anyone who looks around at Springfield-area construction in the last several years will come across Springfield Brick Co. products.

With a history of selling brick supplies dating back to 1963, Joplin Building Material opened its wholly owned Springfield subsidiary in 1998.

"At the time, there was really only one main brick source in town, and everyone wants options," says Bob Veach, who has managed the Springfield operation for six years. "It came to the point where we needed to take the next step and open a facility here in Springfield to better supply the area."

While the main competitor for brick supply in Springfield is Fort Worth, Texas-based Acme Brick, there are other companies in the market competing for stone work as well, including Midwest Block & Brick, previously Glenstone Block Co.

Product variety

Springfield Brick does not manufacture product in Springfield, but it does sell and distribute Accent cast stone manufactured at the Joplin facility.

"That's a product manufactured to emulate the old-fashioned limestone in historic buildings," Veach says, pointing to the OakStar Bank building on East Battlefield Road as an example of the product. "It's also used as an accent on residential projects - for windowsills, keystones above windows and so forth."

In addition, the company sells manufactured stone from Owens Corning and Eldorado Stone, as well as brick from 14 different companies including Glen-Gery Brick, Interstate Brick, Cloud Ceramics, and Kansas Brick and Tile.

One of the company's consistent customers is home builder Cowherd Construction. Owner Trent Cowherd says his company has used Springfield Brick products on numerous subdivisions, including its all-brick homes in Republic's Shuyler Ridge.

"We found as soon as we started working with them that they deliver what they promise," Cowherd said. "Even if there's a brick that's been discontinued, they make sure to get it to us."

Springfield Brick supplies are used by other builders including DRC Properties, Bryant Edgeman Masonry and Britt Enterprises. Commercial projects using Springfield Brick products are the Peoples Bank operation center in Nixa and the Killian Sports Complex renovations, as well as local Cody's Convenience Stores and Wendy's restaurants.

While the Springfield operation doesn't have many employees - only four, including Veach - Joplin management hired Gene Stewart earlier this winter to, as Veach puts it, "take the monkey off of my back."

Stewart, a 37-year masonry industry veteran, previously served as vice president of Glenstone Block Co. before that company was purchased by Jefferson City-based Midwest Block and Brick. After the acquisition, Veach says Stewart "needed a home."

"It was a great fit for us," Veach says, noting that Stewart is on the Ozarks Technical Community College Construction Technology Board and is a past president of Missouri Concrete Masonry Council. "We had a working relationship with Gene for many years, and when he became available in the work force, we wanted to grab him."

Market trouble

Springfield Brick, like most other companies involved in the construction industry, has been affected by the current economic downturn. While he declined to disclose revenue figures, Veach says his company has felt the sting.

"There has definitely been a downturn in the amount of masonry sold in the area," Veach says. "We are fortunate that we supply material to many different facets of the industry - both residential and commercial. Commercially, we've been able to stay busy, but on the residential side, it has been down dramatically."

Veach says that he thinks, along with many builders in the area, that the industry is near the bottom, though a turnaround may be slow going.

"We anticipate it to come back - not to where it was previously, but it will make a bit of a comeback, probably at the beginning of next year," Veach said. "I can't see it going much lower than what it is now."

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