Charleston Steel
BY KATLIN SWISHER. Charleston Steel, a full-service steel
company founded in Dunbar, WV, is a leading global com-
mercial and industrial structural steel fabrication company.
As a value-added steel service center, it has been manufacturing
steel for the construction industry since 1989, and its products
include structural steel, joists, decks, stairs, handrails, simple
bridges and bridge components material handling equipment
and heavy-duty weighing equipment.
Charleston Steel’s team of 33 employees includes engineers,
accountants, salespeople, welders and equipment operators. The
company’s steel is distributed in every state in the continental
U.S. as well as Australia, the Bahamas, Bermuda, Canada, the
Cayman Islands, India, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Mexico, North
Africa and South Africa.
“We have been very successful at cultivating customers all
over the United States and beyond the borders,” says Scott
Goetz, vice president and chief operating officer of Charleston
Steel. “We do our best to quote as much work as possible and
establish long-term relationships with our customers. Many
of our customers do business out of the country, which pulls
Charleston Steel along with them. The state of West Virginia has
been very helpful in providing tools and resources to discover
and develop new business markets in the international arena.”
Recent projects include Charleston Area Medical Center
and Thomas Memorial Hospital in Charleston, WV; Camden Clark Medical Center in
Parkersburg, WV; and the
Arnold Logistics Center at
the Boy Scouts of America’s
Summit Bechtel Reserve in Glen
Jean, WV. Charleston Steel gives back to
the community through service projects
with local schools, churches and little
league teams.
Charleston Steel is the only bridge
fabrication company in West Virginia cer-
tified by the American Institute of Steel
Construction. The company also holds the American Welding
Society’s Certified Welding Fabricator certification.
With the recent passage of the Roads to Prosperity initiative
and resulting upcoming opportunities in the state’s infrastruc-
ture, the company hopes to expand its operations to include
road and bridge construction around the state.
In the future, Charleston Steel also aspires to continue
expanding its global distribution.
“Being centrally located on the East Coast, we are able to
maneuver to many metropolitan areas on short notice,” says
Goetz. “I am in the process of obtaining my private pilot’s
license, which will allow us to go north, south, east and west
on a moment’s notice.”
Kanawha Stone Company M-Rock Inc.
BY JAMIE NULL. Founded by
Art King in 1973, Kanawha
Stone Company has evolved
from a small construction
company into a force to be
reckoned with in the regional
construction market.
Operating from its headquarters in Poca,
WV, Kanawha Stone Company provides a variety
of services, including heavy highway, heavy civil and
bridge construction; mass excavation and site develop-
ment; and energy construction services in Pennsylvania,
North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky and West Virginia.
With more than 350 employees, Kanawha Stone Company
is well-known for mass excavation, site development projects
and heavy highway construction. The company strives to dis-
cover talent in the industry, often educating the next genera-
tion about construction and engineering. The goal is to show
that even though Kanawha Stone is in a traditional industry,
the jobs have turned high tech thanks to GPS-guided equip-
ment, drones and software. Tom Kittredge, the company’s
president, hopes it can continue to recruit talent from the
Mountain State.
“West Virginians are hard working and family oriented,
which is a perfect fit for our culture,” he says.
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WEST VIRGINIA EXECUTIVE
BY JAMIE NULL. After enjoying
steady growth for eight years as
a producer of qualit y stone veneer
products, West Virginia-based M-Rock,
Inc. branched out in 2011 with the
launch of its Mortarless Stone Innova-
tions (MSI) product lines. Setting a new
standard for manufactured stone, MSI is
designed to be the most realistic stone on the market today. This
change in direction has led to four U.S. patents and M-Rock’s
inventory—MSI products, thin brick and manufactured stone
veneer—being sold in all 50 states, Canada and Mexico.
According to M-Rock President and CEO Matt Mann, the
company’s industry-changing products are available at Lowe’s
and through a number of quality distribution companies,
as well as through www.lowes.com and m-rockstone.com,
which handles all of the international orders. M-Rock also
sells directly to large-scale developers and builders all over
the country.
While shipping is one of the company’s biggest challenges
due to the cost and size of the products, it is easier to manage
in today’s market and allows products to go anywhere in the
world. According to Mann, M-Rock can get product to a
destination quickly: one to two days on the East Coast and
up to three days on the West Coast.