COMPANY HISTORY
Cape Fear Supply Company was founded in 1926 as a saw mill and industrial hardware supply company. Over the next 30 years it slowly developed a focus on building material supply. Two 2nd generation sons, Joe and Vivian, became active in operations.
During the mid to late 60's one son, Vivian, began participating in the prefab home business with Weyerhaeuser but later stopped producing wall panels. By 1970, he was dedicating 100% of his efforts to roof truss manufacturing and built a new facility with all new Gang Nail Systems equipment -- founding Comtech Incorporated, a division of Cape Fear Supply Company.
In 1978, North Carolina's plans for an express highway included taking the property Comtech occupied in downtown Fayetteville, causing delay in much needed improvements. Finally, after much negotiation, the property was condemned and in 1990 Comtech was relocated to the Reilly Road Industrial Park which provided a much improved facility and production efficiencies.
By 1992-93, Fayetteville/Cumberland County permits hit an all time high of 2350 and Cape Fear Supply/Comtech saw their combined sales exceed 22 million. During this period, Comtech found it necessary to concentrate most of its efforts on Cape Fear Supply customers as competition required trusses to be included in the material package.
By 1995, Joe and Vivian were exploring options for Cape Fear Supply's future ownership. After much study and deliberation, all assets relating to the building material distribution were sold to Carolina Builders in January of 1997. In November of 1997, Vivian and his son, Tom, became the sole stockholders of Cape Fear Supply DBA Comtech.
Between 1999 and 2005 Comtech's sales of trusses and truss related products grew from 6.7 million per year to over 18 million. Following a peak of 18.5 million in 2006, sales declined to 9.2 million in 2009. Comtech has taken advantage of this downturn to update its production equipment with all new roof truss lines and one additional floor truss line. Comtech also added a third TCT Linear saw to improve our cutting efficiency.
Throughout 2009 and 2010 Comtech has continued to purchase equipment to improve our production efficiency as well as equipment to enable us to quickly increase our production as the states housing markets return to normal production levels. We estimate our current production capacity at around 24 million per year with land cleared and equipment purchased for an additional six million.
During early 2011 Comtech purchased and installed a Virtek "VIP" saw. This saw enables Comtech to offer Precision End Trim I-Joist packages with service holes for HVAC. Comtech is adding a second I-Joist and LVL saw during the second half of 2011 to insure we have the production capacity to service what we hope and expect to be a fast-growing sales item in the next several years. With a capacity of over 24 million per year and current sales of 11-12 million, Comtech is in a position to provide excellent service to a large portion of North Carolina including Raleigh and points north -- Pinehurst, Greenville, and all of the coast from Morehead City to Myrtle Beach and Pawley's Island, South Carolina.
All of us at Comtech hope for the opportunity to make a difference in your business and would like to share our many years' experience in the roof and floor truss business. Remember that Comtech is a quality inspected truss plant, participating in both Truss Plate Institute (TPI) and Southern Pine Inspection Bureau (SPIB) third party inspection programs.
Sincerely,
Tom and all the Employees of Comtech