Braun Building Center breaks ground on new truss manufacturing facility

Group of people in matching red shirts shovel dirt while looking and smiling at the camera. — Braun Building Center broke ground on its new truss manufacturing facility in late July. Paul Braun said they should occupy the building by January 2025. Submitted Photo

Staff

August 12, 2024

TWO RIVERS – Braun Building Center has more than 50 years of truss building experience – and currently serves residential, commercial and agricultural building markets.

“We started building the trusses before it was something, and we remained small,” Paul Braun, president of Braun Building Center, said. “It worked well, but I always wanted to expand.”

Those plans, Paul said, were put into fast forward when the City of Manitowoc purchased the property the Braun truss facility was located on with plans of redevelopment.

“I thought, ‘okay, we are going to have to move at some point,’” he said. “It went quicker than I thought it was going to, but it worked out. I supported the concept of redevelopment because having industrial spaces downtown doesn’t work anymore.”

When he started looking for a new location, Paul said, he stumbled across a property in the Two Rivers Woodland Industrial Park – and the rest is history.

New manufacturing facility

Braun Building Center broke ground on a new truss manufacturing facility late last month.

Paul said he added the commemorative groundbreaking shovel from the event with the one used during the original building’s ceremony more than 45 years ago.

Construction on the more than 28,000-square-foot facility – Braun Components – he said, is slated to be completed before the end of the year, with occupation happening in the new year.

Image of a large brown building with a red roof. — The 28,000-square-foot facility, Paul Braun said, will double the company’s production capacity of roof trusses. Submitted Rendering

“We’re going to be occupying the building and making trusses in there in January,” he said. “We’re probably about five or six weeks behind due to the wet spring we had.”

The new facility will expand the company’s ability to construct precision-engineered roof trusses up to 90 feet in length, provide space to build floor trusses in-house and in the future, house pre-built wall truss operations.

“We’ll double our production capacity with roof trusses,” he said. “We’ll add a floor truss line, and we have space in the building for a wall panel line. That isn’t going to go in on day one, but that is something I feel is going to be the way we (continue to grow).”

Paul said the construction industry is going in that direction.

“It’s becoming more prevalent, even in small markets like Manitowoc County,” he said.

Paul said Braun Building Center is “very bullish” in the residential construction industry.

“We are way behind on housing for our population – since 2008, we’ve been behind the 8-ball,” he said. “We need to find a way to build more. We’ve been busy – I see opportunities for roof trusses, floor trusses and wall panel manufacturing everywhere I turn.”

Paul said he’s confident that in the next 30-50 years, Braun’s new manufacturing facility will “pay off in spades for us.”

Additional staff

Paul said the new manufacturing facility and the increased capacity it will offer will lead to a need for additional staff.

Five people shoveling dirt looking at each other and smiling. — Paul Braun, along with his son, Ben Braun, shows off the new commemorative groundbreaking shovel along with the shovel used during the Braun’s original building ceremony more than 45 years ago. Submitted Photo

“We’ve got about eight full-time equivalents working there now,” he said. “I expect that number to go up to 12 by next spring. I will need another designer as well.”

Manitowoc County proud

Paul – born and raised in Manitowoc and still calls the city home today – said it’s important to the Lakeshore to have a facility like this, “so we keep the money in Manitowoc County.”

“It’s a tremendous asset to Braun Building Center to provide that service to my customers so they don’t have to go anywhere else,” he said.

All trusses from Braun, Paul said, are designed by certified draftsmen, custom-built locally by trained sawyers and assemblers and have the certified MiTek Industries stamp – which ensures each truss is identical in size and has tight, accurate joints and uniformity.

“Braun Building Center is a family-owned business – my dad bought the business in 1969,” he said. “I’ve been back 35 years this summer. My son has been with us for five years. We’re deeply in Manitowoc County and the Lakeshore.”

In addition to truss manufacturing, Braun Building Center specializes in retail and wholesale building materials, residential design, kitchens, windows, doors, decks and other products and services.

For more information on Braun Building Center, visit braunbuilding.com.

TBN