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Longtime family businesses building new, bigger office space

Project includes three separate buildings that will house maintenance, storage and offices

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May 14, 2024

GREEN BAY – Space to expand is a necessity for growing businesses.

If that can’t be accomplished in their current setting, a move to a larger space is often needed.

Such is the case with two longtime Green Bay businesses: Dix Titletown Lumber and Creative Decks & Landscaping, a division of Dave Van Rite Construction, LLC.

Growing out of their current space at 2004 Commercial Way in Green Bay, the companies are in the process of having new facilities built, just one block away (1988 Donbea St.).

The new location will encompass three separate buildings:
A maintenance facilityA 16,000-square-foot facility for storage and warehousing purposesA 4,700-square-foot office building
The companies officially broke ground on the project earlier this month – though at that point, Tesia Van Rite-Teege, general manager of Creative Decks & Landscaping, said construction had begun several weeks prior.

Despite Creative Decks & Landscaping and Dix Titletown Lumber being separate businesses with differing focuses and clientele, they are both owned by the Van Rite family, so Van Rite-Teege said it makes sense for them to share office space.

“The office building is shared by both businesses,” she said. “But a lot of things we do, we do separately for each business.”

Decked out
Creative Decks & Landscaping, under the Dave Van Rite Construction, LLC umbrella, was founded in 1980 by Dave and Tane Van Rite.

Van Rite-Teege said the company specializes in building outdoor living spaces primarily for residential properties.

This, she said, includes things like Trex® composite decks, three- and four-season rooms, cedar pergolas, gazebos, cabanas, patios and paver patios, sunrooms, screen rooms, outdoor kitchens, fire pits, privacy walls and enclosures.

“We also do some interior remodeling for residential work in the cold, winter months, but we don’t build commercial buildings.” Van Rite-Teege said.

Van Rite-Teege said the company sells everything from cedar to treated lumber, Trex decking and railings and specialty building products.

Tesia Van Rite-Teege

“There’s a need to show a lot of those items within our showroom, and expanding on the space that we have to be able to have customers walk in and see and feel the products is key for what we’re trying to achieve here with our new building,” she said.

Creative Decks & Landscaping is a TrexPro® Platinum builder, Van Rite-Teege said.

“Trex gives us that title based on the quality of work we do and the number of Trex decks we install,” she said.

Deep roots
Dix Titletown Lumber was formerly known by a different name and had a different owner for much of its existence – with roots that date back to 1956 when it was known as the William Dix Lumber Company and Cedar Unlimited.

About eight or nine years ago, Dave Van Rite was approached about possibly buying the lumber company.

“We bought so much lumber from them and were the No.1 customer of theirs, that they asked Dave if he’d ever thought about buying a lumberyard,” Van Rite-Teege said. “Dave ended up moving forward with purchasing them when William Dix Lumber decided to sell.”

Taking ownership in 2016, Van Rite-Teege said they renamed it Dix Titletown Lumber

A big happy family
Van Rite-Teege said the two businesses not only share a space, they often work in tandem with each other.

“Dix Titletown Lumber sells the materials and Creative Decks & Landscaping does the installation,” she said.

Today, Van Rite-Teege said the business continues to be family-operated by her and her brother Colton, as well as a larger management team.

Including family members, she said the company has about 20 employees but is poised for continued growth.

“We have a growing team of employees,” she said. “As we have grown our businesses, we have grown our team – and to better fit the needs of our business – our office space will be designed to support our growth. We’re always hiring skilled carpenter foremen and carpenters to join their team. We’re always looking for that experience.”

Van Rite-Teege said their construction team has decades of experience in the lumber and construction industries.

“We have skilled carpenters who have been doing this the majority of their lives,” she said.

Meanwhile, Van Rite-Teege said their salespeople are experts on the products they sell.

“Our salesmen have been in the industry for a very long time and can (expertly) answer questions and offer professional service and give good recommendations and advice,” she said. “I think that’s what separates us from others – the amount of experience that our team has and how they’ve contributed to our growth and our reputation among our customers.”

Growth = expansion
The companies’ steady growth over the years, Van Rite-Teege said, sparked the need for an expansion.

“To expand our product offerings and improve the customer experience, we wanted to expand our showroom,” she said. “The unique thing about our showroom is that it’s going to showcase our products, not just through floor models and samples, but the customer will be able to see a full-size cedar pergola and a Trex¬Æ deck.”

Van Rite-Teege said the showroom will be indoors but will also extend outdoors.

“Our customers will be able to walk out onto a Trex deck, or walk out and see a cedar pergola to better understand what their projects could look like,” she said.

The expanded product offerings, Van Rite-Teege said, will also help the company remain competitive with pricing.

“Obviously, we want to be competitive with other lumberyards and offer the best service and give people a reason to come to a smaller, family-owned lumber yard such as Dix Titletown Lumber,” she said.

In addition to offering new products, Van Rite-Teege said the companies are constantly adapting to changes in the construction industry.

“We can assure customers that when they come in to visit our office, they’re going to get one-on-one service,” she said. “With us being a small, family-owned business, we’re able to get to know our customers and answer questions on a more personal level.”

An example of the companies’ longevity in the industry, Van Rite-Teege said some previous customers are now referring their children to them for projects of their own.

“So, now not only did we build their deck, but we’ve built their kid’s deck,” she said. “We’re appreciative of our loyal customers who have passed along the word generation over generation.”

Van Rite-Teege said they get to know their customers on a personal level.

Tesia Van Rite-Teege said the companies anticipate moving into their new facilities this fall. Submitted Photo

“We’ve built that trust and relationship with them over the years,” she said. “(Every customer presents us with) an awesome opportunity to build relationships with people in our community. We get to know our customers by name, and they know us by name. They may call us years after (we’ve done a project for them) and we’ll still remember them.”

Grand opening, anniversary
In the next six to 12 months, Van Rite-Teege said the family will celebrate both a grand opening and Creative Decks & Landscaping’s 45th anniversary.

She said they anticipate moving into their new facility sometime this fall.

Van Rite-Teege said they will celebrate Creative Decks & Landscaping’s milestone next spring, “after we’ve been in operation in the new offices for a few months.”

Van Rite-Teege said the anniversary celebration will include employees, their families and the company’s customers – new and old.

For more information on Dix Titletown Lumber, visit dixtitletownlumber.com.

For further details on Creative Decks & Landscaping, check out dvrconstruction.com.

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