B&B; Automotive Adding Parts Shop, Moving To New, Larger Building

The success of one new business usually snowballs into another, as evidenced by two North Idaho companies this month.

Needing more space and wanting to own his own building, Butch Brown of B&B Automotive is building an 8,000-square-foot facility at 3840 W. Seltice Way, Post Falls. He’ll move his 20 employees into the new place about Nov. 1 from the current 5,400-square-foot building he leases at 101 Fourth Ave.

He’ll hire about five new employees for the parts shop he is adding to the business, which offers complete automotive repair and engine rebuilding.

Raised in Chico, Calif., Brown came to North Idaho from Southern California in 1979 while searching for a desirable town with four seasons.

“I stopped at the boat ramp at the east end of Lake Coeur d’Alene and saw 27 trucks and boat trailers, but not one boat was visible on the lake,” he explained. “This is it!” I said.

In constructing the new building, Brown is using a new product from another new North Idaho business, Northwest Fabtech.

Northwest Fabtech, N. 19925 Old Highway 95 (near the Chilco mill), is constructing B&B Automotive’s new building with “panelized” light-gauge steel construction.

The company’s five employees use computer-aided design and drafting methods for engineering and “panelizing” with roll-formed galvanized, light-gauge, sheet steel. The panels are delivered to the building site, erected and finished with siding.

Owner Ronald Boger said the process is less expensive and faster than other methods. Insurance costs are lower than wood and comparable to block building, Brown said.

All Northwest Fabtech employees came to the Coeur d’Alene area from Wallace, where Boger was raised. The company also is using the new construction method for residences, barns and garages. Phone 762-4600.

Barnett Mortgage and Crest Home Health are moving into 101 Ironwood (clock-tower building) in the northwest corner of Ironwood Drive and Government Way.

Offering home loans and refinancing, Barnett Mortgage will move to Suite 140 from its smaller, temporary quarters in Suite 228 near the end of the month. Formerly called Bancplus, the company has its headquarters in Jacksonville, Fla.

Owner and Coeur d’Alene native Ken Everson started the business three weeks ago with the help of Tracy DuMont. A third person will be added soon.

Growth is the reason for Crest Home Health’s new office, which is expanding from its Sandpoint location. The services include nursing, hospice, social work, counseling, pastoral care, home aides, dieticians, homemakers (for housekeeping, shopping and errands) and therapists (physical, speech and occupational) - all done in the home.

“People are electing to stay in their homes” for health care, said Lorraine Gruner, who owns the business with her husband Bob. “It’s a rapidly growing industry.”

The Gruners have 12 employees in their 2-year-old Sandpoint business. They will open in Coeur d’Alene in early October with four employees and will expand to meet the needs.

The historic Paul Bunyan drive-in beside The Spokesman-Review Building in Coeur d’Alene will bite the dust after Sept. 20, but the 44-year-old winking lumberman sign will guard the site while a new building is constructed.

Major changes for the restaurant, which was built by Louis and Mildred Ormesher as Louie’s In & Out in 1952 and changed names four years later, include adding parking spaces, inside seating for 16 people and a drive-through that services the driver’s side of the car, rather than the passenger side as it has through the years.

Owners Bob and Sharon Ovnicek of Post Falls plan to reopen the place in February with 10-15 employees. They have about 50 employees at their restaurants, including the Paul Bunyans in Post Falls and Hayden and the Topper Too in Coeur d’Alene.

While retrieving a dead-battery car at the Spokane International Airport, an employee revealed he rescues an average of 16 cars a day. All car licenses and locations are tracked by computer so customers can’t claim they “lost their ticket but only owe for a day.” The airport lots hold 5,000 cars.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Nils Rosdahl The Spokesman-Review