From wet deck to drywall

Not many people switch careers from crab fishing to drywalling.

But Roy Glisson did.

And he says he soon learned that a hard day’s work of hanging drywall and painting on dry land was a great deal easier and less complicated than a hard day at sea.

Glisson had spent six seasons of crab fishing in dangerous waters off the coasts of Alaska and Russia, where hurricane-strength winds, crushing swells and 16-hour shifts were the norm.

It was during Glisson’s last crabbing season in Russia that the Spokane-area native had a practical epiphany.

“I said, ‘If I ever get off this thing, I’m never coming back.’ ”

Following that decision, Glisson, 50, a 1992 Eastern Washington University graduate in finance and economics, partnered with longtime friend and painter Terry Jones, 49, who had established his own business in Alaska at the time, and returned home to form All Wall Contracting in Spokane Valley in 1996.

Now, more than a decade after Glisson left the dangerous, rough-and-tumble high seas, his and Jones’ home-grown business, started in the former fisherman’s garage, employs nearly 170 people, made $12 million last year and has a newly constructed headquarters in Post Falls.

Located on Lochsa Street near the River City’s outlet malls, the 12,000-square-foot building was finished in May, with plenty of space for the company to grow.

The business partners decided to combine their individual skills – painting, drywall hanging and metal-stud framing – into one business, as was typical in the sprawling Alaskan bush where Jones had worked.

“Up there, that’s kind of how they do it,” said Glisson, president of the contracting company.

“We were the first company to put them together,” he said. “When we started, that was one of the reasons we were able to grow fast.”

What started as a word-of-mouth trade has turned into one of the largest contracting firms in North Idaho, thanks in part to the consistent construction market in the Inland Northwest during the past 10 years.

“We just kind of found a market and stayed with it,” Glisson said. “The planets lined up for us.”

In addition to the all-wall services, the 11-year-old business offers acoustical tile ceilings, plastering and specialty wall coatings. All Wall Contracting has done wall and framing work on buildings such as the new Post Falls City Hall, the Riverstone condominiums, the Chinook Medical Building and eight schools in Alaska’s bush.

“They are a good outfit,” said Rich Wells, senior project manager with Ginno Construction in Coeur d’Alene and a frequent work provider for the Post Falls-based business on buildings such as Coeur d’Alene’s Idaho Independent Bank and Panhandle State Bank. “They take very good care of the contractors they work for.”

Glisson also attributes All Wall’s success to its staff, which always does a first-class job in completing a project on time, he said.

Though Glisson admits his company may not be the least expensive, the company’s track record for quality work and a fast-paced tempo on each job more than makes up for a higher charge, he says.

“There are only a limited number of companies that can handle the bigger jobs,” he said. With its new Post Falls building and established network of North Idaho clients, All Wall Contracting is “in place to be one of the bigger contractors over here,” Glisson said.

For construction companies, having framers, drywall hangers and painters all from one company means convenience. “They give you a package that’s sort of a one-stop shop,” said Bryan Taylor, executive vice president of Contractors Northwest Inc.

In the 10 years he has known Glisson and the All Wall Contracting crew, “they are the contractors of choice, no doubt,” Taylor said.

From a college student trying to get by as a drywall hanger to a crab fisherman working in one of the world’s most dangerous occupations and back again, Glisson, along with partner Jones, has gotten to that point through back-breaking labor, overtime hours and a deft sense of business.

“A lot of it is just good business practices,” Glisson said while seated in his new corner office.

“As long as you apply good business principles to whatever it is you’re doing, you’ll have good chances of being successful.”