Toliver Parks
Parks Building Supply & Interiors
Fayetteville, N.C.
PS100 Rank: 99
It came in second from the bottom on the 2018 ProSales 100, but the Tar Heel State’s Parks Building Supply & Interiors finished second from the top in terms of sales growth, expanding a mighty 54.9% from 2017 to reach $42.5 million.
Company president Toliver Parks attributes the growth to Parks’ hiring of new employees—48 newcomers in all, a 77% personnel increase—who fit the operation’s core values and bring great knowledge and experience to the team as well as product-line diversification.
In 2017, Parks added a contractor-oriented appliance program and expanded its cabinetry and countertop program in the company’s interiors division. On the building materials side, Parks expanded its gypsum, metal stud, and acoustical tile program.
The appliance program has been so successful that, by year’s end, it will likely account for 5% of company sales, says Fred Lund, executive vice president of Parks.
The dealer also hired a COO in April, a new position at the company. About two years ago, the executive team “identified a need for more of a focus on operations, and we recently found that person,” says Parks.
The family-owned company was founded by Parks’s grandfather Jack in 1949, and was run by his father, Chip, until his death in 2005. It’s headquartered in Fayetteville, N.C., with a second location in Leland, N.C.
The Leland operation, located just west of Wilmington, gives the dealer an outpost in Brunswick County, the state’s fastest-growing, and an opportunity to serve current builder clients already working in the area.
Single-family homes make up 60% of the company’s business, with 18% commercial, 7% multifamily, and the remainder spread between remodeling and specialty work.
Sustaining the company’s current profitability with an eye out for future opportunities is the plan for the future, says Parks.
