Catching up with our Customers: Bernie Walraven, President of Pinnacle Contracting Services

This month’s Catching up with our Customers spotlight is of Bernie Walraven, President of Pinnacle Contracting Services. Bernie started his company in 2011, which is a high growth concrete company in the Residential and Multi-Family Home Construction Market. When Bernie started the company 11 years ago, he took a risk to begin the company when his wife was pregnant with their first child, where he worked very hard for the first year as the only employee, and then the business took off from there. Learn more about Bernie’s background, the projects he is most excited by right now, and how they differentiate themselves from the competition by reading the full interview below.

QUESTIONS

• Tell us about Pinnacle Contracting Services, its history as a company, and the main services offered.

I started the company in February 2011. My wife was pregnant with our first child and I had an opportunity to start this concrete company so I took a big risk and we opened our doors. The economy was in a tough spot at the time so I worked out of my truck and our extra bedroom served as both my wife’s office, she worked from home, and my office. I was our only employee for about a year as we poured concrete for production builders in the Triad market when my older brother Clay joined the team and we started our Raleigh division. Since then we expanded into the Charlotte and Wilmington Markets. We have also recently started multi- family and masonry divisions in our business.

• What projects are you most excited about right now and why?

What I’m most excited about is the overall strength of the residential and multi-family business in our region. Covid has changed the trajectory of housing in this part of the country for good and I feel like we have a great runway out in front of us for as far as the eye can see.

• What areas does your company mainly serve?

In our single family concrete business we serve the following markets Charlotte, Raleigh, Triad and Wilmington. In Masonry, we are currently working in Raleigh and Wilmington. Our multi-family business can service most of the southeast.

• How are you different from your competition?

We differ from our competition by focusing on our first two core values of being Good People that Get It Done. This really means that we are a strong team of excellent people that work tirelessly to do what it takes for our customers. We can scale with our customers and stand behind our work no matter what.

• Do you have any big predictions for the construction industry for the rest of 2022 you want to share?

As far as a big prediction, I feel like the rising interest rates will help reduce the pace of inflation in our industry and I am extremely optimistic about the residential market in our part of the country. I feel like the southeast is poised to continue to draw people from around the country and world due to the affordable cost of living, quality of life in this area, and the business friendly environment.

• What do you buy the most from NSCS? Any branch and NSCS associate you work with the most?

We have been buying materials from NCCS supply since our early days. The materials we buy from NSCS range from rebar and insulation to anchor bolts and poly vapor barrier as well as all other essential concrete construction materials besides ready mix.

• What should others know about NSCS that they may not know?

We truly view NSCS as an essential partner in our business and the delivery service you provide our projects with is extremely valuable to our entire team. I would like to thank everyone at NSCS for everything you do for us. We couldn’t do what we do without NSCS.