A dearth of hail storms should have left Iron River Construction, which does a lot of insurance work in roofing, diminished. Instead, between 2009 and last year, sales at the rural Minnesota remodeling company more than doubled. “We concentrated on getting production done better and more efficiently,” owner Tracy Dahlin says. With production systems ever more accountable, Dahlin could look elsewhere for savings and growth opportunities. For example, in March of last year the company bought a foreclosed office condo and rehabbed it. “It’s the first time we’ve owned our own premises,” Dahlin says.
Future growth may be in metal roofing. “I can run a $2 million company, and a $5 million company,” says the confident Dahlin. “But I don’t know if I can run a $10 million company. When I get there, I’ll find out.”
Overseas Effort Last year Tracy Dahlin and her husband spent time in Haiti as part of a rebuilding effort in the aftermath of devastating earthquake.