There are dozens of cars in the parking lot and two sizable production buildings for Tremron off St. Clair Street on 30 acres in Northwest Jacksonville.
The company literally is laying the groundwork for Northeast Florida’s residential construction explosion.
Loads of gravel, sand and rock are funneled into large mixers about 30 feet high inside either of the two production buildings.
The mix then is jettisoned into a large square frame and a cutter slices through each square to make dozens of brick pavers.
The process plows on several times a minute as the force of the production shakes the ground and nearby structures.
From the pace and the demand for material to keep up with Northeast Florida’s housing growth, Tremron does not expect to slow down any time soon.
Jim Boedeker, Tremron sales director in Jacksonville, said the housing boom and the uptick for home improvement since the coronavirus outbreak has set the company up for its best days in the history of the business.
“Our market is really strong. The COVID shutdown really blew our market up,” Boedeker said, because so many people who sheltered in place committed to home improvements and needed brick pavers for projects.
“Our products are used primarily in the backyard. When people started staying at home and putting off vacations, who wants to sit around looking at a bare backyard?
“So they started adding outdoor kitchens, pools and patios,” he said.
He acknowledged he was surprised at the spike in home improvements, but Tremron was ready for the demand.
“We were already in the backyard mode and we pushed our products all together. But when COVID hit, it just put it on steroids,” he said.
“We actually had to go to a second shift because of the demand for brick was so high.”
Tremron has a showroom along Philips Highway for construction companies and homebuilders.
Boedeker said it occasionally sells to homeowners.
He said Tremron is well known among builders and has up to 90% area market share for brick pavers.
“We have the biggest market share in the area, probably Northeast Florida. We compete with other bigger companies, but we’ve been here the longest and our products are the one people desire because they see so much of it,” he said.
The Jacksonville operation for Tremron is one of five facilities in Florida, along with Miami, Pompano Beach, Arcadia and Lakeland.
Two more production facilities are in Douglasville, Georgia, and Bowman, South Carolina.
The company started in 1991 with the original plant in Miami while Jacksonville was second when it opened in 2000.
In 2016, Tremron company was sold to Quikrete, which makes bagged quick-drying concrete.
Patrick Lenow, Quikrete director of communications, said the Atlanta-based company has 15 brand names. It has operations and divisions in 30 states.
Lenow declined to disclose revenue figures for Quikrete or Tremron operations.
“I can tell you it’s a multibillion company,” Lenow said.
The Jacksonville operations for Tremron have grown by 20% in personnel since the Quikrete acquisition.
For Boedeker, the founding employee of the Jacksonville plant 22 years ago, the company expansion is astounding.
The materials used at the two production buildings include rock, sand and cement that arrive by truck and leave as finished goods in the form of bricks used for paving surface areas.
“That’s the cool thing about these facilities. There’s basically no waste generated. Sand, rock and cement comes in a truck and leaves as finished goods. We do have some scrap that’s taken to recycling,” Boedeker said.
On a typical day, Tremron’s Jacksonville operations produce about 35,000 to 40,000 square feet of brick pavers, Boedeker said.
The product from Jacksonville is shipped as far north as Savannah, Georgia, as far west as Tallahassee and as far south as the Daytona area.
The pricing for pavers is similar to concrete and the versatility of the bricks makes the product more attractive, he said.
With the strong housing demand in Northeast Florida, Boedeker said business is not slowing.
“There are competitors coming into town because our capacity has peaked,” Boedeker said.
Lenow said while Quikrete has multiple interests and brands, Tremron has proved to be a wise addition to the company’s roster.
“We look for companies that we think we can bring some unique qualities to. They’re already successful companies doing well. We like to take some of those back-office responsibilities away from them and give them a fair amount of autonomy,” Lenow said.
“What’s unique about Tremron is they are focused on the building professionals,” he said.
“It’s that niche in that segment that complements everything we do going back to concrete. It’s been accretive to us and it complements our business.”
