Irving Materials, Inc. (IMI) digs deep for business. One of the largest privately held concrete suppliers, Irving Materials, Inc. produces stone, sand, gravel, and concrete materials for customers in Alabama, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee. It operates four regional operations centers and more than 150 ready-mix plants, about 15 asphalt plants, and 10 stone quarries. IMI also sells used equipment ranging from haul trucks and fleet cars to portable crushing equipment and other heavy equipment. C. C. "Skunk" Irving founded Irving Materials, Inc. in 1946. It is employee owned.

Harley Ellis Devereaux offers architecture, engineering, interior, landscaping, planning, preservation, and other services from about a half-dozen offices in the Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, and San Diego metro areas. The company serves corporations, health care firms, universities, and government agencies; it has done work for such clients as Comerica, General Motors, Stanford University, and Chicago's Lincoln Park Zoo. Companies affiliated with Harley Ellis Devereaux offer such specialized services as crime lab design, environmentally sustainable design consulting, and real estate services.

Project Design Consultants have elevated it to a lofty position among engineering firms serving Southern California and Arizona. It provides such services as civil engineering, planning, land surveying, and landscape architecture, serving an array of private- and public-sector clients. Project Design Consultants' clients have included such residential developers as D.R. Horton, Brookfield Homes, and Pulte Homes. Project Design Consultants was founded in 1976 and has three offices in Southern California and one in Phoenix.

Joseph Vicat, whose father invented a method of creating artificial cement, founded Vicat in 1853. The Vicat family continues to lead the company. Vicat's objectives are set in stone. The company produces some 21 million tons of cement and aggregates and 10 million cubic meters of concrete per year. Vicat operates about a dozen cement plants and grinding plants, more than 200 concrete plants, and 70 quarries in Europe, Africa, the US, and the Middle East. It also has operations in specialty chemicals and paper manufacturing, transportation, and precast concrete. More than half of Vicat's revenues come from outside of France. In 2010 Vicat expanded into India with plans to acquire 51% of Bharathi Cement.

EcoStar's roof is the first recycled one I've seen tonight. EcoStar, a division of Carlisle SynTec, manufactures roofing tiles that are composed of up to 80% recycled post-industrial plastic and rubber. The materials are remnants of such products as car bumpers and baby diapers. Its products are meant to be wind, rain, fire, and hail resistant; they offer a durable alternative to traditional tile, slate, and shake. EcoStar also makes polypropylene underlayments (Aqua Guard), sheet membranes to protect against moisture (Glacier Guard), copper snow retention brackets (Snow Guards), fasteners, tapes, and walkway pads (NOVA). Its products are sold in the US and Canada.

American Homestar Corporation produces factory built homes in the United States. The company offers manufactured and modular homes. It also facilitates chattel and land-home installment financing for purchasers of manufactured homes from its retail sales centers. In addition, the company offers various insurance products, principally property and casualty insurance for retail customers. Further, American Homestar involves in community and real estate development; and the provision of consulting services. It sells its products through company-operated retail sales centers in Texas, Louisiana, and Oklahoma, as well as through builders, developers, independent dealers, and developer-operated sales centers in manufactured housing communities. The company was founded in 1971 and is based in League City, Texas.

The Drees Company is a leading homebuilder in Cincinnati and one of the top private builders in the US. First-time home buyers and move-up customers may choose from homes that range from about $100,000 to more than $1 million. Drees also builds condominiums, town homes, and patio homes. It sells luxury homes through its Zaring Premier Homes division and more modest houses under the Marquis Homes name. The company purchases land to develop as homesites in Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, North Carolina, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas, and the Washington, DC, area. Drees also offers financing through its First Equity Mortgage subsidiary, which has closed more than $1 billion in loans over the years.

Hardaway Construction is paying off all over the Southeast. The firm offers general contracting, construction management, and design/build services on both large and small projects. Known for the diversity of work it takes on, Hardaway has built everything from offices and schools to hospitals and industrial plants, among other commercial structures. Its Cumberland Builders unit focuses on the residential sector, building and remodeling condominiums and retirement facilities. The company's portfolio includes work on Vanderbilt University, the Gaylord Opryland Resort Hotel, and the Nashville International Airport. The family-owned company was founded in 1924 by the late L.H. Hardaway, Sr.

Smith Management Construction, Inc. (SMCI) provides general contracting and construction management services for office, retail, multifamily residential, and institutional projects ranging from commercial interiors and renovations to new construction in the Baltimore/Washington, DC corridor. Its clients have included the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the University of Maryland, and the US government. Together, president and COO Frederick "Rick" Wrieden and company vice presidents Ann Kerns Bowley, William Kirten, Robert Pronier, and Frank Talbot own SMCI.

The RDI Group operates three business units specializing in the design and manufacture of highly engineered equipment for the asphalt roofing, construction and metal coil processing industries. These machinery and manufacturing solutions designed, built and commissioned by Reichel & Drews and Chicago Slitter have been helping customers improve productivity and profits since the early 1900s. Hundreds of patented designs and thousands of installations attest to the leadership role the RDI Group business units hold in the continuing quest for innovative technology.

Inviting Real Estate Agents, Job Placements Agents, Educational Institutes, Software Service Providers, Real Estate Builders, Marriage Bureaus, Travel Agents, Restaurant Owners, Health & Fitness Centers and other Local Businesses to Post a FREE Classified Advertisement on Cootera.com Classifieds Website.