Rocky Mountain Finishes owners Jacob Shirar and Ryan Hass go back a long way to a time when finishing and coatings weren't even in their vocabulary.
"I moved in across from Ryan when I was 7, and he was 4," Shirar says. "A few years later, in kindergarten, they matched up older kids to teach younger ones to read, I actually partnered with Ryan to help teach him to read."
Fast-forward to 2022, and the two have reunited again to form a new venture, Rocky Mountain Finishes in Craig, Colorado, to provide high-quality pre-finishing of interior and exterior products.
Prep, Coat, Cure, and Package Components
RMF opened its doors at the end of January, offering to prep, coat, cure, and package components using paints, stains, sealers, and topcoats for a host of manufacturers and builders. Essentially, RMF will coat the products prior to them being installed in homes and buildings, saving a step in the field for most builders and providing better quality control. They will offer over 2,000 solid colors and numerous other stain-type finish options.
"This is really a dream come true for both of us," Hass says.
While growing up in Iowa, the two became close friends — even starting a trick-shot basketball YouTube channel — before Shirar headed off to Iowa State to earn a degree in Engineering. A few years later, Hass also went to Iowa State University and earned a degree in Agriculture, Agriculture Operations, and Related Sciences.
Shirar, meanwhile, had already started his career in the family business, Deimco Finishing Equipment, a designer and builder of custom finishing and material handling systems based in Tama, IA. He started as a mechanical draftsman, moved to sales, and later became the sales and marketing manager for the company.
In early 2021, Hass joined Deimco as a Senior Technician after graduating from ISU in 2020, but previously had roles in fabrication, mechanical and electrical duties at B&G HVAC, Van Wall Equipment, and Reisetter Electric. At Deimco, Hass helped design and implement the electrical, mechanical, pneumatic, and hydraulic controls of Deimco's automated systems.
"I twisted Ryan's arm to come to Deimco," Shirar says. "I was also telling our team, 'This would be great if we could get him.' When it comes to electronics, he just knew more than anyone else I know."
A Spirit for Entrepreneurship
For Hass, his career has spanned 14 different jobs in his young life — some of which were businesses he started on the side — and his spirit for entrepreneurship was just getting started when he joined Deimco.
At the same time, Shirar had been kicking around the idea of buying a pre-finish operation for several years, ever since his parents — owners of Deimco — tried to buy one a few years prior without success.
That is when Hass and Shirar began kicking around the idea of starting their own pre-finishing business in the Colorado area; Shirar grew up skiing just down the road, loved the outdoors, and was familiar with the area.
"When we started looking at markets at high-end finishes like interior trims and molding, that market doesn't exist in Iowa," Shirar says. "But it does in Colorado, where there are an extensive amount of large resorts, such as in Steamboat, Aspen, or Vail."
Remodels Every 5-10 Years for Repeat Business
According to their research, the resorts were doing remodels every 5-10 years, which held for a promising business model on top of all the new construction that was taking place.
"The repeat business is going to be key for us," Hass says. "Plus, the new housing is going gangbusters. The average list price for a single-family home in Steamboat (in 2019) was around $667,000, and so the market is there for these high-end finishes."
Thankfully, Shirar and Hass are experts in the equipment they will need for the new process, which includes many products made by Shirar's family business.
Deimco's Lineal Flatline system is perfect for siding, molding and millwork, flooring, and other narrow products. It offers simple automatic gun triggering, as well as more advanced auto-positioning guns and digitized pneumatic regulation. The system can also be customized for each customer's unique requirements.
Parts are conveyed on torque-limiting rolls through the Moulding Finishing Machine (MFM) booth and through the part detection system, where individual outputs trigger the guns sequentially as the part progresses through the system. Overspray is collected in a removable capture cart, and a fan exhausts the air after passing through two sets of dry filter media.
Deimco is also supplying RMF with a manual spray booth that is used to efficiently finish products of varying widths and lengths that don’t lend themselves to automated finishing.
Complement Each Other's Skill Set
Both Shirar and Hass worked until the end of October at Deimco, then headed to Colorado to complete the purchase of their facility, which they have been remodeling and getting equipment installed.
Shirar says he and Hass complement each other in the skillset — with Hass taking the more hands-on approach and Shirar handling the sales and marketing that he has been doing previously — and that makes them feel confident that the partnership will flourish even more than expected.
Starting out, the pair will do most all of the work themselves, but the business plan is to add 10-12 employees over the next few years as sales grow. Obviously, the automated equipment will save a lot of time and money on labor costs, but they want to grow a crew of employees that understand the importance of the quality they need to produce.
"I know we will really enjoy producing all of this great finished material and being the owners of our own company," Hass says. "Eventually, someone needs to focus on sales and bringing in the business, too, but this is something I know we are looking forward to very much."
