In rural Beaver Crossing, the Burkey family has spent more than two decades shaping Country Truss into a dependable, community-focused business.
Country Truss, which opened its doors in 2004, manufactures floor and roof trusses, primarily for residential applications, such as agricultural buildings, garages and homes.
“We’re not necessarily the biggest company, but we think we can do competitive work, and the aspect that we want to emphasize is quality,” manager Dave Burkey said.
In the 1960s, sales manager Gabriel Burkey’s great-uncle built the building that houses Country Truss. It was a furniture store called Country Wood Shop. Dave, who is Gabriel’s father, crafted furniture there in the late 80s and early 90s before turning to farming.
Gabriel said the building was later used off and on, mainly for construction projects, through most of the 90s. In the early 2000s, the family decided to look into business options. Dave’s brother worked in the truss business, and it intrigued Dave, who said he enjoys the unique geometry that goes into construction.
“Trusses are a long, hard-to-haul product, and you’ve got to have special equipment to handle it,” Dave said. “So, usually they’re not shipped real far, so in our area there, we decided we’ll give it a shot.”
He and his wife, Loretta, purchased the building and property. They are the primary owners of the company, and each of their five children own equal shares. Dave, Gabriel, Gabriel’s brother-in-law and Gabriel’s nephew work at Country Truss full-time.
When they started, Dave and Gabriel built the trusses on their own. Due to the economy at the time, the first few years of the company were not easy. However, business started to pick up around 2010, Gabriel said. They now have six to eight full-time employees, depending on the time of year. They have added onto the building four times and built two additional buildings for storage.
Gabriel said customer satisfaction is Country Truss’s top priority, so the business focuses on quality over quantity.
“We’re in an industry where production is really more important to most shops than quality, and with our roots in the community, I believe I’m the sixth generation here, we value quality,” he said. “In my family’s history, they’re woodworkers, so they’re going to be thinking more about quality than a lot of people who are just hammering out trusses as fast as they can.”
Gabriel said his favorite aspect of his role is working with customers. He grew up helping his dad on a family farm and said he also loves the shop’s family atmosphere. It is near his house, and it is easy for family members to drop by.
Dave said Country Truss has some of the greatest customers around, and he values the fact that those customers entrust him and his family with the responsibility of creating trusses. He prioritizes doing work that benefits others and said he is grateful that God has honored their ventures.
“My ideas of life, and the way I understand life, is doing things in such a way that can honor the principles of the Bible,” he said. “I see that as a very important aspect of life, in fact, one of the most important things. So, my goal would be that we do things in such a way that are respectable and express appreciation for our customer base.”
