MERCER CO., Ky. (LEX 18) — Eight months. That’s how long it took to rebuild after a severe storm destroyed a building housing Joseph Moore, his family, and his business, JM WeldCo. The new building is the site of the new welding shop, and Moore and his family have lived in their RV, which sits just inside.
“This building is a tick under 10,000 square feet. It has 20-ft walls and 26-ft floor-to-ceiling in the center,” Moore said about the dimensions. It’s more than two times bigger than his previous shop.
“Eight months is a pretty fast turnaround when it’s just me, my father-in-law, my dad, and my wife building the thing.”
The storm in April ripped the building apart, and the rain ruined all of the equipment inside. No shop – and no tools – meant no work, and Moore also had to lay off his employees.
“We’ve been at a complete standstill, so no product going out, no money going in,” Moore said. “We’ve just now got back up and running.”
Now, Moore has new, upgraded equipment, and he hopes to start bringing back shop employees.
“Instead of just replacing it with the same thing, we’ve gone the step further, invested back into ourself, belief in ourself, and it’s paying off pretty well,” Moore said of the new tools.
The tools are used to build a safer carrying case system for certain pharmaceuticals.
“It’s rewarding work knowing that I’m helping people,” said Moore, “basically just making a safer product for delivery drivers to use.”
The new tools will also help Moore and JM WeldCo find more work to do at the shop.
“These little slitting blades are all over industry,” he said, holding up a small disc-like piece with sharpened edges around the circumference. “Paper industry, books, the food industry, foams, rubbers, textiles. Literally anything that has to be cut into strips, they’re done with these little circular slitting blades.”
While there’s still some work to be done inside, Moore and his family are happy to finally start moving forward again.
“I mean it’s a blow for anybody,” Moore said of the whole ordeal. “I mean you just don’t wipe away your house and place of business and all of a sudden think everything’s gonna be, I mean we’ve lived in a camper for the last eight months while we built this thing.”
