ROCKINGHAM — Tim and Nicole Hayden first went into business together in 1995 with Exit Realty after developing a mobile home park in Hoffman. Seven years later, in 2002, Hayden Construction came on board. Now that Guardian Roofing has been established and joined the team, the Haydens are now moving all three businesses into one building on U.S. 1 North.
“We offer everything that has to be done with house or real estate under one roof,” said Tim Hayden. “From new construction to emergency services if you have a fire, a busted a water heater, we clean up sewage, crime scenes, things like that. We also have the equipment to clean carpet and to do VCT (vinyl composition tile) and tile grout cleaning in houses.”
Tim Hayden said on the real estate side they can list and sale houses and fix up developments, including two they’re working on at the moment. The plan calls for building new houses at Carolina Hills off of McDonald Church Road and near where the former Little Bo Club restaurant used to sit. Tim Hayden said about 25 to 30 lots will open between the two sites, and Nicole Hayden said house prices would range from $145,000 in one area to $250,000 in the other.
“We’re in a small town so you’ve got to be able to do a lot of different things. And we’ve been able to do that and grow the business and grow the company to where we can move to this location,” said Tim Hayden. “On the new construction side we’ll have a showroom. Instead of clients having to go to two or three different places, five or six different places, they can come to our showroom and pick the majority of the products going in their houses from our suppliers.”
The main purpose for the move, Tim Hayden said, was to have all three businesses under one roof and to incorporate the new showroom. Until June 1, everything is split among three different locations, he said, and with the new location offering 8,500 square feet of space on 2.14 acres, “We can move it all in one place and have a fenced-in lot and visibility.”
With 11 employees and a twelfth beginning next week, three of those are full-time ladies in the office to help oversee, said Nicole Hayden. Included in that number will be one to help with rental properties, one to handle project management and an office administrator to oversee it all.
“I’ll handle mostly sales, and Tim’s estimator and out in the field,” she said.
On the restoration side, Tim Hayden said that all a client has to do is make them their first call and they’ll walk them through the rest.
“He’ll deal with the insurance company, he’ll do the quotes and uses the software the insurance companies use so he can speak their language, and it really helps our clients a lot,” Nicole Hayden said. “And he’ll do it from start to finish, from the clean-up part of it all the way to the reconstruction.
“On the admin side, we’re dealing with the bank and the insurance company to make sure everything’s being paid and being handled so the client really doesn’t have to do all that,” she added. “Cause it gets a little stressful.”
The Haydens started negotiating and getting the process started in January on their new property, closed on it in April and decided to have everything moved in on by the first day of June.
“That’s the thing. We’re still working other jobs and getting this done,” Tim Hayden said. “That’s my skill set, is the project management and just being able to make things happen and allocate resources where they need to be. Residential is where we make our living. We’re not set up to deal with architects. We don’t have that staff. Instead of pushing into that market and competing with the builders around here, we moved into the restoration side because right now we’re the only full-service restoration company in Richmond County.”
Reach reporter Matt Harrelson at 910-817-2674 and follow him on Twitter @mattyharrelson.