Issue link: http://www.insightdigital.biz/i/107253
"The building going on over there (in North Dakota) has absolutely had a positive impact on our business. We're hoping for more." –Jason Sprang, Stevens Point branch manager for Faith Technologies, Inc. One thing no one can dispute, however, is the business boom sparked by the growth in North Dakota. Minot, the state's fourth largest city, is roughly the size of Fond du Lac and borders the oil boom. The city has seen such rapid growth businesses are struggling to supply enough workers to fill all the job openings, a demand that is seeping across state borders into Wisconsin. "We've hired four more drivers just for North Dakota and increased our customer care staff here in the Fox River Valley to work phones and handle orders coming in," says Mark Diedrick, sales manager at LongVANS, which employs 70 workers locally. "We currently have two fabrication shops working double duty to get all this stuff prepared." Small businesses aren't the only ones scrambling to keep up with the pace. Eau Claire-based building supply giant, Menard Inc., recently announced it will hire workers from its home base in Wisconsin and fly them to North Dakota to staff its Minot store, the only big-box building supply retailer in town. The company is offering higher-than-local wages and paying for flights and living expenses for workers willing to make the more than 500-mile weekly commute. "The people of Minot … rely on us to provide them with the goods and services they need," the company said in a statement released last November, Because your project starts with an idea, START WITH HoffmAn. Affinity Medical Group | Downtown Neenah Clinic We are planning, design, and construction professionals...and your vAlued BuSIneSS pARTneR. during the height of the holiday shopping season. "We don't want to let them down and have committed ourselves to do whatever it takes, however unconventional to fulfill their needs." Menards spokesman Jeff Abbott says the company would start training workers in the weeks following the announcement, and then fly them to North Dakota. Getting workers to North Dakota is one thing. Finding places for them to stay is quite another. That's where another Northeast Wisconsin company comes into play. "We're working on a new 165,000-square-foot hotel and casino project in Belcourt, N.D.," says Randy Frahmann, project manager for Menasha's Faith Technologies Inc. One of the largest, privately held electrical contractors in the nation, the company describes the current project as "small." However, that is not to say they minimize the effect North Dakota's building boom is [continued] » COMMERCIAL TRASH CONTAINERS FOR RENT OR LEASE We offer a full service program of container rentals and a competitive container lease program for both commercial and residential customers. Winnebago County offers single stream recycling. Consolidate your two recycling dumpsters into one with single stream recycling! AVAILABLE SIZES: 2, 4, 6, 8, 20 & 30 cubic yard containers WINNEBAGO COUNTY SOLID WASTE 920.232.1850 / 920.727. 2896 920.731.2322 | hoffman.net w w w. i n s i g h t o n b u s i n e s s . c o m Outside the Fox Valley 866.424.1850 105 W. County Road Y • Oshkosh www.co.winnebago.wi.us/solid-waste F e b r u a r y 2 013 • Insight | 43