Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County Small Business of the Year, 1998
By Margaret Hopkins, Centre Daily Times, January 25, 1998

To hear Rob Veronesi tell it, the company he started as a Penn State student just sort of, well, happened.

There he was in the spring of 1981, studying business economics and managing a crew of five employees who were putting in windows and putting up siding. Most of the jobs were residential, and when he wasn't in class, Veronesi spent his time estimating jobs, ordering materials and managing the construction. As orders kept coming in, he kept adding employees.

Rob Veronesi Photo by Michael A. Black, BlackSun Photograpy, www.blacksun.com, Courtesy of CBICC

"I didn't really plan it, I just kind of stuck with it." said the president of Veronesi Building and Remodeling Inc. in State College. The easygoing attitude isn't a front: those who've worked with Veronesi remarked about it. but they also noted that the 39-year old businessman has a keen understanding of the construction industry, excels as a a manger and has a well-deserved reputation for honesty and fairness.

Those qualities and the success of the 17 year-old company have earned Veronesi Building and Remodeling the Small Business of the Year from the Chamber of Business and Industry of Centre County. Veronesi will be presented with the award at the chamber's annual dinner Feb. 19.

"He's a man of his word--if he tells you something, he always follows through," said Tom Songer, former owner of PennTerra Engineering who worked with Veronesi on several projects. "He does a Class A job."

Veronesi admits to "always wanting his own business," but said he sort of fell into the building and remodeling trades. When his father John Veronesi returned the family to his hometown of Dubois, He decided to build a new house.

The oldest of three, Rob took a year off from school and helped with the construction. The following year he attended Penn State Dubois while working for a neighbor who did windows and siding.

The first years Veronesi enrolled at University Park, he only worked summers. But then he started the siding company as a side to school. Jobs expanded to include decks, roofing and additions. With the company taking off, Veronesi decided to take off from school and commit himself to business.

Today Veronesi Building and Remodeling Inc. has 27 full-time employees. Commercial construction outpaces residential, 70 percent to 30 percent. Projects like the new office building for RE/MAX Realty under construction on Clinton Avenue carry million-dollar price tags.

Veronesi credits his employees with much of the company's success. Several--including his brother Brent, who serves as vice-president, and secretary-treasurer John Youngmark--have been with the company from almost the beginning. Dave Corvin, another long-term employee, who unexpectedly died this past summer, also helped the company grow, Veronesi said.

The growth is evident in the sizable list of local project Veronesi Building and Remodeling has completed in the 1990's. The firm recently renovated the Internal Medicine Associates building in Boalsburg. It did most of the construction at Uni-Mart's Convenience Center on the corner of College Ave. and Whitehall Road. Veronesi has done several other Uni-Marts as well. The small strip mall next to West College Avenue Uni-Mart was Veronesi's first venture into commercial construction. The three-story commercial building next to it was the second.

But Veronesi deserves much of the credit, too, said those in the industry.

"He's a very honest, very respectable type of guy." said Bill Beard, estimator and project manager for local contractor R.H. Marcon Inc. "He's quietly efficient, thoughtful, committed.
While Veronesi Building and Remodeling still creates invoices for $50, Veronesi said he likes the challenge of the larger projects.

"We'll always do windows and siding--we're good at it--but our real growth will be in the commercial side," Veronesi said.
He estimated the company has grown, on average, 10 percent to 12 percent a year during the last several years and projected that revenues for this year will be between $5 million and $10 million.

Like many in the development community, Veronesi has mixed emotions about the area's growth. He wishes there were less sprawl and more planning. That's the only way the area can maintain its unique qualities, he said.

"Growth is inevitable," said the father of  three. "We need to do the best job possible managing it. People fight growth, but fighting it is a losing battle. What we have to do is plan."