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IN Business
Dorothy Jerse
KOSTYO WOODWORKING INC.
"Nice work if you can get it, And you can get it, if you try." ~Ira Gershwin, 1937.
These lyrics fit Steve Kostyo of Kostyo Woodworking Inc. perfectly. He remembers, "I opened the door in 1985; there were no customers.
"My first job was making tables and benches for Gwen Buchanan's Paper Chase downtown business. Then I began branching out--furniture and anything I could find. Anything to survive,and I did survive and grow."
His wholesale/retail establishment continues to grow, 10 to 15 percent each year, and provides meaning and satisfaction to his life. He offers beautiful furniture, affordable cabinetry, solid surface and laminated countertops, interior and exterior doors, and moldings. Computer design, woodworking and custom pieces are available. In 2008, Kostyo acquired the fabrication equipment of Indiana Wholesalers Inc. and assumed its Haas Cabinets distributorship.
The biggest job on record for our company was to supply cabinets for every Peddle Park apartment in 2009," he said. "We also built the bars at The Landing and at 7th & Elm Bar and Grill, as well as the registration desk for Candlewood Suites."
Commercial work comes in on demand at any time of the year. The busiest season for residential work is Labor Day to Christmas. People move back in and seem ready to improve their homes for the holidays.
"Our market area covers a 50-mile radius around Terre Haute. It is a good place to do business," he said. "I am active in the Home Builders Association of Greater Terre Haute, Inc., as a member of the board of directors. It is a very good organization with members looking out for each other.
"We have six full-time employees, including my wife Trish who manages the office, and our salesman, Lenny Isles. My employees are everything. I want them to feel like family."
Steve grew up on North Seventh Street and attended Sacred Heart and Collett elementary schools and Terre Haute North Vigo High School. He remembers well spending after-school hours and summers working at the Nesbitt Bottling Co., 2155 N. 13th St., a business which his dad, Joseph Kostyo, and grandfather, Frank Kostyo, owned and operated. There was always work to do--working on the line, sorting bottles, and loading and unloading trucks.
He completed his construction technology degree at Indiana State University, and a few years later, started his woodworking business in the family bottling company building.
"My father and I built the present building at 3399 Fort Harrison Road in 1999," he said. "I expanded it last year and now the business occupies a 14,000 square foot shop within a threebuilding complex. The addition of a new showroom is in progress."
The technology process and production have changed drastically in the past 25 years. Equipment is used in a safer way with more user-friendly blades and guards. The new water-base contact cement for bonding countertops is now ecofriendly. The endless choice of materials is almost overwhelming to the customer.
"Out-sourcing is the big change in production," Steve reported. "It is increasing rapidly: drawers are made in Louisiana, cabinet doors in Vincennes and a new line of cabinets in Kentucky.
"I remain 'true blue.' I will keep work in America as long as I can. People need to wake up; sometimes we have no choice, but we need the jobs in this country."
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