Prough Design Builders New Building Celebrates
The Wells County Chamber of Commerce staff, Ambassadors and supporters gathered at the newly constructed building of Prough Design Builders, located at 2379 N Main Street in Bluffton, for a Ribbon Cutting on October 8, 2019. Currently there are two other businesses that are housed at this location: General Insurance and North American Title Company.
Prough Design Builders began construction in March 2019 and completed in September. Tim and Trent Prough took about three years to finalize a design for the building. “We would meet clients in our home offices. Our goal was to eventually have State Road 1 frontage; we wanted a building that would be more modern and have a fresh new style and big flavor added to Bluffton,” said Trent Prough.
The Prough team not only needed meeting space, but warehouse space as well. “We met with an Architect to plan what was possible. We ended up with a 6,000 square foot building that meets those needs and has the added ability to lease space for other businesses as well,” explained Trent.
Trent said that as he and Tim get older, they don’t want to have to do as much physical labor but be in a position they can hire additional employees to do the labor for their projects. “With the modern technology in this building we can show clients 3D blueprints, show energy efficient options, and we will continue to add additional amenities as a model for what we can do in a house or business.”
The first tenant, Dan Lipp, owner of General Insurance, stated that their business is going through a transition of re-branding and growth and the move was necessary as this has brought awareness of the business, given them a fresh-new look, and sets the business up for additional employees in the future.
“This move is exciting as the additions and changes will provide a better customer service experience for our clients,” explained Lipp. “We need to be relevant to our customers and if we can’t provide more and better (service, products, etc.) people will go elsewhere.”
Lipp explained that they worked very closely with ITI (Indiana Technical Installations) to install cameras, dual monitors at workstations, and Smart Tv’s. “These additions help us to keep updated and work more efficiently for our customers. We also want our employees to be in a comfortable and fun environment, which allows us to work harder. In addition, I also want my father-in-law, Dick Randol, to be proud of where we are today and be proud of the direction we are going.”
The second tenant of the building is North American Title Company. Agent Kyle Fillman started with North American Title Company three years ago in the Columbia City office. “Since starting with the company my goal was to have an office in Wells County because my family is from here, I went to school here, and I have a lot of connections,” explained Fillman.
“I have had the pleasure of building additional relationships and strengthening the ones I have to help grow this business. We were really excited that Trent and Tim gave us this opportunity to have an office in this complex,” said Fillman.
North American Title Company works with realtors and lenders all over Indiana. “North American is a large company; however, our goal is to have that small-town feel. We are so grateful for our customers and want to give them a huge thank you as they have grown their trust in us in Wells County,” stated Fillman.
The space in the complex has a shared conference room for clients for all tenants and meetings. An additional 1,200 square foot of space upstairs and one office space is currently available for lease.
Pictured in the photo cutting the ribbon is Dan Lipp with General Insurance. To the left is Brett Beer with General Insurance and Kyle Fillman with North American Title Company. Holding the ribbon for the celebration is Mayor Ted Ellis and Jim Brewer with Ossian State Bank, Chamber Board President.
