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By: Donnamy Steele

Mel Fleming decided to turn his passion for building into a business when he started Southern Metal Construction LLC. With over thirty years of experience, Fleming said he is prepared for any project and is ready to serve the community.

“I have thirty-plus years of experience in building, construction, and fabrication. Fifteen years ago, I used to be into installing and doing metal buildings and I built the hangars at the airport before I went offshore. Offshore has been going downhill and we’ve been doing a lot of prayer for it, so we bought some equipment and we’re working on metal buildings,” Fleming said. “I’m still working offshore, but I’m doing this on my offtime. It won’t be long before hopefully, it will be my full-time job.”

Since opening the business in April, Fleming and his crew have stayed busy with jobs.

“We just started building back in April. We saw the need, just in the community, of people wanting buildings put up. I have a crew and I’m wanting to put them on full time. Some are ironworkers and some usually work out of town and they are wanting to stay home, too, so it’s just some local people,” Fleming said. “It’s just a passion that I have. I love building and seeing it from the ground up.”

Fleming said he wants to focus on metal buildings mostly, but he is prepared for any job.

“I’m not trying to go into everything, I just want to put up metal buildings and go that route. We do metal buildings as far as shops, garages, commercial, residential, a little bit of all of it. I purchased a bunch of equipment and we’re getting work done,” Fleming said.

Business has been booming for Southern Metal Construction LLC, according to Fleming.

“It has been very good. We are actually getting plenty of work and we’re actually able to not put people off long, which we are excited about. We’re taking this on top of everything we’ve got and we’ve got plenty.”

For more information, call Mel Fleming at 334-488-9247 or email Southern Metal Construction LLC at smcllc2020@gmail.com.