With new residential construction at near historic lows, Hometeam Builders Services President Jim Manis said his company was going where the business is and right now, a lot of that business is in the Huntsville, Ala., metro area.

A lot of starter homes are being built in the area surrounding the military and NASA facilities in Huntsville. “We’re fortunate to be selling product over there,” said Manis.

“The good news is that the overwhelming number of unsold homes is being chipped away at,” said Jim Manis. Mark Manis, the CEO of Hometeam Builders Services, said new housing construction in the metro-Atlanta region and across Northwest Georgia is off 95 percent.

To illustrate the point, Jim Manis said during the second quarter of 2008, there were 995 single-family housing starts in the 22 county metro-Atlanta region. That improved to a little more than 1,100 during the third quarter. The problem is, he said, is that for the past decade those 22 counties that make up the metro Atlanta region — which are the bread and butter of the brothers’ business — the average was close to 5,000 housing starts, per month.

The Manis brothers have been supplying the construction industry all over North Georgia, North Alabama, even up into the suburbs of Charlotte, N.C., for years. Now though, the network of operations is much closer to home with three facilities in Rome along with sales centers in Cartersville, Newnan, Winder and Calhoun. A facility in Jasper was shut down in the wake of the residential construction industry slump.

Their former businesses, Manis Lumber Co., Wheelers Inc., Manis Building Centers Inc. and several others filed bankruptcy in February of 2008. Hometeam Builders Services was actually created to bid on a bankruptcy sale of the Manis assets and to Mark Manis’ admitted surprise, they were successful in re-acquiring the vast majority of their former assets.

During its peak period, the Manis businesses employed close to 1,000 workers. As the economy began to falter, the number fell to approximately 120 right before the bankruptcy filing. Since then Hometeam Builders Services has had to lay off another 20 or so, bringing the workforce to right at 100 today.

Mark Manis said there are a few pockets where things are going on and made it clear that Hometeam Builders Services is working aggressively in those areas.