Since Curtiss and Laura Grenz started their company, Concrete Works Statuary Inc., theyve noticed fads in the yard-ornament business blossom and wither like Spokane-area lawns during a typical cycle of the seasons.


Trends have included everything from Oriental-garden themes to contemporary designs to cutesy statues, Laura Grenz says. Usually, though, the Spokane Valley companys customers fancy products that reflect nature rather than classic Italian fountains or European-style birdbaths, she says.


They go more for the bears and bunnies, Laura Grenz says. Its not a metropolitan kind of style.


Concrete Works manufactures a number of animal-shaped statues and other concrete creations year-round and sells those products during a season that lasts from April to October. The business has increased its sales each year since the Grenzes launched it in 1995, and already had notched strong sales this month by the middle of April, Curtiss Grenz says.


Concrete Works products cost anywhere from $15 to $630, and can weigh up to 1,800 pounds for a large, three-piece fountain, he says. It sells those products mostly to homeowners buying them for their own use or as gifts for others, but also sells to a few landscaping companies and wholesalers, he says.


The Grenzes employ seven people at their store, at 205 S. Pines, including both of their mothers, and employ two people at a store in the Tri-Cities. They plan to employ 15 people at their manufacturing plant, which they currently are moving to the Spokane Business & Industrial Park from the Airway Heights Corrections Center, where they have used prison labor.


Laura Grenz says her mother handles administrative work, and her mother-in-law helps show customers around their 1.75-acre lot on Pines where their creations are displayed. Both of their fathers help with the business, too, she says.


Curtiss Grenzs parents helped inspire him to start Concrete Works, Laura Grenz says. When he worked for a McDonalds Corp. distributing company in the 1990s, they would ask him to buy fountains and statues for them when he was traveling to and from California, she says. After a friend there taught him how to make molds and pour concrete, he started creating statues in his backyard and quit his job. He then recruited a group of people, including his mother, a nephew, and a neighbor boy, and launched Concrete Works, she says.


Since then, the Spokane Valley companys business volume has fluctuated with changing weather conditions, as well as with the seasons, she says.


Customers arent as motivated to come out and wander the yard when its raining, Curtiss Grenz says.


A characteristic Pacific Northwest dousing doesnt faze all customers, though. Drivers traveling on Pines at first might assume the gravel lot strewn with cement structures is a cemetery, but a further glance at the hefty fixtures often entices them to stop and peruse.


Two stone-faced lions seemingly guard the entrance to Concrete Works lot and store, where visitors can meander through outdoor aisles of statuary as they would a garden. Bubbling, dripping, or gushing noises from the fountains soothe customers as they pause to eye a statue, birdbath, or bench and try to envision what it would look like in their own yards.


Mall shops


To attract people who dont drive past their store, the Grenzes spent a number of years trying to generate awareness about Concrete Works by traveling to Christmas shows throughout Eastern Washington. In 2002, they decided instead to open a temporary holiday season shop at the Columbia Center Mall in the Tri-Cities, Laura Grenz says.


We wanted to stay stationary and shoot for the same clientele rather than travel on the weekends, she says.


When they discovered that the shop there increased customers interest in their products, the Grenzes opened that store again last Christmas and also opened similar shops at NorthTown Mall and the Spokane Valley Mall, she says.


At those shops, the couple sold mostly small products that cost $15 to $45, such as angels, frogs, bears, turtles, and other creature-shaped statues, Laura Grenz says. Customers buy those types of products at Concrete Works shops because they make unique gifts, she says.


The couple decided to open their Tri-Cities store last year for the April-to-October selling season. The staff members from the Tri-Cities store also man the holiday-season shop.


The Grenzes may open the three holiday stores again this November depending on what spaces are available at the malls, since Concrete Works must have the room to maneuver heavy objects around easily, Curtiss Grenz says.


Concrete Works doesnt sell its larger products at those stores because they are too unwieldy and dont sell well at that time of year, Laura Grenz says. Some of those products include birdbaths, benches, table sets, animal-shaped statues, fountains, and baskets and urns that contain flowers and other plants.


People usually arent going to buy and install a fountain in the winter, she says.


The couple plan to open a year-round retail store sometime in the future, and hope to continue operating a store in the Tri-Cities, where a strong economy stemming from federal spending at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation is prompting homeowners to invest in landscaping, Curtiss Grenz says. Those plans might depend on how Concrete Works sales go this year, he says.


Laura Grenz says that Concrete Works has enjoyed increased profits every year, but has experienced slow seasons, as other retail stores have, during economic downturns.


When times are hard, people have to watch their money, she says. They cant buy things that are unnecessary.


Curtiss Grenz says much of Concrete Works sales growth likely stems from making and selling new types of products every year.


When the business began, Curtiss Grenz used six molds to create concrete statues and fountains. He later hired his friend to mold and sculpt for Concrete Works year-round, and the business now uses hundreds of different molds to create statues and pieces for fountains.


Creating a mold and a concrete fixture takes about four months from when Curtiss Grenz gives the companys sculptor an idea until its completed, while crafting a concrete piece from an already-made mold takes about eight weeks.


When making a mold, a sculptor forms the designated piece with clay and other materials, pours the concrete into it, and allows it to harden overnight. He then applies a finish to the piece to improve its appearance.


The Grenzes use a number of finishes to make the exterior of their concrete structures look like basalt, granite, or other types of stone.


The Spokane Valley business, which buys the concrete from Spokane Rock Products Inc. here, uses its own cement mixer and pours the concrete at its manufacturing plant, Curtiss Grenz says. Concrete Works buys a number of molds, but a large percentage of its molds are original creations that are copyrighted.


Prison work crew


Concrete Works has used about 15 inmates at the Airway Heights Corrections Center at a time for manufacturing work, but is shifting those operations to the Spokane Business & Industrial Park, Curtiss Grenz says. The company employs the inmates through a state program that allows private businesses to hire prisoners as laborers and pay them wages that are comparable to market-rate wages, he says.


Laura Grenz says the program benefits the inmates and the community because the state uses part of their paychecks to pay for restitution, incarceration, and victims-compensation costs. The program also pays for inmates child-support fees and sets aside money for savings accounts for inmates use when theyre released from prison, she says.


The Grenzes are making the transition to the business park because they couldnt complete the products at the corrections center and because they cant use the inmates for work outside of the prison, Laura Grenz says.


We cant call them up to help us with busy days here, she says.


Curtiss Grenz says the move will make Concrete Works manufacturing process more efficient.


The Grenzes will continue creating new types of products to attract new customers and offer repeat customers different options, he says. He says he thinks Concrete Works will grow its client base because people here are spending more time and money on their yards.


Laura Grenz says that as business increases, theyll hire more people and recruit any relative they can find, or perhaps enlist their three children someday.


She says she enjoys working with her husband and helping customers perfect their yards.


People get so excited to finish their products, she says. Its a nice feeling to see it through to the end.