CHAMPAIGN – A couple years ago, Gary Hentges' home-based business was doing award-winning kitchen and bathroom remodeling projects in Champaign-Urbana.

Now the business has expanded to a full-scale cabinet production shop, making cabinetry for apartment complexes in several cities as well as handling custom remodeling projects in suburban Chicago.

In June 2007, Hentges Construction Inc. moved from Hentges' home in Urbana to a 10,000-square-foot space in Champaign's Apollo industrial park.

There, the company's employees – which vary in number from seven to 12 – make cabinets, doors and molding for a wide variety of projects.

"My goal was to have a cabinet shop and build furniture and have an automated assembly line," said Hentges, 36.

What started Hentges on that path was the opportunity in early 2007 to be general contractor for a remodeling of the Champaign County Association of Realtors building in Savoy.

Part of his job was to specify furnishings and cabinets, but when he shopped around, he found the cabinets available either weren't the right price or weren't ideal for the space.

"I knew we had the manufacturing ability to perform that project," he said. "That's what propelled us to move here in June 2007."

The space in the industrial park, with an overhead gantry crane system, gave plenty of room for an automatic edge bander, a computerized panel saw, wide-belt sanders, a computer numerical-control router and other equipment needed for the cabinet shop.

"We can quickly design and manufacture with an efficiency that rivals projects across the country," he said.

In working with local developers and apartment owners, Hentges said he's found that developers "like the fact they can meet one person and have the project designed, priced and produced quickly."

The cabinets are considered premium-grade and have solid wood exteriors, most often hard maple.

Linda Green, executive vice president of the Champaign County Association of Realtors, recalled when Hentges was serving as contractor for an "extreme remodel" of the association's headquarters.

"We put out bids for furniture, and Gary spoke up and said, 'I've done cabinetry. Would you be interested in what I could do?'" Green said.

"It's overwhelming, absolutely beautiful what he's done," she said. "He built all the furniture in the executive suite, the cabinetry, the desk in the board of directors' room, a brand-new directors' table, the cabinetry in both kitchens and in the tech support office. There's a touch of Hentges Construction cabinetry in just about every room."

Hentges said he's made cabinetry, countertops and architectural mill work for apartments at the Baytowne and Westgate complexes in Champaign, Falcon Way Townhomes in Rantoul and Forest Park Apartments in Peoria. He has also made conference tables for the Atkins Group.

But thanks to the Internet, Hentges is also getting custom remodeling business in Chicagoland. Projects include a condominium renovation in Wilmette, a home remodeling project in Northbrook and several kitchen designs in Skokie.

Daniel Liebers, a financial services representative in Northbrook, said Hentges made a custom front door for him. It's solid mahogany, with nine panes of beveled glass.

"Neighbors stop by to tell me, 'That's the nicest front door I've ever seen,'" Liebers said.

Hentges also built Liebers a cabinet and work station where his kids do homework and a kitchen fireplace with a limestone hearth and mahogany mantel.

In 2007, Hentges Construction took second and third place in the small bathroom category of the National Kitchen and Bath Association's "Art in the Industry" design competition.

The second-place award was given for a bathroom remodeled for Brian and Gloria Rainer of Champaign, and third place was given for a bathroom done for Clarence and Sharon Shelley.

Hentges was also recognized by the Preservation and Conservation Association for renovations to the old Philo State Bank building.

That building now houses Code4Technologies (formerly Code4PC), and the renovations included building a copper dome for the building, creating curved windows for the cupola, repairing the building's original metalwork and renovating upstairs office space.

Hentges said his business generated about $1 million in revenues during 2007, and he's projecting $1.2 million in revenues this year. He said the space in the industrial park should accommodate the company until it reaches the $4 million mark.

"We've not seen an appreciable slowdown," Hentges said of the economy's effect on his business. "There seems to be a lot of work ... enough to keep us busy."