Jim Flarity was a lifelong entrepreneur, always looking for the next opportunity. Over the years, he had owned several businesses, from commercial refrigeration and air conditioning to a diner, a dry-cleaning business, and even a small fiberglass boat operation.

Then, in the spring of 1995, Jim decided to try something new: portable buildings.

He hired a small crew, brought in materials, and began building sheds. When his son, Scott, showed up at the shop one day to find it filled with portable buildings, he had one question:

“Dad, what are you doing?”

Jim had started another business.

What began as a small operation selling buildings on the side of the road quickly became something much bigger. His son, Scott, joined him, working alongside the construction crews and learning the business from the ground up. Over the years, he became involved in building hundreds of these buildings.

In the early 2000s, Jim passed the business along to Scott and his brother, beginning the next chapter of GEMCO.

Neither Jim nor Scott knew those first buildings would become a company that would still be here decades later.

“I had no idea that this thing was going to turn into a long-term, many-decades business.”

More than 30 years later, we’re still building on what Jim started.