One's company: small builders play a big role in residential construction. Like many, Greg Dimmer keeps his business to himself.

• Author: Maley, Frank
• Position: Building North Carolina - Biography

For the sixth time in less than two hours, Greg Dimmer is interrupted by a ring or beep from one of his links to the world. His cell phone, which also has a two-way radio, starts beckoning at about 7 a.m. most weekdays. This time, it's his partner on a 22-unit town-house project called Fites Creek Plantation. "Go ahead, Larry," he says.

His partner's radio-filtered voice is a loud jumble of syllables that Dimmer, owner and sole employee of Dimmer & Sons Construction Inc. in Mount Holly, is somehow able to decipher. "I left about quarter to 10," he replies. "The grader was over there getting it ready. It should be fine. I'll be going out there in a little bit. I'll check on it. Call me in a little bit."

Wallboard is supposed to be delivered today. His partner wants to know if it will be installed on schedule. The road into the development is still dirt, which could turn quickly into mud. Eastern Gaston County hasn't had much rain this week, but there's no guarantee it won't get more. Today, Dimmer also is trying to get an inspection on a six-unit apartment complex that he's trying to sell and keep work going on Creekside Estates, a 50-lot neighborhood of single-family houses that he's building northwest of town.

His deep voice drawls out of a big body: 220 pounds on a 6-1 frame -- about 20 pounds heavier than when he left the Marine Corps nine years ago. But his business is small potatoes, and he'd be happy for it to stay that way. In the three years he's been in business for himself, he has averaged about $2 million in revenue and about $100,000 in profit. Chances are, he'll never make BUSINESS NORTH CAROLINA's list of the state's largest home builders, which debuts on page 55.

But in North Carolina, small-timers such as Dimmer form the backbone of an industry that pumped about $13.8 billion into the state economy in 2002. The North Carolina Home Builders Association has more members -- 15,732 in mid-April -- than any other state's, says Tim Minton, director of political affairs and lobbyist. "We're larger than Florida. We're larger than Texas. We're larger than California. And the reason is: Most of our builder members are small builders. You go to California, they're sort of multicorporation-type builders. You don't see that as much in North Carolina as you do in other places."

In a place such as Gaston County, where the 32-year-old Dimmer is on the board of the local association, the effect of small builders is more pronounced than in...