At 69 years old, Parliment Building Products founder Chuck Parliment is preparing to retire after a 48-year career.
In that time, he has worked for two companies.
He spent 29 years at Zambetti Steel Products, where he started in high school and left as vice president of sales and operations.
In 2002, he started Parliment Building Products with Jim Bleech. A little more than 18 years later, Parliment sold the company in December to two friends in the industry, Marcelo Canosa and Jim Kerkvliet.
“I’ve been doing the same thing my whole life,” Parliment said. “I’ve gone my whole life without filling out an employment application. Only two jobs I ever had. When you learn just one thing well and stick with that, you’ll be fine.”
Parliment Building Products is a two-step, building materials and supply company. It buys products from the manufacturer to sell to one-step distributors.
It sells in Florida, Georgia and South Carolina. It is based at 9621 Florida Mining Blvd. on the Southside and employs about 30 people.
New owners Canosa and Kerkvliet are with KC Building Products.
“They’re guys I knew well and trusted, they didn’t want to change anything,” he said.
“They wanted to get out of big corporate and into a smaller company. They weren’t going to do anything with the employees and everything was going to stay the same.”
“It was just a good time to sell.”
The terms of the sale were not disclosed.
Canosa and Kerkvliet have plans to expand the company into other markets.
Parliment’s contract says he can stay with the company until June, but he’s ready to leave when Kerkvliet and Canosa say it’s time.
In retirement, Parliment said he plans to spend time with family and friends. He has 11 grandchildren with the 12th on the way. He said he also will spend time on his farm in Glen St. Mary.
“I’ll be 70 in June,” he said. “I’m tired, I’m ready to go home and relax. I’ve got a farm, grandkids, horses, all the toys I need.”
Parliment said one of the highlights of his time with the company has been hiring employees from Operation New Hope. The program helps the formerly incarcerated reenter the workforce through job training, placement and financial assistance.
Parliment said six of his employees are from Operation New Hope.
“They are the most loyal of people and we’re blessed to have them,” he said.
As he winds down his career, Parliment said his employees are what meant the most to him.
“They’ve been with me a long time,” he said. “They’ve been able to prosper, and I have too – because of them, not me.”