Small Beginnings
While teaching high school in Lowell, IN, Chuck Huseman built horse and cattle fence, for neighbors, during the summers to supplement his teaching salary of $9200.00/year. His wife Marsha, who was an excellent registered nurse, also worked at the nearby hospital. After a few years the decision was made to leave the field of teaching and to, not only build fence, but to also try to build a company. With the support of Marsha’s nursing salary, the bills were all paid, and there was enough left to allow the fence business to use it’s income to grow. By 1981 Chuck & Marsha, now with two small sons, had transformed “Farm Fencing Co.” into a full time and profitable business. In 1990, the demand for livestock fence had decreased. The demand for residential and commercial fence had increased to the point that the name of the company was changed to ffC Fencing Co. Even though the word “farm” was dropped from the company name, the values and work ethic that Chuck learned while working on his father’s cattle farm continue to be the cornerstone of the company philosophy today:
Work hard, be honest, and respect others.
Big Future
As the business quickly grew, the need for dependable help grew as well. Even though interviewing and hiring people were not skills taught in the Ag classes at Purdue, Chuck’s perspective was to hire people that like to work hard, and to do a good job. People with those traits could be easily taught the skills of fence building. The other bonus to choosing those types of people was that working with happy and smiling people made each day on the job better for everyone. Over the years ffC has been fortunate enough to have some outstanding team members. Many have kept those positions for 15 - 20 years. Along with these top full time people, ffC employs some very top summer help from the area universities. Many of these young team members have gone on to very successful careers. Two are now attorneys, one is a dentist, and many more have risen to upper management levels in their chosen fields. Many will attest that some of the work attitudes and attention to detail that they learned at ffC helped them reach the level of success they now enjoy.
ffC has seen many changes in the business and political world since back in 1974. The one constant has always been that it is much more fun to work with people that enjoy what they do. Those people are also much more enjoyable for our customers to encounter. So while the faces may change, the ingrained commitment to quality, service and friendliness will continue. It has become more than a way to do business. It is now the essence of our company.