BSA LogoStarted in 1913, the Builder’s Supply Association of West Virginia was organized to provide a political voice for building material dealers in West Virginia.  In March of 1964, association members voted to include a concrete division; today the concrete entity is the driving force behind the association, due to the rapid growth in its industry.  The BSAWV remains politically active, as well as meeting the educational needs of its members.

Company Story:
The BSAWV had tried working with two other website providers, with failed results.  One company never completed its work and the larger, nationally recognized company was not at all attentive to the association’s needs. 

When executive director Dale Hill heard Jamie of Bricks Without Straw at a seminar presentation, he was immediately impressed.  When asked why, Hill responded,  “(It was) Jamie’s overall presentation and the ease and explanation of the whole website concept, which was very intimidating to us at the time.”   The BSAWV hired Jamie to put its website together.

The association’s experience with Bricks Without Straw is much different than that of its two previous providers.  “If I send something out to Jamie or if we have a question. . .in a matter of minutes I get a response,”  Hill said.  The local, individualized attention benefits the BSAWV in other ways, too.  “He takes care of our email.  He also set up a job bank for our association which our members are actively using.”

Job Board
Using a program set up through the website, association members post job openings and descriptions with relative ease; industry workers can search for trade specific jobs.

The job bank was originally Hill’s idea; he turned the idea over to Jamie, with positive results. Hill stated that asking Jamie to take on the project was right on cue, as Jamie had already performed the service for other clients.  “We had more of a generic vision and he put the whole thing together for us to make it happen.”  Though still in it’s infancy, members report they are finding applicants and conducting interviews, based off responses to the board. 
The job board’s impact reaches beyond West Virginia’s borders, as well, allowing the BSAWV to help our nation’s military members.  The Veteran’s Administration operates “Helmets to Hardhats”,  assisting retired and transitioning military personnel find jobs in the construction industry.  Association members tell Hill they are hearing from service members through links to the Helmets to Hardhats site.

 Significant Savings
The BSAWV saw a 30% savings immediately when they hired Bricks Without Straw to take over their website.  But in Hill’s opinion,  “It’s hard to measure the savings, because Jamie does so much more than what they were offering.  The savings is much greater  if we would sit down and actually put a pencil to it.”
Trust
Though the BSAWV had unfortunate experiences with previous providers, Jamie and his staff have established that level of trust so important to a working relationship.  As Hill stated when discussing the development of the job board, “Every time we’ve worked with Jamie, we’ve felt comfortable enough to give him free reign of the whole program we were working on.”  Bricks Without Straw works hard to gain that level of trust with all its clients.

Bricks Without Straw is a digital agency and design agency based in South Charleston, WV United States and Ota, Tokyo, Japan.

We offer a range of web design services including: web development, e-commerce services and email marketing. We also offer a range of graphic design services including logo design and exhibition stands.

We love working with clients of all sizes in a range of industry sectors, creating and implementing inspiring and hard working concepts and campaigns for business-business and business-consumer clients.

Valicia Leary

Bricks Without Straw has continued to exceed our expectations with their design work, support and attention to detail. We would highly recommend their services. They have a wonderful team and we enjoy our working relationship with them.

Carol Fulks

Bricks Without Straw has continued to exceed our expectations with their design work, support and attention to detail. We would highly recommend their services. They have a wonderful team and we enjoy our working relationship with them.

Patti Hamliton

Bricks Without Straw is bringing our association into the 21st Century! He brings us ideas and innovation for our web site and other tools of technology that help us enhance our image and our message.

Rebecca McPhail

Bricks Without Straw has continued to exceed our expectations with their design work, support and attention to detail. We would highly recommend their services. They have a wonderful team and we enjoy our working relationship with them.

Bill Raney

Jamie is one of the most committed and energetic professionals we have ever worked with over the years. He seems to work all the time with full 24-7 accessibility and immediate response. Bricks Without Straw has raised our collective confidence for maximizing opportunities in today’s world. We simply could not have done it without them.

Jan Vineyard

The demands and responsibilities to our members mandate that the online presence of our associations and our internet capabilities are reliable and seamless. Add creativity to that mix and one gets the complete package with Jamie Summers-Brown and his staff at Bricks without Straw.