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Building businesses: RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD brings their knowledge of commercial construction to life with new projects coming to Hope Mills, NC

By Faith Hatton, posted Oct 24, 2024 on BizFayetteville.com

RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD Co-Founders Hector Ray (left) and Greg West (right) stand in front of the new Culver's
location in Hope Mills. Photo by GFBJ.

The RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD team has been hard at work these past few months adding new restaurant options throughout the Town of Hope Mills.

Based in Fayetteville, NC, RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD was founded in 2015 by partners Hector Ray and Greg West. Originally getting their start in residential contracting, the firm went on to shift their focus to commercial construction and expand their clientele across North and South Carolina. 

The RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD team is bringing their expertise to local business owners in Hope Mills, NC, after being contracted for five business construction projects that are either recently completed, in progress or just getting started. 

THOSE PROJECTS INCLUDE: 

These projects include “ground up” construction projects which include standalone facilities built from scratch and “tenant upfit” projects which require the complete renovation of an already constructed space to match the vision of a franchise or business owner. 

Both types of builds are specialties of RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD who have already made an impact in Fayetteville by handling the construction of businesses such as Cinnaholic Gourmet Cinnamon Rolls, CycleBar, Poki Bowl, multiple Take 5 Oil Change locations and more. To date, the firm has put their skills to use with 19 different franchises. With a reputation for timely and quality work, local business owners are taking notice. 

“We either bid on every project or were asked to bid by the owners and the franchisees. Every bit of this work came to us through our marketing efforts,” shared Co- Founder Greg West. “For the projects in Hope Mills, four out of five of them are through local owners which is a good testament to the businesses here and local ownership.”

RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD was able to celebrate their recently finished 4,714 -square-foot Culver’s location with an official ribbon cutting ceremony held on on Monday, Oct. 14 at 9 a.m. The Culver’s crew broke ground on their spot in March of 2024. Back then, the timeline suggested that the building would be ready for business by winter of 2024, but RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD was able to complete the project ahead of schedule. 

“It takes twice as long to get a project started as it does to build it. This [Culver’s] was over a year in planning, and it takes six months to build it. On these projects, the building actually goes fast, it’s the permitting and the plans and all of that takes a long time,” shared West. 

“Just for example, the zoning inspection happened, and they come and they look at simple things. They count the plants. They check, ‘Do the plants match what was on the plan?’ When I first started, I thought ‘Oh gosh, that's ridiculous,’ but the city wants to keep the look of the city nice, so that was part of the planning,” shared Co-Founder Hector Ray.

With the Culver’s project wrapped, RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD is ready to get started on their next project in the area, recently announced Dirtbag Plaza. According to a social media post from Dirtbag Ales, this new addition to the Dirtbag Ales Brewery and Taproom campus will include 320 paved parking spaces and will feature businesses like The BBQ Lab. According to West, RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD will be constructing the 14,000 square-foot shell building which will be turned into a retail strip center. Once the building is complete, they will also be working on the upfits for future tenants. 

Construction on Dirtbag Plaza began in September, and the team is thankful to the Town of Hope Mills for being excellent partners during construction of all their projects in the area. 

“They've got their arms open they've been very accommodating as far as working and making things happen. They’re not bending or breaking rules, but if we need to get an inspection a certain time of a day to keep things going to meet our end date, they've been very accommodating with those,” shared Ray. 

With their next project already underway, the RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD team said they will be committed to utilizing local companies when possible. 

“When we do a job, we try to keep the local guys here doing it for one reason, they know the local jurisdictions. They know because they've got a working relationship with the inspectors. They know the nuances for everything so it helps keep money in the community,” shared Ray.

Overall, the team at RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD are proud to continue serving the community and see the impact they have on the landscape of an area. 

“It’s neat to see somebody’s dream come to reality and to help make it tangible. In March there was nothing here, we brought a hundred truckloads of dirt in and here we are,” shared West. “And to ride around and say ‘We built that,’ that’s kind of cool.” 

Moving forward, RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD is working to expand their footprint with pending licenses in six states including Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi. They are also proud to be one of 80 contractors nationally that have been chosen to join the Retail Contractors Association. 

To learn more about RAYWEST DESIGNBUILD, find them online at www.raywestdesignbuild.com.

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