Wolverine Building Group: Wolverine Building Group expands to Southeast Michigan with acquisition

GRAND RAPIDS - Wolverine Building Group has expanded its footprint to Southeast Michigan with the acquisition of Brighton-based construction firm Contracting Resources Inc. GRAND RAPIDS - Wolverine Building Group has expanded its footprint to Southeast Michigan with the acquisition of Brighton-based construction firm Contracting Resources Inc. Contracting Resources has 21 employees and offers construction management services to health care, retail, religious, commercial and medical office markets. The company was founded in 2001 by Jim Barnas, a Brighton native who has 40 years of industry experience. Barnas plans to continue working at Contracting Resources through the end of 2021 during the transition before retiring. "Contracting Resources is a very impressive operation. They have a solid team and a great reputation," Aaron Jonker, president and co-owner of Wolverine Building Group, said in a statement. "As we continue to learn more about the organization, I am continually impressed with Jim's leadership and the direction he took the business. We are very grateful that as a part of the sale, Jim has agreed to stay on the team to help with our transition." Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Wolverine specializes in industrial, multi-unit residential, health care, office, restaurant, and retail construction projects and has more than 150 employees. This latest acquisition comes after Wolverine bought Houseman Construction in 2009, which led to work in the national restaurant and retail industry and resulted in the management of projects in 38 states. In 1995, Wolverine also acquired Fryling Construction, which specialized in multi-unit residential and shopping. This allowed for Wolverine to make its name in student housing, senior living, affordable housing and market rate rental apartments. "Over the past few years, we've had some significant projects in southeast Michigan and continue to see opportunities," Jonker said. "We currently have a few team members that live on the east side of the state and we have been contemplating what an expansion in southeast Michigan would look like. We got to the point where we had to decide if we wanted to build a team or buy a team. When we were introduced to Contracting Resources, it made our decision easy as we quickly identified a strong culture fit."