In a city of 35,000, it's easy to imagine you've tapped out the local remodeling market. That's why Mark Swimme (right), owner of Swimme & Son Building Contractors, steadily diversified his business over the years, adding roofing and siding divisions, sunroom installation, and an ABC Seamless steel siding franchise to the company's original product offering of full-service remodeling.

Swimme, who grew up in construction and built a house "on the side" by himself at age 21, initially trained as an HVAC mechanic. He went to work for a local contractor and "woke up one day and said I was going to do it for myself."

"We market hard all the time," Swimme says. "And we learn from going to other people in the business and seeing what they do."