Rob Elmer says he recently bought out James W. Elmer Construction Co., a company his father, Jim Elmer, founded in Spokane in 1991.

The younger Elmer says he grew up working in the company during the summers and was hired on full time in 2002 as an estimator and project manager, eventually working his way up to vice president before buying the company, enabling his father, the company's original president, to retire.

He declines to disclose the terms of the transaction, which included the company name and all of its assets.

Elmer says he's developed a new logo and tweaked the company name to J.W. Elmer Construction.

The company has five employees. It occupies a 2,600-square-foot office building it erected in 2007 at 3022 E. Boone, where it also has a 4,500-square-foot shop and equipment-storage building.

J.W. Elmer Construction will continue to specialize in commercial, light industrial, multifamily, and tenant-improvement projects, with typical values ranging up to $7.5 million.

Elmer says nearly two-thirds of the company's projects involve erecting pre-engineered metal buildings.

Business has been strong over the last year or two, he says.

"We've got steady work ahead," he says. "Like any other contractor, we can always use more."

Work had slowed during the recession, Elmer says, but he adds, "We managed to weather the storm by cutting costs and having work come up at the right time."

The company recently started work on a $1.4 million project for the Pend Oreille Valley Railroad, in Usk, Wash. The 10,000-square-foot addition to the Pend Oreille County-owned railroad maintenance facility is scheduled to be completed in November, he says. ALSC Architects PS, of Spokane, designed the project.

In other projects, Elmer is completing a sorority remodel near the University of Idaho campus and recently completed a ground facility for FedEx Corp. in Lewiston, Idaho.