Each week the Free Press profiles a local business that has used the services of The Business Incubator Center, a nonprofit organization that provides entrepreneurial assistance to new and expanding businesses in Mesa County.

GRAND JUNCTION, Colo. — In just nine short years, general contractor TUSCA II has grown from a two-man operation working out of a garage to being named by the business magazine Inc. as one of America’s fastest growing private companies.

TUSCA founders Tysen Manross and Daryl Becker met each other while working for the former Francis Constructors in Grand Junction.

With that experience, Becker’s degree in construction management from Kansas State University and Manross’ drive and knack for business, the two gave it a try on their own in Manross’ garage.

In between the nine-month stint in the garage and TUSCA’s current 4,000-square-foot home in the Crossroads Building, 2754 Compass Drive, the company spent five years as a tenant at the Incubator campus, 2591 B 3/4 Road.

The Incubator is a nonprofit center for entrepreneurship that offers affordable rental space for new businesses, as well as business workshops and consulting services.

After learning about the Incubator program, Becker and Manross moved out of the garage and into a 125-square-foot office space at the center. There was one desk.

“We split our office time,” Becker said.

“We couldn’t be there at the same time,” there wasn’t room, said Manross, laughing.

The business grew until Becker and Manross added four to five offices there.

“We traded some remodels at the Incubator for rent,” Manross said.

TUSCA builds offices, warehouses and bridges for federal and state agencies, as well as for private clients.

The company has completed projects for the Veterans Administration Medical Center, the Mesa County Library, Colorado State Patrol office building and Williams Energy.

TUSCA builds water systems and bridges — sometimes in remote areas where supplies have to be hiked in for the U.S. Forest Service, the National Park Service and Bureau of Land Management.

“For the majority of design and construction we use local subs (contractors), architects and engineers,” Manross said. “For some difficult, fast-track projects, from time to time, we conduct that in-house.”

Before launching their own business, Manross taught himself accounting and business concepts by studying text books for three years.

He continued his education by taking the Incubator’s Leading Edge class for more “detailed insight” on how to operate a business correctly. Manross also took a payroll tax class through the Incubator and consulted with a retired bookkeeper for three months.

Becker’s college roommate, Larry LaMette, became another owner in the business in 2005. LaMette will eventually manage the company’s Houston office.

TUSCA moved into the Crossroads Building in December, after Grand Junction bought their Seventh Street and Ute Avenue property, where the company was formerly located.

TUSCA employs 36 to 42 people, depending on its projects.

For the past four years, TUSCA has performed work in Denver, where Manross moved to run a recently opened office there.

In 2006, Inc., a national business magazine, ranked the company number 346 out of the top 500 fastest growing private companies in America. That same year, Becker and Manross were awarded Entrepreneurs of the Year by Mesa State College and the Small Business Development Center.

“It’s hard work and sacrifice” being an entrepreneur, Becker said. “You have to put in unbelievable hours as a start-up. Everything falls back on you.”

It seems to be paying off.

The business is constantly reinvesting, and is now bondable up to $10 million per project, Manross said.

The name TUSCA II comes from a slang word meaning warrior in the Muskogee Creek Indian language, said Manross, who is a registered Muskogee Creek Indian. The numeral “II” stands for the two founders.

Reach Sharon Sullivan at ssullivan@gjfreepress.com.