American Muscle sees new Charleston dock as a game-changer - WOWK 13 Charleston, Huntington WV News, Weather, Sports

American Muscle, the company fabricating the custom piling caps and flashing for the new floating dock at Haddad Riverfront Park in Charleston, is hoping its work will be a game-changer for the industry and their business.

Brooke County-based American Muscle is banking that the high-profile project will be just what it needs to create buzz about the company.

"Jobs like this one, you take advantage of them to the fullest," American Muscle's Luke Diserio said. "The spotlight will be on it, it's huge for us."

American Muscle fabricated the 500-foot dock that will be installed at the park, shipping it in sections to Charleston where it will be assembled by Amherst Madison.

Piling caps and flashing weren't part of the original deal, but they were added on after Diserio was able to show the powers-that-be what his company had designed for Staffileno's on the River in Wellsburg, where American Muscle's custom piling caps, custom flashing and LED lights created a one-of-a-kind floating boat dock.

The state agreed to buy 13 piling caps for the Haddad project from American Muscle. Diserio is donating the metal flashing, "because we wanted to show our best work for such a prime location. The docks will be seen by the world, and we want our home state … to have the best."

"The Charleston job was just going to be a basic boat dock until we put in Staffileno's and could show the (project manager) what we were capable of doing," Diserio added. "After that it took zero convincing. All they had to do was look at the product, what we'd done. We're donating a bit, but they also bought from us, and that's the goal."

Diserio said it made a lot of sense on their end, "because we wanted to show our best work for such a prime location."

"We had the job, we didn't have to do all that we're giving them," American Muscle's Marc Hanna said. "But we decided as a company that it was exactly the way for us to show what we can do."

He said the piling caps for Haddad resemble a sternwheel smokestack, enhancing an underlying theme at the park. He said the caps are extremely difficult to do, "and making them look symmetrical is hard." The flashing is also their own design.

"We like to come in and understand what the area is before we do anything," Diserio said. "There's a thin line between looking good and looking like an eyesore. You have to envision it beforehand, there's a lot of research and development that goes into it."

American Muscle, formerly Valley Manufacturing, acquired Follansbee Dock in March, moving the operation into a warehouse space near Wellsburg.  Diserio's father, Paul, owns the business and oversees the metal fabrication end of the business, while his brother, Kurt, handles marketing, sign graphics and their website.

Diserio said American Muscle can do everything in house, allowing it to take its business in a direction no one else in the industry has tried.

Hanna, who worked at Follansbee Dock prior to joining American Muscle, said Diserio takes  "calculated chances." Diserio, though, prefers to think of it as good business — build a good product and let it speak for itself.

"We know there'll be copycats, people will try to copy it," he added. "But we'll still be ahead of the game. It will only push us to do better, we want to be the apple of the industry. We can do everything in house, and we can do it faster and cheaper."