About Us
Brocca Garages was started in 1969 by two brothers Al and Johnny Brocca. They prefabricated garages in a manufacturing facility and erected them on site. The Agnes flood in 1972 totally disseminated their business. After the flood Al and Johnny decided to sell Brocca Garages to Sam Gelso.
Sam Gelso after purchasing full ownership of Brocca Garages revamped the operation completely. Sam created separate crews for excavation, concrete forming and concrete finishing and finished garage construction. The manufacturing process was also changed to include machines to mass produce rafters, wall studs, and plywood precut to fit the roof. Brocca Garages built the garage walls, doors, windows, and siding installed inside on an assembly line and put the garage packages onto flatbed trucks to be delivered to the construction site. The concrete pad was installed before the delivery truck arrived. Once on site it would take 5 men roughly 6 hours to erect and finish a Brocca Garage.
During this time Sam Gelso created the “Brocca Dealer” program, this was a type of franchising. Brocca Garages solicited construction companies out and along the east coast. For the companies interested, Brocca Garages would train sales people in the interested party’s geographical area. Train the construction workers on how to effectively and efficiently erect the garages. In return the construction company would buy Brocca Garage’s garage kits. All the walls were built with T1-11 or Masonite siding already installed along with all the windows and entry door(s). The gable ends were complete with the soffit and face boards. All the rafters and roof plywood was cut to fit. Brocca Garages had dealer program had dealers as far south as North Carolina and north into Maine. Annual sales at this time were exceeding 1 million dollars.
Brocca Garages continued to grow through the 80s and early 90s. The biggest problem facing Brocca Garages’ construction process was vinyl siding. Vinyl siding cannot be installed before an outside wall corner is established. More and more customers wanted vinyl siding to match their existing homes. The second underlying problem was that the majority homes built up until 1960 didn’t have attached garages. Now almost every new construction home in the U.S. had an attached garage and to add to this trend attached garages were getting bigger. While sales were still brisk the ability to create sales to operate and maintain a manufacturing facility became more and more difficult each passing year.
In 1996 Brocca Garages ceased its production facility and sold off its construction equipment and buildings. Sam Gelso retired but this was not the end of Brocca Garages. Sam’s brother Charles took over the sales side of Brocca Garages and continued selling Brocca Garages only with a slight twist. Charles would hire building contractors to stick build Brocca Garages on site. Charles along with a sales staff would sell garages; secure all necessary permits, material delivery and site preparation. The hired building contractors would then install the concrete pads and erect the garages on site and Brocca Garages customers could now get exterior finishes to match their existing homes.
This was a great deal for general and building contractors. During a typical building construction process there are down times where a lot of construction progress cannot be made. These down times can be a real drag on the overall performance of a construction company. Sometimes construction companies would take on projects that maybe were not their area of expertise just to keep their employees employed. Employees, through no fault of their own, were sometimes doing non productive work. The construction companies by becoming affiliated with and building Brocca Garages now allowed their employees to be productive. The construction companies by taking on small ready to go projects like Brocca Garages made their overall operation more successful and profitable.
Charles Gelso in fall of 2006 decided to retire. At the time Arthur Menichini General Contractor and Builder, a local long time family construction company was building garages for Charles.
Arthur Menichini Sr. of Pittston Township started building homes in 1946. His son Arthur Jr. started working for the family business in 1962 and Arthur III started working for the business in 1984. The family owned and operated business specializes in residential construction and remodeling. Although residential is there main area of expertise they also have completed all types of commercial construction from 10,000 square foot beverage centers to 1,000 square foot dental offices. In 70+ years of construction business, there is nothing they have not seen or did before.
Charles decided that he wanted the Brocca Garages legacy to continue and felt that this family was the right choice to sell Brocca Garages to. Menichini family of Pittston bought Brocca Garages in January of 2007.
Since this time Brocca Garages has expanded its operations to include not only garages but exterior home remodeling, additions, replacement windows and demolition of buildings. Brocca Garages is a full service construction operation. When you sign a contract with Brocca Garages we take care of everything. Brocca Garages secures all permits, demolition and site preparation (if needed), financing application, and whatever else is needed to construct your new Brocca Garage.
Here at Brocca Garages we tell our customers that once you sign with us, you are part of our family. Sit back, enjoy your favorite beverage and watch your dream garage appear before your very eyes.