By A. Lee Graham

Staff Writer

Hitting rock bottom means top business for Beau Bradley.

"Everybody is feeling the crunch of the economy, but we’re working through it," said Bradley, whose company creates artificial rocks from concrete.

It’s an alchemy benefiting clients in Colleyville, Grapevine, Fort Worth, Dallas and other cities looking to the unique Roanoke company.

Since moving its production shop to town about a year ago, Bradley said that Rockscapes continues to accept projects from clients ranging from private homeowners with backyard ponds to outdoor

 advertising companies. Motorists whizzing past the billboard atop Goat Hill north of downtown Dallas probably don’t understand the design nuances built into the artificial rock and 35-foot-waterfall cascading down the sign that advertises Coors Beer. But Bradley does.

"There are no two jobs alike," Bradley said. "There’s always some challenges and problems to work through."

Artificial environments represent a rarefied industry, Bradley said. But the fruits of the firm’s labor can be seen from Sea World in San Antonio to the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine.

Asked what made the Grapevine project unique, and Bradley noted the project’s sheer size, not to mention access issues in completing the atrium work in the pool area.

"The scale of the job and accessibility," said Bradley, referring to only one road in and out of the facility.

While access proved challenging in Grapevine, it seems a blessing in Roanoke.

In fact, proximity to Interstate 35 and State Highway 114 played a key role in luring Rockscapes from its former home in Fort Worth after three years in Grapevine.

Bradley works with a tiny staff — just three professionals handling the load.

"I hire more as I need them," said Bradley, whose professional background mirrors his present endeavors.

Skilled in airbrushing and landscape design, Bradley found work as an assistant superintendent with the design consortium that redesigned the Fort Worth Zoo.

"We did the work on the primate [house], the Asian falls, those things," Bradley said.

"Our last job consisted of putting a concrete log cabin facade over an existing brick home," said Kelly Bradley, a marketing representative with the firm, expanding on the variety of projects that Rockscapes undertakes.

No Roanoke projects are on the horizon, but Beau acknowledges that could change. His office along Cockleburr Road bustles with activity, but it’s at project sites that the real hard work begins. And Bradley wouldn’t have it any other way.

"I really enjoy what I do," Bradley said.

More information is available at www.rock-scapes.com