After his caskets sold, Ledbetter’s business grew to a point where he began to let his consulting business go so he could complete this career transformation. He would take his fiberglass trim to architecture firms and show them to architects as an option for their projects. He had researched the use of fiberglass in construction, and while it was being used in other cities, it wasn’t big in Memphis. The business grew enough to allow him to buy a building in Hernando, Miss., where the fiberglass is produced and the coating is made.

Today, CBL has 25 employees working in the plant and after a steady growth the last few years, Ledbetter says he has had significant sales. CBL eventually grew enough for him to hire his minority partner and general manager, Jim Garrison. The fiberglass products his company makes at their Mississippi plant is shot into open molds or poured into molds using rotational casting machines. "These types of machines were used to make the original chocolate bunnies that were hollow on the inside," he says. Because of the flexibility and durability of fiberglass materials, Ledbetter says 90% of the molds the company makes for customers are original and made to order, based on what the architects want them to look like. The products are cheaper than real limestone to produce. "If it is flat limestone, we’re a little bit cheaper," Ledbetter says. "If there’s detail and the limestone has to be cut, that’s where we shine. Limestone is not cast, it’s carved. Our fiberglass is molded. I don’t even charge for the molds because it is covered in the parts." Ledbetter says columns the company makes can either be decorative column covers or structural columns that are steel reinforced.

The paint, which gives the appearance and texture of limestone, is made from an epoxy paint that is durable enough for conditions found at off-shore platforms, chemical plants and food processing facilities. With a couple of tweaks to the formula, Ledbetter’s product is thin enough to be applied by an automotive spray gun, which he also patented in August of this year. The paint texture is thin enough and so easy to apply that it has been used on columns, cornice, window sills, even lamps and tables. "Theoretically, you could coat a car with the paint and it would look like it was carved out of limestone," he says. "I don’t recommend it being applied to wood because its like applying something durable to something that will eventually rot."

Another use has been in stealth cellular towers around town. Here, the fiberglass not only gives the illusion of brick, but it also allows frequencies to pass through because of its chemistry, like fiberglass radar domes. The towers, which were originally brick, can be replaced completely with fiberglass. Some of the cellular stealth towers around town are located at Wolf Chase Galleria and Second Presbyterian Church, and there are other towers in Mississippi and Chattanooga.

"The fiberglass and coating are decorative, like the grill on a car," he says. "It’s used for identity. This is a billboard for whatever organization is inside the building. Because of the cost, it’s put up front. A lot of expense goes into making the grill look good, and it is different from the rest of the car." Ledbetter says fiberglass is only good in the sun if it is painted. The fiberglass he sells must be painted if it’s going outside. Some Memphis area projects that have used the epoxy textured coating and fiberglass are Baptist Memorial Hospital in Collierville and Oxford, MS, First Baptist Church at Poplar and Crestmere, the Ole Miss Generation plant and the Grizzlies House at St. Jude Children’s Hospital.

"The flexibility of installation, the durability and the ability to create a natural looking material are important," says Howard Glastein with Fisher & Arnold Architects and Engineers. "Plus, they (CBL) are a very cooperative company to work with and they give you the look and quality you’re trying to achieve." The interesting part of the epoxy paint used for the formula, according to Ledbetter, is that it was originally intended for industrial uses where the appearance didn’t matter, just that it was durable. "The paint has a non-progressive chalk effect that keeps it from shining," he says. "The idea behind most paint is to shine in the sun. It was originally marketed as an industrial paint where they don’t care what it looks like. That liability is now a plus. It flattens to look more like limestone as time goes on. A paint that was primarily used for rough service industrial purposes is now used on the most upscale buildings." "The coating holds up very well," says Herman ’Butch’ Wolfe Jr., an architect with Self-Tucker Architects, Inc., which worked with CBL on Kirby Woods Baptist Church and Bolton High School. "They’ve also suggested other techniques for wall panels that we haven’t tried yet." Ledbetter says that in addition to being cheaper than limestone, this paint, once applied to the fiberglass or metal, is not porous, thus keeping it from fading or growing mildew over time, something that limestone actually does. "The feel and appearance of the paint is of limestone," he says. "If someone tapped on it, they would hear it was hollow, but if that was important, the sound could be deadened. You don’t see a lot of people tapping on buildings, though."