StanCraft Companies, a family-owned business with roots stretching back nearly a century on the shores of Flathead Lake, has returned to Montana by opening a new office on Main Street in Kalispell — reuniting the firm with the region where it first launched in 1933.

A Return to the Beginning

The company originally started in Lakeside, Montana, building wooden boats along Flathead Lake before growing into a sprawling enterprise with divisions spanning commercial and residential construction, marine construction, aviation, land development, and manufacturing. StanCraft eventually relocated its headquarters to Hayden, Idaho, but the new Kalispell presence marks a deliberate return to its founding home.

Josh Horvath, StanCraft’s construction president, said the move carries real meaning for the company. “I think it’s great that we’re able to bring this full circle, bring the boats back here, and have our construction division follow it as well,” Horvath told NBC Montana.

What the New Office Includes

The Kalispell location will house both wooden boat building operations and a construction division, with plans to staff local employees. Its Main Street address puts the business squarely in the center of the community — something Horvath views as a deliberate advantage.

“Being on Main Street and being engulfed in the community here is great because you see people walk by all day, they look in the windows, they want to come in,” he told NBC Montana.

The visibility and foot traffic of the downtown location appear central to StanCraft’s strategy for reestablishing its Montana presence.

Flathead Valley Economic Activity

The move adds to a broader pattern of business and development activity in the Flathead Valley. The region has drawn investment across multiple sectors in recent years, reflecting continued population growth and economic interest in northwest Montana.

StanCraft’s return underscores the area’s draw for businesses with longstanding ties to the region. Regulatory decisions affecting the Flathead area have also drawn attention recently, as local officials and agencies navigate growth-related infrastructure questions.

For a company founded on the craft of wooden boat building nearly a century ago, the Kalispell office represents both a homecoming and an expansion — one that company leadership says brings together the firm’s original identity with its current, much broader scope of operations.