Fortis Black starts in Draper with three acquired exterior contractors

TechBuzz News published an interview feature on Oct. 21 introducing Fortis Black, a Draper-based company that brings specialty contractors under common ownership to deliver commercial and residential exteriors across the Mountain States 1. The article, datelined Draper, Utah, Oct. 21, reports that the company completed its founding acquisitions in June 2026: DD Reconstruction, Guaranteed Waterproof and Construction, and Duro Exteriors 1.

The piece is built on interviews with chief executive Ron Anderson and chairman Davis Warnock, and it attributes the launch terms to the company's announcement, which it cites separately 1. Anderson described the operating premise there: coordinating complementary trades earlier, with shared project management, could prevent the gaps that lead to delays, rework and water intrusion 1.

"They've been experts from their start to finish in their space," Anderson said of the trades. "They don't know how that connects to the next sub." 1

The argument starts with a number: roughly 50,000 places on a typical multifamily project where one material meets another, each a handoff between crews 1. Anderson said the same figure applies to waterproofing and flashing, where a schedule change or a detail that falls between two contractors' scopes can leave a weakness that shows up in the first storm or years later as water damage or mold 1.

His background runs from a family sheet-metal business, his grandfather's Manness Sheet Metal, into building-products manufacturing, including work at Headwaters, Inc. in South Jordan, which he said he helped scale toward a $1.8 billion sale to Boral in 2018 1. He said the founding acquisitions do not cover every part of a building's exterior: windows were outside the company's approach as of August, which he called a "weird complex animal" tied more closely to framing, while roofing is an immediate area of expansion 1.

Warnock, who the article says moved from general partner at Mercato Partners' early-stage fund Prelude to co-found the investment and holding vehicle 8228, put the customer case in terms of accountability: "We're one person to solve that problem or to hold accountable instead of, you know, ten, twenty, thirty different subcontractors" 1.

The article gives no street address in Draper beyond describing the company as Draper-based, no terms for the three acquisitions, and no revenue figures 1.

Draper's commercial leasing has been active this month: 1-800 Contacts renewed a 125,000-square-foot lease at 261 Data Drive in the Vista Station complex, the Ledger reported on Oct. 21 2.