It's hot and dusty, and strangely quiet. The jobsite is rapidly depopulating as workers head out for a cold drink and some air conditioning. Late on a summer afternoon, the white limestone of the new façade at the Pentagon, rebuilt since the Sept. 11 airliner crash, gleams brightly in the sun.

From the outside, there is little evidence that the building was attacked. It looks like any other large concrete construction project. However, when workers placed the final wall slate this summer, they used one charred by the explosion, a permanent memorial set as a cornerstone.

Many people may not know that before Sept. 11 the Pentagon was undergoing a major renovation. That work continues alongside the repairs. An eight-year, $1-billion renovation of the vast office building is in full swing.

The building is divided into five wedges, pie-shaped divisions representing the five outer walls. Corridors run peripherally around the structure, and it's easy to get lost on one of the five floors of offices, storage areas and meeting rooms.

Wedge 2, partially destroyed in the crash, is a concrete maze of columns and doorways being sprayed with a liquefied substance that hardens to a 2000°F protective shell. Reinforced by steel studs and rebar, the walls and wiring in Wedge 2 are still to be completed. Rebuilding its façade was put on a fast track, to be finished by the anniversary of the attacks. It is now the premier piece of the new Pentagon.

Construction is in various stages. Like any other construction project, contractors must save time and money, and work on a tight budget. And, like any other visitors to the country's armed forces and strategic military headquarters, they go through triple-checking security stations every time they enter the grounds.

James Twarek is the location manager for Fastenal Co., the only industrial supply distributor on the grounds of the Pentagon. Twarek and Fastenal district sales manager, Patrick Splitt, were instrumental in setting up the building and stock for the company's first mobile unit at a major construction site.

According to Twarek, the opening of the location was an idea Fastenal had considered for some time. Wedged into a space in the middle of dozens of storage trailers and temporary engineering buildings, the branch is less than 100 yards from the wall destroyed by the terrorist attack.

"This is not a job where you leave for lunch or to run a few errands in the middle of the day," Twarek says.

Passing through security can take up to an hour. And, the procedure can change without notice for enhanced security purposes.

Late last year, it occurred to managers at Hensel Phelps Construction Co., the general contractor for the project, that an industrial and construction supply distributor on the site would save hours of time spent waiting for deliveries.

"We buy about all our tools and bolts from Fastenal," says Anthony Gambino, a supervisor with Hensel Phelps. "We dealt with the company on the job for a long time, but realized having a distributor on-site would benefit everyone."

Subcontractors who need a tool no longer wait hours or days for it, Gambino says.

"We run a schedule that's continuous and each subcontractor has a certain time to get jobs done. There are electrical, fire prevention, plumbing, and many others from around the country," he says. "They can't wait hours for tools and safety equipment. Items like that break and are needed immediately," he says.

The entire area has a strict hardhat and safety glasses policy, so if a worker misplaces those items, he is idle until he gets new equipment, Gambino adds. Fastenal stocks a complete line of personal safety equipment, so a worker can get a new hat or glasses immediately.

Fastenal has a location about 20 minutes from the Pentagon, but calling in an order and having it delivered or picked up is a long, involved process due to security and traffic, Gambino says. In the same way, workers who leave to buy tools are subject to complete inspection every time they return. Traffic around the Pentagon is "heavy to impossible" during business hours, he adds.

The Pentagon was built in 1942 and has never had a major renovation, so much of the new work includes removing old materials down to the foundation and starting from scratch. The enormous project is expected to last eight years, Gambino says.

Police and soldiers with dogs inspect vehicles inside and out as they enter the grounds. During one delivery vehicle inspection, a dog picked up the scent of explosives: gunpowder used to make powder loads for anchor setting tools, as it turned out. The driver, Bosch Tool Group representative Mike Hudson, explained that there were no powder loads in the vehicle but that there had been several weeks before. After the thorough search, the van was cleared to enter.

Fastenal is rapidly becoming a more retail-oriented company, says Splitt, relying more on walk-in trade than ever before. Location managers set up more attractive displays. Sales floor spaces are carpeted and have more amenities that appeal to walk-in customers, Splitt says.

"It's a natural flow of our emphasis on customer service and satisfaction," he says. "The new national impetus is for Fastenal to have on-site branches at any construction site over $200 million dollars. We want to be as close to our customers as possible."

Projects like hospitals, airports and hotels are ideal for on-site outlets, Splitt adds. He is responsible for 12 locations in the northern Virginia and Maryland area, and this newest one at the Pentagon has more initial stock than any he has set up. About $100,000 in rotating stock was on hand in mid-summer, and the company added a 40-foot storage trailer to accommodate special hold stock for various contractors.

As requests for stock come in, Splitt and Twarek carefully determine stock levels. Input from the contractors was important in deciding what to stock, Splitt says.

"The main building is 40 ft. x 24 ft., with a 12 ft. x 12 ft. office. That gives us a lot of room for stock, but we still need more," he says.

Fastenal is redesigning some of its fastener packaging into "quick packs," which are generally smaller than industrial bulk packaging. It's part of their customer service project, which moves the company more toward walk-in, retail orientation, and allows customers to choose smaller packages when they pick their order, Splitt says. Smaller packaging also means more visits by customers, at least in theory.

In June, the facility held an open house in conjunction with Bosch Tool Group and ITW Ramset/Red Head, who have a national alliance to sell tools and anchors. Gary Booth is a business development executive for Bosch in charge of the alliance between his company and ITW Ramset/Red Head, which manufactures anchors and powder-actuated pins and firing tools for concrete and steel construction.

Booth said the main focus of the marketing campaign is to gain market share and end user awareness from its main competitor, Hilti, which sells concrete fastening system products directly to end-users.

A number of selected distributors, including Fastenal, are involved in stocking Bosch-Ramset alliance products, with authorized special prices, he said.

"In many cases, engineers specify an anchor or anchoring system in blueprints by brand name, and part of our goal is to get them using Bosch and Ramset/Red Head on those prints," Booth says. "Creating demand at the user level is the way to build market share in construction."

The value of the branch's proximity soon became obvious. In only a few minutes' time, two customers came in and asked Twarek for packages sent by overnight delivery. Within a half-hour, six people had come in looking for tools and fasteners and, admittedly, for a few minutes respite in the air conditioning.

That's the way most days are, Twarek says. A steady stream of workers coming and going highlights the importance of the small building to the overall flow of work, he says. And the workers appreciate the convenience. On-site workers built an entrance platform for the building, erected some framing and wired it, all for reasonable fees, Splitt adds. Hensel Phelps supplied portable toilets, as well.

Critically important to the operation is stocking the right tools, offering specials and keeping shipping charges to an absolute minimum, he says.

"We aren't helping the contractors and making the best sale if we don't use the fact that we're here within yards of the work to our advantage," he says. "That means customers don't pay for shipping and don't wait for tools. We can't be 100 percent in-stock, but the goal is to be very close."

The store will become more valuable in time, as Twarek becomes more and more adept at anticipating the needs of the workers he sees daily. In time, this type of branch will be set up as part of initial plans at major construction sites. Fastenal's long-term goal is to have a branch location as part of the initial plans at every major construction site in the United States, Splitt says.

"We won't be hastily added later," he says. "A Fastenal branch carrying critical supplies will be included in the plans, like concrete anchors and tools themselves."