Stephansen immediately set to work - and in 1895 the factory building for the Espelandsfos Spinderi and Tricotage factory was completed. When the loan from state mediator Jahn was in order, Stephansen immediately set about building housing for the workers. Right from the start, the building was given precisely this name, "the housing", among the employees. This was the first step towards the local community that was to grow in Espeland. The place was less deserted now, with the new building in place. But the workers also had to have a supply of both food and other goods to get by. Thus, there was fertile ground for some commercial activity as well. In the beginning, this need was solved by one of the employees with creamery blood in his years, starting a small shop in one of the living rooms in the "home". But since then, by New Year 1896, the clientele had expanded to such an extent that he got his own house with his own business on the ground floor.

Det var hovedsakelig tilgangen på vannkraft som ledet Anton S. Stephansen til å velge Espeland som stedet for sin industrielle virksomhet. Mens togene suste gjennom dalen, spøkte vossingene og lo av espelendingene. "Hva slags sted å slå seg ned på!"...