| Former Marine Uses SBA Microloan To Jump-Start his Home Gutter Installation Firm |
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Douglasville - After five years in the Marine Corps., Chris Price was ready to start his own business around something connected to the housing industry. Price had worked in the steel erection business before he joined the Marines, and he liked the idea of going into gutter installation since it was part of home construction. When he was discharged from the military in late 2004, Price started talking to several banks in the Douglasville area about getting a loan to start his company. Time soon became a factor for Price when he learned that a friend, who installed residential gutters, was ready to leave the business and sell him his used equipment. “I told the banks I didn’t have a lot of money to put down on a small business loan,” recalled Price who was an aviation mechanic in the Marines. “That’s when one of them referred me to Appalachian Community Enterprises.” Appalachian Community Enterprises Inc. (ACE) is a nonprofit organization that is designated by the SBA to make short-term loans of up to $35,000 to small businesses for working capital or the purchase of equipment and supplies. ACE, based in Cleveland, Georgia, gets its fund through the SBA and in turn, makes microloans to small business owners. Price said he needed a business plan to complete the loan process with the staff at ACE. He got help in development his plan from the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) in Carrollton. The SBDC is operated by the University of Georgia and is an SBA resource partner. It took several weeks for Price to complete his final application before getting his loan from ACE in March of last year. But the referral to ACE finally paid big dividends for this young entrepreneur. “ It would have been impossible for me to start my business without the microloan,” stated Price. With his loan, Price was able to buy a 1994 one-ton truck equipped with a large storage cab. The loan also funded two used gutter-forming machines that can roll out either five or six-inch wide aluminum gutters. He uses a cordless drill to attach the gutters to hidden hangers that clamp on the back and bind them below the roof line. “It can take from four to six hours to put gutters on an average size house,” explained Price. “ And I use some part-time helpers depending on the type of job I’m involved with.” Price deals mostly with owners of new or existing homes rather than building contractors. He said that about 40 percent of his business comes from advertising in the Yellow Pages, with the rest generated by word-of-mouth referrals. A native of Dublin, Georgia, Price attended public schools there before going into the steel construction business and later joining the U.S. Marines. After a year of technical training, he spent most of his time in the service stationed at the Naval Air Station Atlanta in Marietta where he worked on F-18 fighter jets. During his military service, Price completed about two years of courses at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s branch near the Naval Air Station. He and his wife, Oksana, have two young sons. She also helps with his business, doing bookkeeping and job scheduling. Chris Price, Owner Release Date: August 10, 2006
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