Hope Springs Land Services LLC

My name is Jenna Applegate and I 100% own Hope Springs Land Services LLC. My husband, Doug Surgeon and I run this business ourselves and have been able to build it to what it is today. It was started by a family friend that provided some equipment and $25,000 and did the initial setup of the business. We just needed to take the equipment and make some money. It was mainly landscaping type stuff, construction tools and a couple snow plows. Doug is a 4th generation contractor that enjoys construction and has snow plowing experience due to our location. I enjoyed landscaping and being outside helping people make their yards the way they envision.  We were doing good with business but felt the need to grow in another direction. We received a call one day from a premanufactured steel building company asking if we would like to join their team. At the time, the initial cost to sign contracts and go through their training was steep for where we were at financially at that point in time. We talked it over for a couple weeks and declined the offer just due to funding and not knowing if the return was going to be worth it. We were contacted again a year later, don't remember if it was the same company or not,  and worked it out to become their main contact for erection in our area at no cost. We decided it was worth a shot. Three years later, we are focusing on just the steel building erection and snow plowing in the winter. We have multiple manufacturers sending us leads to erect steel buildings for their clients. Things have grown immensely and we have the vision and desire to make this bigger.

Our biggest downfall at this point is lack of funds and need guidance in areas to help sustain the growth and potential of this business.  We have survived through growing pains and can see the potential and we can see "the light at the end of the tunnel" and are almost to the point of just sustainability but just need help to get over the hump to continue. We have some quick loans that needs to be taken care of that has gotten us through rough patches to this point but were really not the smartest choice but were a quick solution to the problem. Due to bad decisions in younger years, both of us have been working to repair and build our personal credit which is gaining ground slowly but difficult to create and getting funding for a business you have great ideas and expectations for. We would like to purchase some of the machinery that is used to erect the buildings we have currently rented but don't have the credit to get loans and reduce that monthly expense. A monthly loan payment I am pretty certain would be considerably less than the $4000 a month we spend to rent the 3 pieces. Realistically, at least one of the machines would be probably over half paid for if the full rental payment was put towards the purchase.  We understand these things but haven't been able to secure a loan option to be able to secure the machines and own them sooner than later. We have the dream and drive  we just are lacking on the knowledge and capabilities to continue.

We currently have a small 4 person crew of people to erect the buildings on our schedule but could use more on our crew and/or another crew of people to keep the projects running smoother and quicker. We have had issues being able to find employees that want to work. We have gone through points in time of having up to two separate crews working to losing over half those people for various reasons. Some of the reasons were lack of benefits being offered (funding to offer these has been lacking), it is physical work and finding other jobs that were easier, and people going to jail from their own personal choices.  We currently have an employee working on putting together training materials from everything on how to read blueprints to hot to actually erect the buildings. We want to implement a way to give people an overview on how to do things in a "classroom" type setting and then be able to go into the field and get hands on training. Everyone learns differently and in many different ways. Doing a multiple step type training we feel can help more people get the concept faster and be able to pickup on things faster and be able to be more productive in a shorter amount of time. 

In Washington state, we receive a lot of inquiries about our services as it appears there a few companies that are reputable at erecting steel buildings. We may not be the quickest at putting up the buildings but we take the time and pay attention to details to create a building the customer is happy with in the end. We strive for quality of work rather than just getting the job done. Both my husband and I get joy out of helping others and we would rather take a little extra time to do things correctly then to rush and have things get missed. This makes us one of the premier erectors in the state. 

With funding, I would like to see us relieve ourselves from some of our monthly expenses that have cumulated from prior decisions. To get out from under short term loans with high interest and to potentially purchase some of our rented equipment versus paying their monthly fees.  We would also like to be able to grow our employee base to be able to have 2 crews putting up buildings. We have also discussed making the two crews and having one that specializes in one piece of it and the other be able to come in behind and complete the other portion. For example, have one crew doing the erection of the framework of the building and the other crew doing the siding and roofing. This would keep both crews moving with less of a skill set needed for each crew.  Being able to look into a benefit package for at least a foreman on the crews, if not the whole crew, may be able to help with employee retention. We have had several people leave us for less money but a benefit package was offered. 

The big goal is to create the company to be able to provide the service of the erection of steel buildings with a crew in all 50 states. We are in year 3 of focusing on the steel building erection and have sales of over $500,000.