June 2009

This month’s Client Highlight is of our long-time client, Jim Coombs Contracting, Inc.  We have seen their business change greatly over time, and the Coombs have come to heavily rely on our firm to help them wade through the many challenges of how their specialty contracting business has grown over time.

They travel to many states and Mexico installing basketball goals, science lab cabinets, bleachers and clean rooms.  That’s the only type of specialty contracting that they do… and Jim is well knownfor it.  He is a master in his industry and he and his installers are sought after to do this specialty type work more and more.  Dawn runs the company from their headquarters in Easley, SC and interfaces with us on most accounting, financial and tax issues.

They are very dedicated to their business, they are very wary of the changes coming in their business and they are VERYcool (Dawn and I pass iTunes music back and forth often… from rock ‘n roll to rap to blues).  Here is a tattoo picture to prove that point:

Dawn's latest edition...

 As with all of our Client Highlights we ask our clients to answer four questions about their business.  Here they are:

What have you or your organization done to remain competitive and successful?  In contracting, integrity and accountability are too often a challenge to acquire for customers in need of a service.  We work in educational and industrial facilities where the dues and demands are high.  We have tried our best to keep prices competitive for the services we provide, but still we are not the least expensive; however we are cost effective. For sixteen years now we have always done what we said we were going to do and when we said we would do it. In times when we couldn’t, we called the customer to make what ever changes were needed.  We have been willing to be inconvenienced within reason to get the job done when required. I feel that due to these few simple principals, we have been a success thus far.

What do you or your organization foresee as the greatest business obstacle in the near future?  We are seeing prices drop as people are becoming out of work. We have seen many purchase orders postponed or cancelled.  Finding a way to maintain a profitable volume to keep our employees working is a challenge right now.

What do you enjoy most about your work?  The people and travel. As a specialty installation service we get into many interesting projects that take us all over the country. Our athletic equipment installations keep us in the southeast. Our industrial laboratory and clean room installations have taken us to the four corners of our great country and into Mexico. We are seeing places and experiencing things we otherwise would not.

What has the Blumer firm done to assist you in furthering your business and its operations?  Mostly, helped us understand our business. For years we have been unsuccessful in finding an accounting firm to help with financial decisions. As a working-in-the-field business owner and manager, sometimes we don’t step back far enough to see the big picture. I believe that the Blumer firm does. The answers we get are not always what we want to hear. But, having experienced NOT heeding to the good advice once given had profound consequences. We now understand the value of the Blumer firm and their ongoing efforts to serve. 

Thanks, Jason M. Blumer

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