Small contractor outlines difficulties accessing funding to expand

A local plumbing contractor said he wants to expand to a storefront operation, but said banks are not willing to lend him the money to take his growing business to the next level. Hatchelah Robinson Jr., owner of Lil H Plumbing, told Guardian Business that being a small contractor has its challenges, and access to funding is one of them. The second challenge is ensuring that larger contractors don’t skip out on paying him for his services. Shady contractors are a “contagious virus”, Robinson exclaimed, as his entire operation can be disrupted when he is depending on a check, and it doesn’t come through on time. “With greater access to funding you get to absorb not getting paid on time, it would be a lot easier to manage. But after you complete a job, and you’re waiting on the funding from that job, sometimes it’s a long runaround.” Robinson, who has grown Lil H Plumbing from a one-man operation in 2014 to now hiring four people full-time, said that working from his home is not sustainable any longer, especially when in his line of work as a subcontractor for larger companies, getting paid on time is a challenge. “It’s a struggle. The biggest thing is actually getting the money on time. I have three vans now, a team of about three or four people with me, and it’s about trying to make sure they’re paid... When they’re paid, I’m happy.” Robinson continued: “I want to look into expanding and getting into selling plumbing materials as well. So, I want to set up a storefront, that’s the next step.” Robinson said despite being a customer of his bank for nearly 15 years, obtaining a loan as a budding entrepreneur has been difficult. “I’ve been banking with my bank from the inception of my business, they’ve seen all of my records, and they see the money going into the account and growing, and they are telling me I need to come up with more money to get money.” He continued: “As a young person, they tend to give the older people the opportunity before you. So it’s a step-by-step process, just trying to meet new clients and then hoping that the word of mouth keeps spreading. I’ve been doing it on the side since I was working at Atlantis, so basically, I’ve been in the business part-time, for over 10 years. And it took about five just to get that friction to where I was able to take it further and make the jump into entrepreneurship.