Winner: US Funding Group
Greg Fowler, CEO
www.usfundinggrp.com
Total loan volume for 2006: $714.4 million
Estimated loan volume for 2007: $1 billion
Last year, US Funding Group had four branch offices and 300 loan officers. This year, the mortgage company has 12 offices and about 500 loan officers. Nine of the branches are in Clark County.
The firm does the bulk of its business in Washington and Oregon, according to CEO Greg Fowler.
"Our specialties are niche programs and working with investors," he said.
US Funding Group handles mortgages for commercial and residential property buyers. Fowler said he also leads seminars on investment property buying, which draw between 500 and 1,000 people.
In recent months, the subprime lending market has become more selective, causing a cool-down in the overall housing market. But Fowler said a tighter housing market has not affected his business.
"Investors are investing, whether the market is good or bad," he said. "My loan officers are not allowed to do the loan if they don’t think the borrower will be able to make the payments."
One key to success, he said, is learning the needs of the borrower and tailoring loans to them. The company offers loans in which the interest rate starts in the 1 or 2 percent range. It also has loans that offer 100 percent financing for investment properties – rather than requiring a 20 percent or higher down payment.
Fowler expressed confidence that the Washington and Oregon real estate markets will continue climbing.
"We started with lower prices, compared with California and Nevada," he said.
Fowler said he believes interest rates will plateau for a while, and not likely spike upward anytime soon.
"The mortgage industry will keep the economy going," he said. "So, if they raised the rates, it would hurt the economy."
– Sam Bennett
Finalist: Barrett Business Services Inc. Bill Sherertz, CEO www.barrettbusiness.com
Gross revenue growth over five years: 509 percent
Net income growth over five years: 1,264 percent
Times are strong at Barrett Business Services Inc., a publicly traded human resource management company.
Since 2002, its gross revenue has risen from $170.7 million to more than $1 billion; net revenue is up from $109.3 million to $259.2 million and net income increased from a loss of $1.4 million to $16.3 million.
CEO and company founder Bill Sherertz credits the growth to a strong economy.
"Plus, the services we provide to our customers are needed and well-received," he said.
More than half of new referrals to BBSI come from the existing customer base.
Sherertz started the company in Portland in 1971. Over the years it expanded, made acquisitions and in February of 2006, moved its headquarters to Vancouver.
There are now 39 offices in nine states, mostly on the West Coast. The company went public in 1993 and its stock value has increased a dozen times since then.
The company combines outsourced HR services with staffing services. Almost 90 percent of its business comes from providing the outsourced HR assistance.
Many of these clients have less than 40 employees and cannot afford the cost of a full-time HR manager.
"What they’re really buying from us is time," Sherertz said.
The company’s representatives spend an allotted number of hours working with clients on issues ranging from dealing with turnover, benefits and safety in the workplace to sexual harassment training and access to benefits.
The rest of the time is spent providing staffing services to larger companies, such as supplying cannery workers on the eastern side of the state.
These clients have fluctuating human capital needs and may need 150 to 250 workers for any period of time.
Barrett Business Services Inc. employs 290 managerial employees and handles more than 600 clients across the country.
– Megan Patrick
Finalist: Techjet Imaging
Don Bloodworth, owner
www.techjetimaging.com
Revenue in 2006: $1.23 million
Projected 2007 revenue: $1.8 to $2 million
Adopting new technology enabled Techjet Imaging in 2006 to more than double its UV curable inkjet print capacity. As a result, Techjet’s sales went from about $430,000 in 2005 to $1.23 million in 2006. Its projected sales for this year are $1.8 to $2 million.
The company specializes in large format graphics, portable trade show displays, event graphics and exotic displays, such as images on materials such as glass, acrylic, metal and wood. Vehicle wraps, banner stands and light box displays are a few of the company’s specialties.
Techjet uses a Nur Tempo II UV inkjet printer that is the first of its kind to be used in the Northwest and western Canada. When Techjet purchased the printer in 2005, owner Don Bloodworth thought that it would meet projected growth over the next two-and-a-half years. But growth outpaced projections and Bloodworth said he purchased a second UV inkjet printer in August last year.
"The addition of this second unit not only increased the production capacity of Techjet but provides load balancing and, more importantly, production redundancy for those occasions when one of the units must be taken out for service," he said. The addition of the second printer meant that Techjet’s asset base has nearly doubled from $696,000 at the end of 2005 to $1.23 million at the end of 2006.
Techjet added six employees in 2006 and added one more employee to bring this year’s total to 10. The company also added 1,500 square feet last year.
As business and the printers’ footprints grow, Bloodworth said Techjet needed the additional space. His firm can print images on panes of glass and doors, as well as metal and acrylic.
"One of the areas we’re considering is digital printing to fabric," he said. "If there is a market, we will acquire an additional machine."
– Sam Bennett
