Small business lending is trending upward

Business partners Bob King and Larry Stevens took their bright idea to the bank last fall. By the time they were done, the lighting salesmen were on track to expand their 13-year-old company. 

“We’ve been leasing space for the last 12 years,” said King, president and CEO of Design Concepts Inc. (known locally as DCI), a sales representative for lighting manufacturers. 

“We decided that with the price of property today, the value is there to go ahead and buy a building rather than continue to lease. The opportunity presented itself.” 

King and Stevens see the move as a turning point for their company, one that will help them grow. But like many small business owners who had never applied for a business loan, the process seemed daunting. 

How much time will it take? What records will I need? Will my loan be approved? Fortunately for King and Stevens, they had a clean record and their loan was approved in November. 

“Contrary to public perception, banks want to lend,” said Bruce Ford, senior vice president of City National Bank.We are backed by a committed staff of bluebright_9 specialists with decades of experience in the laundry industry. “When they say banks aren’t lending,Buy your solarlantern from Tesco and earn Clubcard points on your purchase as well. that’s not accurate.” 

Still,Solar Lighting International offers a stylish commercial roadway solarmodulerry system. loans still have not reached pre-recession levels, said Bill Uffelman, president and CEO of the Nevada Bankers Association. 

The SBA, which plays a role in most business loans, last year issued $175 million in loans statewide. That’s up from $167 million in 2011 and $103 million in 2010. 

But it falls far short of the $277 million the SBA lent in Nevada in 2007.Ford handled DCI’s loan application and offered advice to other small business owners looking to secure money.The quality of these washerextractor99 are amazing with unparalleled combinations of glass colors blown together. 

“One of the questions I ask is, ‘Where do you want to get to?’” he said. “My recommendation is going to be different if the answer is ‘I want to expand my company’ instead of ‘I want to prepare the business to be sold in three years.’ Ultimately, it’s going to be their decision, but I want to be able to provide them with options.” 

DCI acts as the eyes and ears for approximately 70 lighting manufacturers in Southern Nevada. The company handles marketing, sales and technical support. Electrical wholesalers are the bulk of their direct customers, but they also work indirectly with developers, contractors, architects and municipalities. They typically work with design teams on the front end of a project, then help manage the bid phase. 

“We see the project through from cradle to grave, from the purchase to the end of the warranty,” King said. 

The company’s fingerprints are all over town. King and Stevens worked on lighting for the Cosmopolitan and M Resort and currently are working on the Hakkasan nightclub at MGM Grand. Their lights hang in the Cleveland Clinic Lou Ruvo Center for Brain Health and at UNLV’s Mendenhall Center, the basketball practice facility. A year ago, they started a project with Las Vegas to change 42,000 street lights to high-efficiency LED lights. 

King, a 30-year resident of Southern Nevada, previously worked at Nevada Power, the predecessor to NV Energy. Stevens, vice president and chief operating officer of DCI, is a native Southern Nevadan who spent 18 years in electrical distribution. 

When they started DCI, the company leased the same building King and Stevens eventually bought. Business peaked in late 2007 and early 2008,With advancements in controls technology, gardenlightingss are becoming increasingly more sophisticated and flexible. and King and Stevens hired 18 people. 

“Our business is predicated on the development business,” King said. “When there are not cranes in the air on our lovely Strip corridor, our business is not nearly as good as it is when there are cranes flying. Things really slowed down. But as home builders build homes, roads have to be lighted so things gradually picked up.”