Apr 12 2010
A former logger who started his own construction company has been named California’s Small Business Person of the Year. Hal Hays, the owner of Hal Hays Construction, Inc., in Riverside, will join other small business owners and entrepreneurs from across the country at the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (SBA) National Small Business Week event set for May 23-25 in Washington, D.C.
Small business owners and entrepreneurs from across the country will be honored for their accomplishments as the nation’s leading small businesses. The highlight of events will be the announcement of the National Small Business Person of the Year.
Growing up around forests in California where his father was a logging contractor, Hays learned how to use heavy equipment to construct and maintain roads while still a teenager. At 20, he ran his own logging crews. After working with timber and logging firms in the Southwest and South America, Hays returned to California and obtained a general engineering contractor’s license. He landed a contract with the U.S. Forest Service and other agencies for trucking services, road rehabilitation, wild land firefighting and road maintenance.
After marrying for the second time in 2000, Hays and his new wife, Denise, expanded company operations in 2001 and gave a new name to their business: Hal Hays Construction Inc. (HHCI). With bonding secured for HHCI, Hal became 8(a) certified through SBA as a Minority Small Disadvantaged Native American-Owned Business in 2002. Through his SBA 8(a) certification, Hal expanded his market to include work with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the U.S. National Park Service, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Coast Guard, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, NASA and a few other federal agencies. Work has varied from vertical and horizontal construction to demolition and environmental clean-up. Three years after HHCI was founded, the company had 32 employees and $5.2 million in sales. By 2009, the firm had grown to 120 employees with $32.6 million in sales. In the eight years of its existence, HHCI has delivered over 400 multi-disciplinary projects valued at more than $142 million. HHCI has also been generous to the less fortunate. The company has donated about $2 million to more than 20 non-profit organizations over the years.
National Small Business Week 2010 will begin with three days of events in Washington, D.C., at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, where more than 100 outstanding business owners from across the country will be recognized. In addition to the State Small Business Persons of the Year, individuals involved in disaster recovery, government procurement, small business champions, as well as SBA partners in financial and entrepreneurial development will be honored.
Source: http://www.halhays.com/