CLAY — Industry Standard USA LLC, a grounds maintenance, facility maintenance, and general-construction company, has opened its first office in the town of Clay. The office opening came just weeks after the firm won contracts to handle maintenance work at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs cemeteries on Long Island and in Memphis, Tennessee. The firm, […]
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CLAY — Industry Standard USA LLC, a grounds maintenance, facility maintenance, and general-construction company, has opened its first office in the town of Clay.
The office opening came just weeks after the firm won contracts to handle maintenance work at U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs cemeteries on Long Island and in Memphis, Tennessee.
The firm, which started as a lawn-care company in early 2010, operates in a 2,000-square-foot space at 5 Lumber Way, off Steelway Blvd. South. The new office opened March 5.
Chris Dambach, the company’s sole owner and a veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps., had previously run the business from his home in the town of Salina.
Industry Standard pursues state and federal-government contracts, says Dambach. “I think that’s where we’re going to continue to stay,” he says about the firm’s government-contract work focus.
Industry Standard is a New York-certified, service-disabled, veteran-owned business (SDVOB), Dambach notes. He spoke with CNYBJ on March 15.
“I’ve got a huge team behind me. Without my team behind me, I’m nothing,” he says, deferring attention from himself.
About the firm
Industry Standard USA currently has 25 employees in a mix of full and part-time roles. Of that figure, seven workers, including Dambach, are based locally.
The firm leases its space from Scott Gillespie, owner of OnSite Companies, which also operates inside the facility at 5 Lumber Way.
Dambach knew Gillespie, saying he had worked with him in the past. Dambach says he explained to Gillespie that he was trying to keep his costs low, so Gillespie gave him a deal, allowing him to open an office in the space and remain close to his home.
“And if you ever need any advice in business, I’m right upstairs,” Dambach says, recalling what Gillespie had told him in their conversation about the space.
Dambach changed his business name from Veteran Lawn Care to Industry Standard in early 2017 after the company started pursuing government jobs for general-construction work. He decided to change the name when the Army, Navy, and Veterans Administration would question why as a lawn-care company he would pursue construction work. Dambach eventually became tired of repeatedly telling contacts that his company had grown and figured a name change would be helpful.
“I keep hearing in the construction world … everybody keeps saying the industry standard is … the industry standard is … I said that would be one hell of a name,” Dambach quips.
He also notes that Industry Standard, USA is looking for general-construction partners in the Syracuse area that might be seeking to work with a SDVOB. Fewer than 600 SDVOBs operate in New York state and 25 percent of them handle general-construction work, says Dambach. “We’re one of those companies,” he notes.
Industry Standard, USA generated $2.6 million in revenue in 2018 and Dambach projects that the firm’s revenue will double to $5 million in 2019 on the strength of new contracts.
The company’s local customers include the Transportation Security Administration at Syracuse Hancock International Airport, the 174th Attack Wing of the New York Air National Guard, and local U.S. Army Reserve locations.
Latest contracts
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) in December awarded Industry Standard a five-year contract, valued at nearly $1 million, to restore and maintain the national cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.
After winning the contract, Dambach applied for a loan through the Excelsior Growth Fund (EGF) to cover the costs of the equipment needed to service the contract. EGF is a nonprofit certified by the U.S. Department of Treasury as a community development financial institution. It promotes economic development and job creation in New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania by providing streamlined access to small-business loans and business-advisory services, according to its website.
Dambach secured a $50,000 EGF SmartLoan at a reduced interest rate of 5.75 percent through the EGF’s veteran-loan program with Bank of America.
Dambach learned about the loan through a veterans-support organization and the Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans organization.
“[The groups gave] me advice. They mentor me,” says Dambach. “[The loan process] was probably a tenth of the amount of paperwork that I would normally have to fill out.”
Dambach hired four new employees who are stationed in Tennessee to handle the cemetery contract. He also hired a full-time executive manager to operate his office in Clay.
Shortly after winning the Memphis contract, the VA awarded Industry Standard a five year, multi-million dollar contract to service the Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale. With this pact, Dambach is hiring between 12 and 14 full-time employees to raise and realign all the veteran headstones in the cemetery.
“We found out about [the Long Island contract] through this [free] SBDC [Small Business Development Center] system called BidLinx,” says Dambach. “This will go ahead and notify [a] business owner when there’s a new contract that just came out.”
Industry Standard has also secured five-year, blanket purchase agreement (BPA) contract for heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) work at Fort Drum in northern New York.
“That basically is a vetted small list of certified contractors that will be allowed to bid on any HVAC work [at] Fort Drum,” says Dambach. “Because they don’t want to have to reach out to a hundred different contractors every time, [so they] go ahead and vet everybody and create a small pool of people that they know, like, and trust.”
Industry Standard plans to work with RPM Mechanical in Cicero, which Dambach describes as a “small-business partner,” to service the Fort Drum BPA contract. Remington Schlueter, with whom Dambach served in Iraq, operates RPM Mechanical, a New York State-certified, service-disabled, veteran-owned business.
In addition, Industry Standard, USA recently completed training in a small-business mentorship program through the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) in New York City. After that training, it’s able to provide general-construction services for any MTA project in the city or state, says Dambach.
Business origin
While serving with the Marines in Iraq in 2009, Dambach and his fellow Marines were discussing what they wanted to do when they returned home. Dambach recalls that he didn’t have an answer but told the group that he had mowed lawns in high school to earn money in the summer.
“They said why don’t you start a lawn-care company,” Dambach recalls.
When he asked the others in the group what he should call the company, one suggested the name Veteran Lawn Care. His fellow Marines then challenged Dambach, figuring that he wouldn’t pursue the idea. But Dambach says he eventually accepted the challenge. When he returned to Central New York, he completed applications for jobs but “nothing really seemed like a good fit.”
He then decided to take some money he had saved up, bought some used mowers, and started pursuing the lawn-care company. His brother-in-law, who is also a Marine, let Dambach borrow his truck. He also bought a trailer, a string trimmer, and a back-pack blower. Lastly, he bought a print advertisement and printed out a few hundred flyers about his business for posting.
“And overnight, we had 30 residential clients and it started Veteran Lawn Care,” says Dambach.
Dambach joined the Marines in December 2007 at Parris Island, South Carolina and was officially discharged in May 2012. He had returned home following some injuries had sustained while in service, he says.
